No matter what your business type or size, if you hold stock on your premises, then it is vital that you have enough stockroom storage capacity, and you have a storage structure that is organised, to allow the efficient movement of stock into and out of your facilities.
Whether you represent a retailer (small independent or multisite), a large customer facing organisation such as a university or hospital, or a dedicated storage facility such as a logistics hub/distribution centre, then a clever strategy and the implementation of the right solutions, ensures that you are getting the maximum yield from your space, and maximising productivity. It also means you can more easily track your stock levels, and identify errors in your stock control and picking systems.
Here are our top tips for implementing the perfect stockroom storage for your organisation.
1. Understand what you need, evaluate your space and inventory
Before you can even begin to look at ways to improve capacity and organisation, you first need to look at the following:
- The types of inventory items you are storing. Understand the size and weight of your goods, together with the perishability and fragility of them.
- The physical space you have available. The size of your storage areas, including their height.
- How you rotate stock, and how your logistics process operates (how do goods come in, and go out).
Depending upon the type of business and the stock you store, you will need storeroom storage systems to fit those individual requirements. For example: within warehouses with pallets and bulk storage, the height of the rooms can be used to maximise space. Within retail back of house, access becomes more of a priority, ensuring space is maximised and that your teams can quickly restock, and access goods to either merchandise or send out to customers.
2. Choose stockroom storage solutions that meet the needs of your space and items
Choosing the right stockroom storage solutions is crucial for ensuring both the efficiency and safety of your stockroom. Rackline’s range of racking, shelving and secure systems, support the diverse needs of customer facing operations, warehouses and distribution environments:
- Shortspan/Archive/Storage Shelving: Perfect for smaller spaces, Archive shelving such as Rackline’s Speedrax can be specified in a huge range of heights, lengths and weight capacities. You can also choose the decking material to suit your environment. Our decks come in timber (chipboard) or galvanised steel.
- Longspan Shelving: For larger items and spaces, a longspan shelving solution could be perfect. Rackline’s Widespan is perfect for any sized items, including more bulky stock items. Perfect for storerooms, but also for smaller items within warehouses.
- Roller Racking: These systems are ideal for smaller stockrooms. These systems remove the aisles associated with static shelving systems, recovering up to 70% more space. See Rackline’s systems here.
- Cantilever Shelving/Racking: These systems are perfect for storing larger, longer or irregularly shaped stock. We’ve installed them to store timber, pipes, rolled textiles and even boats.
- Pallet Racking: Specially designed racking for distribution. These systems are designed and manufactured to store heavy goods at height. Perfect for larger spaces like warehouses and distribution centres where the ceilings are high and goods are moved via forklift.
3. Make the most of your space – Maximise Aisle Space where possible
If you have the space then use it. Within fast moving stock rooms, keep your aisles wide enough for more than one person to work comfortably. This will allow multiple people to pick or restock at the same time. In logistics hubs, wider aisles help accommodate forklifts and other kit without a squeeze.
4. Clear labelling for your storage areas and shelves
Split your storage into zones, by product type, category, brand and so forth. Clearly label your shelving areas to ensure your team can quickly find the items they need. This will aid both retrieval and deposit/restocking. The larger the storage space, and the more items you stock, the more important this becomes.
Talk to our team about your options, we can supply signage and storage items that allow for clear identification of their contents. Good for stock control, and also safety, as more dangerous items can be safely labeled.
5. Use technology to more effectively track your stock
The use of inventory management solutions can quickly streamline the organisation of your stockroom storage. Available as stand alone packages, and as part of many ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solutions they allow you to:
- Track Stock Levels.
- Identify the ideal time to re-order stock, based on real life purchase data.
- Reduce shrinkage, or identify when it is happening.
Inventory management is particularly beneficial within warehouses and organisations that hold a lot of stock across different areas. Further integration with picking systems helps businesses to organise their items more efficiently and improve picking accuracy.
6. Invest in staff training
Another vital component of stock control is the training of your teams. Ensuring your team are aware of the correct way to store and retrieve items, ensures they stay where they need to and doesn’t confuse your stock control system.
Teaching them to use inventory systems effectively will not only speed up operations but ensure that they become part of the system, correcting stock issues and logging changes when they find them.
Teaching them how to use picking machinery machinery effectively, keep them safe and keeps your storage areas running more efficiently.
7. Implement regular inspections
Finally…
Inspections are an essential part of your stockroom storage strategy. With these storage areas often experiencing a lot of traffic, with goods constantly being loaded and unloaded, the shelving systems are exposed to a huge amount of stress. Add to this the potential for damage caused by trolleys, forklifts and other tools, regular inspections are a must.
Regularly inspecting your shelving (especially mobile systems) ensures that it is safe, and operating at its best. It is also important to ensure that goods are stored correctly, seated correctly and with weights distributed safely. Talk to us here about your options.
Find out more
If you’re struggling with the management of a stockroom, warehouse, or distribution centre, then talk to us. We can help you to implement the perfect stockroom storage solutions and systems that will increase efficiency and give you more control over your stock. What’s more, with our maintenance and inspection services, we can help you to keep them running at their best.
If you’re looking for advice, or you have a particular set of solutions in mind then get in touch on: 01782 770144 or fill in the form below and one of our team will be in touch.