It's official: Boxstorm is now Fishbowl Drive
It's official: Boxstorm is now Fishbowl Drive
Every warehouse manager aims to increase their warehouse’s efficiency and productivity while reducing expenses. So what would you say if we told you could achieve all of these goals by purchasing some additional equipment for your warehouse?
You’d likely think it sounds completely counterintuitive for us to suggest that you need to spend money to make money. However, investing in practical equipment is an effective way to support greater efficiency and productivity, and save costs in the long run.
Why? When you use equipment that doesn’t properly accommodate the needs of your warehouse, or you make it harder for your employees to complete their jobs in an efficient manner, you’re working against the goals you’ve set.
If you’d like to learn more, read on to discover three additions to your warehouse that are worth every cent.
We know what you’re probably thinking – “I already have racks in my warehouse.” But not all racks are made the same, so investing in state-of-the-art warehouse racks will make a huge difference to your warehouse operations. Chances are that you’ve continued to use the same racks since the day your warehouse opened its doors. There’s also a good chance the nature of your warehouse’s operations or even the products you supply have changed since years past.
It makes sense, then, that you would update your warehouse racks to better suit your warehouse’s particular needs. What’s more, purchasing more optimal rack systems will make a substantial impact on your employees’ productivity levels, as well as address any safety concerns that come from using the wrong types of racks. A definite “two birds one stone” situation!
While we’re on the topic of racks, when it comes to additions that are well worth the money, you can’t go past high-quality warehouse rack labels. What better way to help your employees be efficient than to make sure all of the racks in your warehouse are clearly labeled?
Just like racks, labels aren’t all the same. High-quality labels are durable, long-lasting, and provide more information and functionality than simply identifying the item at hand. For example, Camcode offers labels with graphic elements that help to avoid confusion and improve functionality. If you’re often moving the location of products around your warehouse, or you regularly have a flow of different products come in, magnetic labels that can be easily relocated are perfect for your case. There are even labels specially designed to withstand sub-zero environments.
As you may be realizing, it’s important to get the right label for the right purpose. Using the wrong label will create confusion, lead to greater inefficiency, and cost you more money in the long run when you need to replace them on the regular.
Also called voice-directed warehousing (VDW), pick by voice, and speech-based picking, a voice picking system is “a paperless, hands-free, and eyes-free system that employs easy-to-understand voice prompts to direct warehouse operators to picking locations, and to instruct them in picking tasks,” according to 6 River Systems. They work best for warehouses that have a large number of SKUs, and are suitable for applications like picking for kit assembly, cold storage, or full case picking.
Voice picking systems have become a popular addition to warehouses because of the high level of functionality they offer. From shorter training time compared to traditional picking to boosted accuracy and productivity, you may wonder how you got by without one!
Moreover, they offer a critical safety benefit, as they are made to “keep warehouse operators’ hands and eyes free: they don’t have to glance down, hit buttons, or complete any other system tasks that could otherwise distract them from picking.” Reducing incidents in the warehouse should always be a top priority, so investing in a voice picking system is one useful means of doing so.
