In every warehousing environment in the world over, things can and will get broken from time to time. It’s largely inevitable, but this doesn’t necessarily mean that you cannot make concerted efforts to reduce product damage in your warehouse. 

Adopting a carefree attitude to damage is the perfect recipe for seeing a large and wholly unnecessary chunk being taken out of your profits. So rather than simply accepting product damage and destruction for what it is, consider instead the following tips and see what kinds of improvements you can make starting right now:

1 – Check Your Pallets

First and foremost, one of the most common causes of potentially catastrophic accidents within the warehouse is pallet damage. The reason being that unless you are willing to manually inspect your pallets on a regular basis, it is only ever going to be a matter of time until they fail.  Whether on the warehouse floor or stacked on a high shelf, a damaged pallet can quickly and without warning collapse entirely and cause both serious product damage and employee injury.

2 – Stack and Wrap Sensibly

You really only need to use basic common sense when it comes to the way in which you stack products on the pallets you use and wrap them safely. It’s blatantly obvious to anyone when goods have been stacked in a manner that is entirely unsafe, or when it’s clear that the pallet should have been wrapped tightly but hasn’t been. Once again, even the slightest oversight can trigger disastrous consequences.

3 – Visibility

Quite a lot of accidents that happen in the average warehouse occur simply due to those working in the facility not being able to see properly.  The main area within the warehouse may be sufficiently lit, but the same perhaps cannot be said for quite a few aisles and corners. Which is precisely where accidents that result in product damage or breakages tend to happen. Upgrading and enhancing visibility in the warehouse does not have to be expensive, but can nonetheless be extremely valuable.

4 – Clean and Tidy

The same also goes for general cleanliness and orderliness – the tidier your warehouse, the less likely you are to find your products being damaged or destroyed. Any kinds of obstructions and general clutter about the place represent exactly the kinds of health and safety risks that pose a direct threat to both your employees and your merchandise.  Proactivity when it comes to warehouse cleanliness and tidiness will always pay off.

5 – Watch the Weight

When stacking pallets or products on the shelving in your warehouse, be extremely mindful when it comes to exactly what kind of weight the shelving can tolerate. This means sticking to the manufacturer’s recommendations and guidelines to the letter, rather than making it up as you go along and simply assuming they will hold out.

6 – Ease of Access

Last but not least, it’s also worth remembering that the easier it is to access any given merchandise in your warehouse, the less likely it is that said merchandise will be damaged upon retrieval. This is something that should be kept in mind particularly when it comes to selecting storage locations for your most popular or commonly accessed products, which for obvious reasons should be the easiest to access of all.