Tips and Tricks for Saving Money In Your Warehouse

Operating a warehouse can be extremely profitable if done correctly, but many warehouse owners and managers find that, often, profit margins are not as high as they could be. There are lots of small things that individuals can do to make their warehouse more profitable and more efficient. Below, we list some of our favorite tips and tricks for saving money in your warehouse.

• Open an online ordering portal. If you haven’t gotten with the online trend yet, make sure that you do so as soon as possible. In recent years, online ordering has gotten more secure, so lots of people are far more comfortable ordering online than they were in years past. Also, many companies and individuals prefer to order online in modern times. You will save money and time with an online ordering portal.
• Keep an eye on attrition. The higher your turnover is in your workforce, the more money you are losing. If you have a high rate of turnover, it might be worth inspecting why that is. It can end up being a money-saving strategy to raise wages in order to lower turnover and thus lessen the amount of training required to maintain a safe warehouse.
• Lessen handling and touches. The fewer times that your workforce has to touch the product, the lower your overall costs of fulfilling orders is. Work on streamlining your processing in order to lower your costs.
• Measure your performance. It’s hard to optimize on what you’re not measuring. If you can come up with an effective and easy-to-implement way to measure your performance in distribution and other aspects, you’ll know where your weakest areas are and be on the path to fixing them.
• Team building. What is your company culture like? This goes hand in hand with turnover and retention. If your workforce feels as though they are a valued part of the operation and part of a team whose input is valued, they are more likely to work toward ways to be more efficient – even of their own volition.
• How is your freight management? Working with inbound and outbound freight can make a big difference in your profit or loss margins.

Of course, every warehouse is different, so no list of tips will adequately address the concerns of all warehouses equally. In the modern world of warehouses, much depends on having adequate technology and mechanization, but wise managers will never forget the importance of a strong team. With these tips and tricks in mind, you can be on your way to a more efficient and more profitable warehouse.