We all cannot deny how the internet changed our lives, for better or worse. The moment it becomes available to everyone, millions to billions of people can connect and communicate with each other. As a result, the pace of life flows faster than it was one or two hundred years ago.

Back then, warehouses were not able to use stainless steel shelves. That is for sure since this material only became available in 1912. During that time, they only use wood or bamboo as shelves to store things in warehouses.

But things began to change more as technology evolved. The moment humanity was able to travel far in a short time did make a revolutionary impact. People become freer to do what they want, and for businesses, this change was an opportunity to sell more.

Instead of making a profit only in one location alone, they thought of building another warehouse in another place and store their products there, too. As such, their profit doubled as they were able to reach out to more customers.

Now, this strategy is no longer new as more businesses were able to adapt it. The only difference today is that spaces are limited. That is why warehouses now are much smaller than they originally were, and stainless steel shelves are a strategic place, so no space is wasted.

Nevertheless, if you are planning to build a warehouse of your own, you should be ready. There are a lot of things you need to do, and warehouse management is not that easy. But to make sure nothing gets in your way, read the rest of this article. You will know what you need and how to solve warehouse problems later on.

What Equipment Does a Warehouse Need?

Besides establishing a building as your warehouse, you should also need to create a floor plan. But before you can do that, you need to gather all the equipment for your warehouse. Otherwise, your employees would have a hard time doing their job well.

Moreover, if you build your warehouse poorly, many things would get affected. Apart from your operation, the safety of your employees can be at risk. Cliche as might sound, keeping your employees safe should be your priority so nothing would get in the way of your business operation.

To do that, make sure you get all of these things below.

ANTI-SLIP MATS.

This one does not only prevent your employees from suddenly slipping down the floor, but it can also ease their fatigue. As a result, even if they stand doing inventory for hours, your staff will not be in pain, and that helps with their productivity.

BARRIER RAILS.

No matter how big or small your warehouse is, you should invest in barrier rails. These do not only protect things but also prevent them from possible forklift damages. In other words, your products would remain in good condition. All you need to do is place the barrier rails around the areas you want to keep safe.

For example, when you need to keep fragile items safe, you should place them on a perforated stainless steel table where the barrier rails are. Doing so would give you peace of mind since anyone who would see that knows they are off-limits.

BOLLARDS.

Unlike barrier rails, these are just like a post but shorter, and their average height is more or less three feet tall. That height is enough to warm forklift drivers when carrying boxes between the aisle of a shelving rack in Singapore. As a result, those who are driving the forklifts would not damage anything during operations.

STAINLESS STEEL SHELVES.

These pieces change how a warehouse would look. As mentioned above, warehouses from centuries ago only used wood as their shelves, which often caused problems due to termites.

But now, that is no longer a problem since stainless steel shelves are perfectly water-resistant. That means no termites would get in your way, but you would still need to get pest control to make sure all pests are at bay.

WARNING SIGNS.

Another way to keep your employees safe as they work in your warehouse is to put some warning signs. With these, they will become more aware of what they need to do and avoid. As a result, there will be fewer accidents and mistakes.

To make sure that you would buy the correct warning signs for your warehouse, take note of OSHD compliance. Doing so would give you an idea of what you should put in your warehouse.

HANDRAILS.

If your warehouse has mezzanines, the more you would need to install handrails. Doing so keeps your employees safe while they go up and down the stainless steel shelves above.

They could also use it while pushing down a stainless steel rack with wheels in the walkway. As a result, the gravity would not pull them down hard since they could hold the handrail as they move up or down.

SAFETY MIRRORS.

Besides the warning signs, installing a few of these would also keep your employees safe. Just make sure to place them at the right corners so your employees would see them right away. If you set these right, they could check what is going on their way.

FIRST AID KIT.

Since no one could predict what would happen, it is better to be ready ahead of time. That is why to make sure that your employees are safe no matter what, you need to have a first aid kit on site. With this, you can treat them right away when they accidentally fall off on the floor or bump themselves hard on the stainless steel table in Singapore while working in your warehouse.

But in case you are not there when something happens, make sure your employees know how to do first aid. Otherwise, having a kit would be useless.

All in all, before you purchase these things, make sure to get them from a reliable supplier or shop. That is the only way you can assure that the quality they have is sufficient for your warehouse.

What Are the Challenges of Warehouse Management and How Can You Solve Them?

