Thanks to the amount of different items most warehouses stock these days due to the rise in ecommerce, one of the most commonly-faced challenges in the modern warehouse is SKU complexity – and it can have a bigger impact on your daily operations than you might expect.   What is SKU complexity?   “SKU complexity” refers to the amount of individual stock keeping units, or SKUs, you store in your warehouse or carry in your retail store. SKUs act as the unique identifiers (frequently an alphanumeric code) of each individual item you stock, including both unique products and variants ther ..read more

No matter how long you’ve been working in a warehouse, it may surprise you to learn how many common issues are caused by simply not being able to properly access your inventory. Mispicks, damaged goods, late orders, products getting shorted out – a lot of these problems typically share a common root cause: the items are too difficult or cumbersome to access through your warehouse. Inventory access is a tricky balance to strike, given that your warehouse is already likely packed to capacity, and you need to make the most of all your available space. But what good is all that space if your team ..read more

Warehouse forecasting can wind up being the solution to – or cause of – many of your warehouse’s problems. With the important role that forecasting plays in your overall inventory strategy, any issue with your forecasting strategy can have a profound impact on the way your warehouse operates and processes shipments. The downside to these issues is that it can be even more difficult to identify where the issues stem from, and how they’ve affected your inventory strategies across the board.    What is inventory forecasting?   Inventory forecasting, sometimes referred to as “demand ..read more

With today’s ecommerce landscape being what it is, outsourced fulfillment has become a common resource for many smaller online retailers.  Outsourcing your fulfillment can offer several advantages – faster delivery times, easier order handling process, more able to offer wider inventory, and the like. Accordingly, smaller ecommerce retailers have found themselves increasingly turning to local warehouses to handle their order fulfillment in a faster way than they might’ve been able to on their own.  This increased need for fulfillment can create a lot of opportunities for warehouses t ..read more

As the English author Douglas Adams once said, “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” If you’ve been a warehouse manager, designer, or staff member for any amount of time, this quote probably hits home a little more than you’d like. Warehouses of any type, from retail to pharmaceuticals to food storage, all have their own KPIs and deadlines they need to hit for the sake of their overall supply chain, as well as their relationship with their partners. Anyone who has to manage KPIs, however, knows this is often easier said than done. There could be many causes f ..read more

No matter how well-staffed your warehouse might be, or how hard your teams work, every warehouse will encounter a few slower periods. These lean periods can stem from a combination of factors, both internal and external. No matter what the cause, the impact of reduced productivity on your warehouse can have a huge effect on your business, your finances, and your teams. What causes lower productivity in warehouses? If your team is having a harder time getting orders out the door, it could be because of a number of root causes, including: Poor warehouse layout: Sometimes, the simplest explanati ..read more

The staging area is one of the most important areas of a warehouse – and as a result, it also needs to be one of the most flexible. As a crucial step in the process of transporting goods to their final destination, be it in the hands of the customer or simply to another distribution center, the staging area needs to be streamlined, functional, and ready to quickly adapt to whatever products come down the line. What is a staging area in a warehouse? Simply put, the staging area is a dedicated area in any warehouse where goods are temporarily stored, before being moved to their next location.&nb ..read more

Despite all the arguments about the health of the current economy, keeping any business financially stable has been a tough order the past few years. A combination of factors brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic have led to an exponential increase in nearly everything you would need to run a warehouse: transportation costs, property costs, and even the cost of manufacturing goods in and of itself. With this in mind, there are still optimizations that nearly any warehouse can perform that will help their operations go more smoothly, helping them to maintain a more secure financial positi ..read more

The last time you looked around your warehouse, did you notice it was a little…flat?  Sure, most warehouses are, but the implicit or explicit focus on maximizing horizontal space could mean you’re missing out on potential opportunities to expand your current storage capacity. A lot of warehouses try to fill up every available square inch with storage but often forget about the space above them. With the proper shelving, taller warehouses can find ways to create additional storage without taking up valuable floor space. Here’s a few tips to help you make the most of the upwards space in yo ..read more

No matter how much we have in common, every warehouse is different at the end of the day. Different products, different areas to be served, different points along the supply chain – and while the functions of these warehouses can be similar on a superficial level, the work can be drastically different too. But, even despite these differences, there’s a few crucial supplies that nearly any warehouse can find useful in their day-to-day operations. Here’s five essential warehouse tools that your warehouse could find some use for, no matter what you stock or sell:   Five Essential Organizatio ..read more