Those who study warehouse efficiency have found that 50 - 60% of travel time is wasted in most material handling facilities. The goal is to minimize forklift travel distance and time in ways that prevent product damage and forklift abuse. Here are some common barriers to efficiencies in many warehouses:

• Frequently handled product is separated due to size or storage handling requirements.
• Stock-Keeping Units (SKUs) have proliferated due to increased business.
• New product lines are stored wherever there is room.
• Aisles are congested with equipment, people and product.
• Poor maintenance and floor conditions force detours and slow forklifts down.
• Fleet is too small requiring more round trips on the same forklift.
• Poor lighting reduces travel and order-picking/replenishment speeds.
• Poor warehouse layout causes inefficient workflows or dead-end aisles.

Ways to improve

If you recognized some of these problems at your facility, or you just know you could be more efficient, there are three areas on which to concentrate:

Layout of receiving, storage and shipping

Use a layout of the facility and draw a series of arrows reflecting the way product flows. The best facilities have a good, single-direction flow from receiving to shipping. If your arrows go in different directions, double back or sometimes go opposite to the desired direction, you've identified your problem areas. Work to:

• Minimize travel distances between source and destination
• Reduce forklift and other congestion in high-travel areas
• Improve access to product destinations
• Reduce bottlenecks

Cross-docking? Consider cross-docking products that move rapidly through your facility. Cross-docked inventory isn't stored in the warehouse, but moved from inbound delivery almost directly to outbound shipping. Often some sorting and consolidation is performed in the shipping areas. The best products to cross-dock are generally bar coded with high inventory carrying costs and predictable demands.

Use of space

Because travel time increases when warehouses are short of floor space, consider using more vertical racks or converting to a narrow aisle strategy. This will allow you to get more items in the same facility footprint. It may also help to add racks to side walls, over doors and above thoroughfares (with the use of mezzanines.)

Investigate different kinds of racks for high volume SKUs. Double-deep or drive-in/drive-through racking can make it easier for forklift operators to pick these fast-moving items. Block stacking may be another alternative to consider.

Product positioning

Start with a review of each SKU and SKU group and update the activity on them regularly. Compare the results with where you place the products. You may need to re-slot, using these guidelines:

• Place fast-moving items close to their destinations
• Store fast-moving or heavy products close to ground level to minimize storage-retrieval time
• Balance storage and order-picking locations to minimize congestion in certain aisles
• Move inventory to meet seasonal or fluctuating demands

Many of these space saving and process improving practices gain more impact with warehouse management and inventory tracking systems, but they are effective in their own right.

Remember that our line of Mitsubishi forklift trucks allows you to choose the models that best meet your material handling needs. Your local dealer can help develop the right processes for your warehouse application. Give them a call soon to learn more.