Storage Systems Are the Key to Increasing Warehouse Efficiency

If your warehouse is a mess, it’s holding your business back from success. It’s time to fix the problems and increase your warehouse efficiency.

Warehouses should be efficient places, but unless they’re organised well, they descend into chaos very quickly. A few key purchases of quality warehouse items ensure that the layout is efficient and saves space, that everything is easy to find, and there’s fewer opportunities for error.

With the advent of AI, smart inventory systems, and automated everything, you’d think all warehouses were accurate and efficient. Unfortunately, if you miss getting the basics right, automation simply won’t work. You’ll have missing stock, incidences of under and over stocking, time wastage looking for items, increased fulfilment times, inaccurate picking, and damaged stock. Disorganised storage is also very inefficient with space, so you could be paying a lot more rent for a big warehouse when a smaller one should be enough.

Benefits of Organised Warehouse Storage

Stock easy to count and see
Better inventory levels with less over and under ordering
Reduced stock losses from using appropriate storage methods
Faster and more efficient picking and packing
Reduced holding costs
Minimises errors, saving time and money

If you want to implement smart warehousing, or just get your storage systems organised, it’s best to start with the basics.

Before You Do Anything, Create a Plan

Business is sometimes an organic process, and it can end up mushrooming out in all directions. If this has been the case, it often results in a haphazard warehouse, with things being added and shoved in locations on an ad-hoc basis.

This is the time to stop and take stock, chat to the people who work in the warehouse, and ask them for their thoughts about where things should go. They’ll have ideas that you wouldn’t have thought of, and a lived experience of the chaos.

Draw up a plan for your storage system and get everyone on board. Buy-in from everyone means that a system will be more likely to be adopted and used.

The Right Storage in the Right Place

If you need to access something 20 times a day, you want it accessible, compared with a product you might only access once a week. Likewise, you’ll want items in the right form of storage. Screws in Lamson bins, not 20L bins. Large appliances stored on pallets to make them easy to move.

Lamson bins are an adaptable storage system that attaches to louvered wall-mounted panels, free standing racking, or mobile trolleys. They come in a huge range of sizes, with dividers if required, and are all 100% recyclable polypropylene. They come in yellow, blue, red, and green, so you can colour code your warehouse storage system for ease of use.

Think Up

If you have racking, think about storing multiple layers of boxes or crates on the shelf. If the crates are sturdy with lids, this means you can label the of the crate or bin, and stack items up. This can save valuable space, and they nest when not in use.

5L bin made from recycled polypropylene, 323 (W) x 127 (H) x 430mm (L)in black
32L bin made from recycled polypropylene, 213 (W) x 276 (H) x 645mm (L)
52L bin made from recycled polypropylene, 413 (W) x 200 (H) x 645mm (L)
68L bin made from recycled polypropylene, 413 (W) x 397 (H) x 645mm (L)
Lid 440mm x 332mm
Lid 685mm x 425mm

Make Everything Easy to Move with Skates and Dollies

If containers or pallets are hard to shift because there’s no equipment to do so, it’s going to make life difficult for everyone (and not comply with health and safety legislation). Also, people might be able to get something out, but it’s too difficult to put back, so things will get lost.

While a forklift is vital for heavy pallets and things stacked up on the top of the racking, you need options to scoot things around at ground level too. As well as a pallet jack, think about:

Bread crate skate
‘Enviro’ skate in black and blue
Rubbermaid brute trolley for 121L and 75L containers
Square bin trolley in 60L and 100L
Trolley and frame for transit tub 345L

Move Your Loose and Small Stock Items With Ease

Often the easiest way to transit stock is using cage trolleys. These allow you to unload or unpack products into a shelved or bin type trolley. Then, it’s a matter of rolling the trolley to the destination and unloading from there, whether that’s onto a retail shelf or somewhere in the warehouse.

Trolley cage 2 sided with one shelf, 1725mm x 785mm x 670mm
Extra shelf 785 × 670 × 40 mm
Cargo strap

Looking for Storage Systems in NZ?

Here at IFP, we have helped thousands of businesses, large and small, to better organise their warehouses and storage spaces. Whether you need Lamson bins or large plastic containers to store items in, or trolleys, dollies and skates, we have a full range. Contact us to chat and make a time to come in and see our range.