With e-commerce booming and supply-chain issues from covid, more and more businesses are looking for warehouse space to store their inventory. According to recent reports, US businesses will likely acquire more than 1 billion square feet of area to accommodate their warehousing needs.
However, the success and efficiency of a warehouse dependsprimarily on its management strategies. Warehouse management comprises various processes and principles that ensure the proper execution of everyday operations.
It may even include receiving warehouse space, organizing it according to need, scheduling necessary labor, entering logistics, fulfilling orders, and increasing overall efficiency. To help you get started on warehouse management, we’ve curated a guide to understanding warehouse management and its benefits:
What is a Warehouse Management System?
Warehouse management refers to receiving, tracking, and storing (stowing) inventory. It also includes training staff members and the effective culture and happiness of the staff, workload planning, managing shipments, as well as monitoring all deliveries.
On one hand, a warehouse management system(WMS) is an up-to-date software or business strategy that helps business owners optimize various processes in the warehouse.
By installing a robust WMS in your warehouse,or a cutting-edge BPO solution, you can benefit with on-demand real-time inventory, forecasting, and increased staff productivity, with the capability of viewingthe order fulfillment workflow.
Essential Warehouse Management Processes
Warehouse management has a substantial effect on inventory management, distribution, shipping, and storage. Let’s discuss some of the essential warehouse management processes:
Inventory Tracking
Inventory tracking allows monitoring and managing stock levels to stay updated with all SKUs present in your warehouse. Italso provides the exact location of the individual inventory or whether it’s being shipped from a supplier.
Proper inventory management allows you to quickly determine how many products are ready to be delivered and update stock requirements and any integrating to web-based sales systems. As your brand expands, accurately tracking inventory becomes even morecritical.
Picking and Packing
Packaging and collecting orders is an integral process of any warehouse. Your warehouse must generate a packing list for each item. This helpsstaff retrieve shipments accurately and efficiently.
Upon collecting any new order, the warehouse staff receives a packing slip revealing the items and exact storage location.
Shipping
Depending on the delivery and shipping options your business provides, you might collaborate with carriers like USPS, UPS, DHL, and FedEx.
These carriers will collect orders from your warehouse and ship them to their desired destination.
The Benefits of Warehouse Management
Warehouse operations play a critical role in ensuring quick, on-time shipments. According to a study, 56% of online buyers expect same-day delivery for their items. At the same time, up to 61% of purchasers say they would pay a higher fee to get same-day delivery.
Businesses need to improve their delivery time for a swift online shopping experience. And to achieve this, companies need to ensure all their warehouse processes are running efficiently.
For instance, warehouse management can help optimize how business owners use warehouse space. In turn, they can maximize inventory storage. They may also leverage their WMS to fulfill orders efficiently, coordinate with transportation companies and suppliers to ensure items arrive on time.
Lastly, good warehouse management will provide you with high-quality service at affordable prices. This way, you can foster deep relations with suppliers and customers.
To Sum Up
Businesses can leverage data and intelligent automation for efficient day-to-day warehouse operations, planning, forecasting sales, and on-demand analysis with an efficient warehouse management system or B2B solution.
A great WMS willprovide real-time insights into volumes, quantity, and location of inventory and is integral to any efficient warehouse. A good WMS will help make the warehouse staff experience better bolstering productivity and a longer and happier workforce.