Up and down the United Kingdom, thousands of business owners and warehouse managers are searching high and low for any and every available means by which to save money. Things are becoming increasingly challenging for the UK’s business contingency, meaning that when and where savings can be made, they absolutely have to be made.
So for those working in warehousing environments, what follows is a brief roundup of just a few tried, tested and surprisingly simple methods for making real savings and maximising profits:
1 – Focus on Error Reduction
First of all, it is important to remember that the more errors you make, the more money you throw away. Error reduction doesn’t mean simply watching out for the biggest mistakes, but rather tracking each and every minor discrepancy to look for patterns and recurrence. Get the whole workforce involved and look for ways to reduce errors to absolute minimums.
2 – Warehouse Conditions
When it comes to reducing stock wastage and damage, it’s worth considering exactly how the conditions in your warehouse may be affecting your products. Any kind of imperfect humidity level or temperature could be having an adverse effect on the products you are storing, ultimately shortening their life and increasing wastage.
3 – Examine Labour Use
Another extremely effective (though potentially controversial) approach to reducing warehousing costs is to take a step back and examine exactly how the workforce is being put to use. There may be ways of automating certain key procedures and responsibilities in your warehouse, which could allow for labour costs to be reduced dramatically. Or if nothing else, the labour to be refocused elsewhere.
4 – Space Optimisation
The way you use the available space in your warehouse can also make a big difference in terms of its value to your business. It’s not simply about cramming as much stuff as possible in just for the sake of it, but ensuring that your shelving, layout and stock access systems are as efficient as possible. The easier it is to get the job done, the faster and more efficiently it will get done and the less labour will be required to do it.
5 – Energy Savings
A quick tip but an important tip nonetheless, consider carefully exactly how much energy your warehouse consumes and think about strategic measures for reducing energy consumption. From automated lighting to energy-saving bulbs and so on, they’re the kinds of small changes that can add up to a big difference.
6 – Consider Your Suppliers
If you haven’t compared the market in some time with regards to the products you order, it may be worth doing exactly that. New suppliers covering pretty much every imaginable industry are popping up all the time these days and in some cases undercutting existing suppliers by significant margins.
7 – Deal with Dead Stock
Last but not least, the most inefficient way of dealing with dead stock around the warehouse is to not deal with it at all. Simply allowing it to pile up and gather dust over time does nothing for the profitability or efficiency of your business. Instead, try to get into the habit of dealing with dead stock the moment you become aware of any items that are not moving, rather than allowing them to accumulate.
