Due to the rising costs of living, warehouse managers are searching for ways to crunch costs and maximise profits.
Knowing how to effectively reduce warehouse costs while increasing warehouse productivity is essential to thrive and survive during an unstable economic climate.
Here are five warehouse cost-saving ideas to help you spend less and make more.
How can warehousing reduce costs?
1. Reduce energy
Rising energy costs are one of the main causes of the current high inflation. Nobody knows how long the energy crisis will last but it is expected to persist for the foreseeable future.
To cut costs in your warehouse, consider reducing your energy and implementing cost-effective energy solutions.
Ensuring your warehouse has sufficient insulation, an automatic lighting system and double-glazed windows can help to drastically bring down your heating bills this winter.
2. Inventory organisation
Inventory organisation doesn’t only increase efficiency, provide accurate forecasting, and smart allocation, it also brings costs down.
Stock damage, misplacements and theft can cost warehouses big sums of money. Ensuring that your inventory is well-organised, stored safely and packaged correctly ensures your inventory is well-protected and eliminates unintentional money losses.
Warehouse managers should also install high-tech security systems to reduce both internal and external theft and avoid unexpected damages.
3. Reduce space
Smaller spaces translate to smaller expenses as they cost less to run and rent. It is much easier to keep a small space warm and they generally come with lower utility bills.
When reducing your warehouse space ensure to optimise your storage to make the most of your new space. Consider the physical layout, warehouse flow, and product placement to help streamline your warehouse operations.
Operating from a smaller base allows warehouse operations to function with lower outgoings while taking advantage of efficient storage solutions to store more in less space.
4. Optimise and refine processes
By optimising warehouse operational processes, you can reduce both labour and equipment costs and benefit from a considerable warehouse cost reduction.
Offering cross-training and continual training support to employees allow them to take on a new workload and improves productivity while saving you from hiring additional staff members.
Consider investing in equipment that has more than one function. It is not cost-effective or energy-efficient to run two pieces of equipment when one can do both jobs.
If you regularly rent tools or equipment, think carefully about how much and how long you need them to attempt to drive back costs. You could even purchase equipment that you use regularly to save money long-term.
5. Motivate employees
Motivating employees focuses on increasing employee retention and productivity. It is less expensive to pay experienced staff than it is to take on new hires and train them.
Use incentives and encouragement to motivate employees and do the job to the best of their ability. Implementing up-to-date systems and optimising inventory management allows employees to do their job efficiently and therefore boosts productivity and performance through different operations in the warehouse.
Warehouse management software allows warehouse managers and warehouse employees to improve accuracy and efficiency while reducing labour and operating costs.
By simplifying and refining warehouse operations, WMS systems help to manage inventory, and storage solutions, increase productivity and improve dispatch efficiency to provide you with an excellent return on investment. To find out more about warehouse management software and how it can be a cost-effective business investment for your warehouse, get in touch today.