As mentioned above, warehouse management is not that easy. Just like in life, there are problems that you need to face. And knowing what those things are would help you solve them away. As a result, you would not miss delivering the orders of your customers on time.

To guarantee your warehouse management would go well as always, take note of these challenges. Doing so would give you an idea of how to solve them once either one of them happens to you.

INCONSISTENT TRACKING.

Even though there is nothing wrong with using a manual inventory to track things, it is time-consuming and often causes human errors like duplication. Even more, if a business gets more demand from their customers as time passes.

SOLUTION: To prevent this from happening, invest in a centralised inventory tracking system. Make sure it also has accounting features so you would know if you are making a profit or not. The reason you need this software is to get accurate and automatic inventory updates in real-time. Also, there will be fewer to no errors in tracking your products.

LIMITED STORING SPACE.

When you have a small warehouse, it could cause a problem with your operation since your staff would have a hard time moving around the place. As a result, they might get into an accident that could wound them and damage the boxes they are holding.

SOLUTION:

To solve the lack of space, consider setting up a mezzanine in your warehouse. This additional floor would give you enough space and reason to get dozens of more stainless steel shelves to store your products and orders from customers. Just make sure you use a vertical one as your racking in the mezzanine area.

CHANGING DEMANDS.

Just like the weather, the demand of each customer changes. Most often than not, their wants depend on what is trending. That is why keeping too much of this or that item could result in obsolete inventory since you would not be able to sell them for a good price once they are no longer popular.

SOLUTION: To make sure none in your inventory would become obsolete, only store a few that you think would sell. For example, if you sold 50 electric stoves last month, consider adding 15 pieces more for this month. This trick would save you a lot whenever the demand changes.

MANUAL DOCUMENTATION.

Besides going round on each aisle of each shelving rack in Singapore, there is a lot of paperwork. And processing those manually is tedious and not safe since your employees could misplace some documents accidentally.

SOLUTION:

Go paperless to guarantee that would not happen to you. Consider giving your employees the software for the job so longer need to print documents and do them manually. Note that paperless transactions do ease a lot of work when it comes to invoices and purchase orders.

OVERSTOCKING.

Having a stock is a good idea, but overdoing it can be problematic. Since most of your investments are still in your inventory, you will have so little money to use as your business cash flow. And that could lead to loss of profit if none of your stock gets to sell right away.

SOLUTION: To prevent this matter from happening, you have to consider lead times when placing orders. Once done asking yourself, make sure to track and manage your high-demand inventory. Doing so would give you an idea when you order for another batch of this or that item.

MISCOMMUNICATION.

Most of all, the reason why warehouse management is not that easy is because of poor communication. If employees misinterpret what the other employees say, things could go wrong. As a result, there will be a delay in distributing orders of your customers.

SOLUTION:

To make sure no one would get lost looking for the stainless steel rack where they need to get the item, use a dashboard collaboration. With this, your employees would know where to go. All they need to do is follow the instructions written on the dashboard.

INVENTORY LOSS.

When it comes to business, losing is not an option. That is why the loss of inventory because of spoilage is a supply chain problem that you need to solve as soon as possible. Otherwise, it could lead to more losses. And that is a bad business, as veterans say.

SOLUTION: To avoid stock spoilage, you should use inventory control processes. One of the ideal choices is barcodes. With this, human error and inventory manipulation caused by theft or negligence would no longer become a problem.

Be Smart With Your Warehouse Management!

Becoming a warehouse owner is not that easy, which is why you should be smart with your warehouse management. Otherwise, it would not only affect your business operation, but you might lose the trust your customers gave you in the first place. Of course, to not let that happen, you need to plan ahead of time. Make sure to think things through before you make a decision.

To help you out, consider testing your warehouse traffic flow plan. That is the last step you need to do before you can start installing a stainless steel rack, stainless steel work table, and more in Singapore. To guarantee you would do things right, follow these steps.

• Create a warehouse traffic plan.
• Follow that sketch by applying masking tape on the floor. Doing this will imagine how things would look like once you install a stainless steel rack and other equipment in your warehouse.
• Once done with the markings, check if the equipment you have matches the supplier. If yes, that means the shelves and racks they have fit well in your traffic flow plan.

But if you are looking where you can get the stainless steel rack or table mentioned above in Singapore, go to Shelvings. You can get a custom-made item there for your warehouse.

If you are interested, feel free to contact them at 6749 1812, and make sure to describe the things you want from them.