Warehouses are an integral part of Supply Chain Management conducted by companies across both domestic and international boundaries. However, managing a warehouse comes with diverse challenges and without professional help, a negative impact might befall your business.
In this article, we have discussed five common warehouse management problems and present their solutions. As a business owner or operator, you can gradually resolve issues and enhance your business value.
How is a Warehouse Typically Managed?
Warehouse Management encompasses different processes and principles associated with regular operational management of multiple activities. Businesses conducting warehouse management operations focus on a larger scale of managing stocks, logistics and entire supply chains.
Increasing demands for commodities across domestic and international sectors have similarly increased the need for good warehousing. However, various issues may arise, for which necessary solutions are presented here.
Five Common Warehouse Management Problems
Before you decide to set up your warehouse business on commercial land in Kolkata, it is better to understand the common problems that can arise. Here’s what you need to know.
Inaccurate Inventory Management
Inaccurate inventory management is a significant issue encountered when managing a warehouse. Problems such as inaccessibility to stock levels, risks of goods perishing, overstocking, or frequent stockouts can arise. A lack of centralised or decentralised, yet interconnected, inventory management systems is generally the reason for such problems.
Solution:
- Introduce a barcode system to track outgoing and incoming inventory.
- Include an automated inventory management system to identify existing stock levels and upcoming clearance volumes.
- Include different standard inventory operating systems for scheduled stocking operations.
Improper Layout
A poorly designed warehouse can lead to inefficient use of space, congestion and safety hazards. In certain cases, incorrect selection of an industrial land or commercial plot can also result in the formation of an improper warehouse layout.
Solution:
- Analyse the proper flow of inventory and staff in and out of the warehouse.
- Reorganise inventory to reduce congestion within the warehouse.
- Include convenience equipment for flexible management of inventory levels.
Understaffing
Inadequate staffing is another major problem in warehouse management. If you select a particular industrial area in Kolkata for establishing a warehouse, ensure adequate labour availability.
Solution:
- Maintain a digitally manageable logbook for staff numbers, holidays, and on-site operations to track their availability on the floor.
- Use additional and contractual staff during peak periods to meet emerging market demands.
- Identify areas or operations with greater workload and deploy additional staff accordingly.
Safety Hazards
A congested warehouse or one that is improperly set up may pose safety hazards. Many potential risks, including injury to warehouse operation staff and damage to goods, can occur.
Solution:
- Provide your warehouse staff with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
- Implement safety protocols for each operation and area that accesses the warehouse.
- Ensure regular maintenance of equipment to prevent breakdown.
- Conduct detailed safety audits to identify and address potential hazards.
Inefficient Warehouse Technology
In the modern era, inefficient warehouse management technology can lead to severe inventory and operational management problems. Furthermore, a lack of technically advanced monitoring might also result in security-related issues and business losses.
Solution:
- Apart from selecting the best commercial land in Kolkata, invest in making your warehouse technically advanced.
- Invest in a Warehouse Management System (WMS) to enhance inventory management and tracking.
- Upgrade your technical integrations as per the latest rules and regulations and with proper market and competitor analysis.
Principles of Warehouse Management
Apart from the solutions discussed for proper warehouse management, understanding and applying the principles of warehouse management can also be beneficial. The following are the common principles for flexible warehouse management:
Know your purpose: A warehouse operation must first and foremost know its objectives. For example, do your customers have specific delivery requirements? Does your inventory need specialized storage?
Comprehensive control: Warehouse managers need to be able to track each process in order to ensure it’s running smoothly and solve the problems that inevitably occur.
Flexibility and resilience: It’s also important to be able to adjust workflows to maximize efficiency, whether that involves rearranging warehouse space or reimagining picking processes.
Customer focus: On-time delivery of the correct product is one of the most critical metrics for customer service and satisfaction. To deliver on time, you need to be able to fulfil orders quickly and accurately.
Conclusion
Managing a warehouse without errors can be a daunting task, but it is possible with proper professional integration. We at Ganesh Complex can provide you with the best industrial area in Kolkata and also assist you with modern warehousing facilities.
Are you seeking the ideal industrial space? Connect With Us Today.
