Top Ways to Improve Your Warehouse
The efficiency of your warehouse can translate directly into money lost or saved. The more organized your warehouse is, the greater your productivity and money savings over time. Unfortunately, the opposite is also the case, and many businesses end up losing money due to inefficient warehouse design.
The Georgia Institute of Technology conducted a study called “Benchmarking Warehouse Performance”, in which they observed that less than 30% of studied warehouses could be considered efficient. If you have noticed that your warehouse layout is not ideal or conducive to maximum productivity, the good news is that you can change it! Here are a few of the top ways you can improve your warehouse and enjoy the benefits of improved efficiency and productivity.
Add or Remove Warehouse Walls
Many warehouses are built to be as open as possible. While this can make it easy to maneuver forklifts and other warehouse equipment around, it can also minimize the amount of storage space available to you and can make it harder to keep different areas separated. Additionally, having one large, open space contributes to shared noise and contamination between different industrial processes.
One way you can rectify this is by adding walls to separate your warehouse into distinct areas. Depending on your needs, you can choose simple dividers or permanent walls. Simple dividers are easy to install but are only intended to divide the floor space visually. They are not effective at keeping dust, air or noise from other warehouse areas out.
Having solid new walls constructed can eliminate all gaps between various sections of your warehouse and provide a truer separation of spaces. Walls can also be added to create one or more office spaces in the warehouse. This may be desirable if you want to make it easier for warehouse supervisors and managers to keep an eye on day-to-day operations while also having freedom to work in an office environment.
If you are on the other end of the spectrum and are looking
for ways to eliminate unnecessary partitioning of your valuable warehouse space, you may find that removing one or more walls and creating a more open space gives you freedom to move around and easily access all areas of your warehouse.
Add Cleaning Rooms
Two primary reasons for adding a cleanroom space to your warehouse are: improved quality and better yield. Depending on what you do in your warehouse, you may require a controlled environment that limits the amount of dirt or contaminants in a manufacturing area. Most cleanrooms utilize positive pressure that pushes contaminates in the air down to the floor and out of the cleanroom area via floor vents. It is important to familiarize yourself with regulations regarding cleanroom requirements, especially if you manufacture any products that are government regulated.
Relocate Garage Doors
When it comes to warehouse efficiency, receiving is often overlooked while other warehouse processes like shipping, picking and packing are typically scrutinized more closely.
However, the more streamlined things are at the receiving dock, the more efficient your warehouse will be. Moving your receiving doors may be a good idea if doing so can make things work better logistically.
If trucks currently have trouble getting into and out of the receiving area, you may wish to move your garage doors to a better location. Relocating your garage doors may also be a good solution if they are currently located on the side of your warehouse that is consistently exposed to high winds.
Repairing damaged concrete in your warehouse is also essential to the success of your warehouse. Too often, damaged concrete gets ignored, creating a major safety hazard in your warehouse. So if you have damaged concrete flooring or damaged loading docks make sure to contact a local concrete contractor right away to evaluate the damage.
Warehouse Pallet Racks
Storage space can be one of the most valuable assets so making sure your pallet storage is up to make is essential. Minnesota pallet rack companies such as AK Material Handling Systems in Maple Grove, MN can help you maximize your warehouse space with different pallet rack layouts and products.
Trust the Experts
The Randahl Construction team is highly experienced in renovating warehouses to allow for maximum efficiency and productivity. If you are looking for ways to structurally improve your warehouse, give us a call 763-559-1009 and we will be happy to provide you with a quote. Also if you prefer for us to contact you please use our Commercial Remodeling Contact Form.
