Is a larger warehouse the answer to your problems?
Last weekend I was looking for a tool in my garage and was at my wits end. I couldn’t find what I was searching for and convinced myself that if only I had a bigger garage, I wouldn’t be in this predicament.
Determined, I began pulling everything out and piling it up on the driveway. I found that tool I had been searching for (whew!) and then began reorganizing all of my stuff as I moved it back into the garage. Although I didn’t toss anything out, I found that suddenly, I had much more space available.
Clearly, I didn’t really need a bigger garage. I just needed a better organized one.
This same scenario unfolds in warehouses across the country.
A lot of discussion revolves around space and whether or not there is enough of it. But in many cases what is really needed is just a better, more efficient utility of the existing space. A few key things to consider as you assess your space and determine once and for all if it’s meeting your needs:
- An ergonomics study will put an actionable inventory plan in your hands, showing you how to optimize space and capacity based on the changes that are occurring within your business.
- An obsolete inventory analysis will help you determine what is taking up space in your warehouse that you really can do without.
- An inventory control assessment will help you understand what your inventory processes and metrics are versus what they should be. This assessment will remove the guesswork from the equation and improve the “flow” of your products.
- Maintaining safety stock is important. Knowing how much to maintain is even more important. They key is looking at your demand history and finding the happy medium between ordering too much for comfort’s sake and having enough to satisfy customers. Too much inventory creates balance sheet issues. Too little inventory results in poor customer satisfaction.
Need help?
Call us. Nexterus has invested in some pretty powerful software to automate these assessments and determine if what you’ve got is working, or can work better … or if you actually DO need more space.
Bottom line: don’t jump the gun.
Don’t go out and build or lease a warehouse twice the size of your existing one before you really know how much space you already have and what you can do to maximize its functionality.
And while you are at it, take some time to organize your own garage this weekend. You’ll probably be amazed at how much space you have available in there too, just like I was!
