How to make your warehouse more agile

Warehouses are a vital component of the UK’s logistics network and play an integral role in the distribution of goods and services across the country, which keeps businesses and organisations going.

The rise in e-commerce over the last decade has seen warehouses’ importance to the national economy grow significantly in recent years, so its therefore more crucial than ever that they’re agile and able to meet the needs of consumers and businesses alike.

In this blog, we explore how you can make your warehouse even more agile through effective order tracking and automation, but most importantly having a brilliant team in place.

 

Effective order tracking

Effective order tracking is an essential part of operating as an agile warehouse, whether this is through implementing technology such as a Warehouse Management System or by maintaining excellent records.

Here at Barnes, our team work diligently to maintain records of orders which helps us to track the progress of incoming and outgoing products, as well as providing customers with peace of mind.

Our order tracking ensures that customers receive accurate and up-to-date information about the status of their orders, which allows them to track their packages, anticipate delivery dates, and make necessary arrangements.

This transparency and reliability really help when it comes to customer satisfaction and trust in our services.

Our team’s excellent record maintenance also allows us to accurately trace incoming and outgoing stock. This information enables us in both maintaining optimal inventory levels, avoid under or overstocking and making informed decisions about replenishment and procurement.

Ultimately, having these records help us to reduce costs, prevent wastage, and improve overall operational efficiency and agility.

 

Embrace automation

It’s no secret that the warehouse and logistics industry has been facing a labour shortage and one of the key solutions to this systemic problem is to embrace automated technologies.

Robotics and automated guided vehicles are two technologies that will complement manual labour in the warehouse and the good news is that, the cost is falling which means automation is now a viable option for many businesses.

These systems can handle repetitive tasks that humans may struggle with and reduce the error that may come with lapses in concentration or fatigue-induced mistakes.

Embracing automated technology in your warehousing will help you to better cope with peak delivery periods such as Black Friday and Christmas and generally operate more efficiently.

Introducing automation could also assist in easing some of the pressure that your staff may be facing amid the labour shortages and mitigate the risk of them being overworked and burned out during busy periods.

 

A team that’s willing to go the extra mile

Technology can only go so far in improving the overall efficiency of your warehouse, so having a team that’s willing to push themselves and go the extra mile is absolutely essential.

The aforementioned labour shortages have meant that warehousing teams across the country have been under pressure to deliver on orders and fulfilling key objectives to ensure that customer needs are met. This has made having a cohesive and hard-working team so important.

Here at Barnes, we’re lucky to have such a brilliant warehouse team who’ve consistently gone the extra mile over the last few years to help us ensure that we can operate efficiently and continue to provide leading logistics support to time-critical businesses.

The team’s willingness to push themselves further has fostered a sense of camaraderie and teamwork, while also creating a positive work environment in which team members support one another and collaborate effectively.

The cohesiveness and camaraderie among the warehouse team has contributed to the creation of a fantastic culture here at Barnes, with everyone pulling in the right direction, which in turn has boosted productivity and overall agility.

This just goes to show the value of having such a fantastic team!

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