With the impact of Covid-19 and the looming Brexit transition, storage demand within the healthcare environment has reached record levels. Everything from regularly scheduled shipments to emergency PPE to the impending wholesale rollout of the coronavirus vaccine has placed significant pressure on healthcare warehousing in West Yorkshire, and throughout the UK.
It’s clear that warehouses and storage facilities need to optimise warehouse operations to improve efficiency and keep costs at a manageable level.
But just how can businesses make sure that they have sufficient warehouse capacity to handle the impending changes that 2021 will bring?
Here are five tips for optimising warehouse capacity in the coming year.
Organise Products to Meet Warehouse Layout
Some healthcare products have a small spatial footprint. Others do not. This means that warehouses need to make sure that how and where they choose to store their inventory needs to be carefully considered.
This is especially important for healthcare products. Why? Well, for one healthcare professionals always need an efficient supply chain to make sure that they can get the equipment they need to treat patients. Secure storage and efficient logistics are the backbone of medical distribution – and something that will take centre stage as the UK beings the largest vaccine rollout in generations.
Use Fixed Organisation
There are two ways that warehouses organise their inventory: fixed and random. Can you guess which is more efficient?
Fixed organisation applies a system that maximises space and efficiently organises your inventory. It optimises warehouse space and makes it much easier to retrieve products.
Random organisation (or storing products where there is space) is a haphazard way of utilising warehouse storage. Worse still, taking a random approach to healthcare storage can hold up supply chains because specific products will be more difficult to locate.
Eliminate Excess Inventory
Having a warehouse that’s swelled with inventory isn’t always a good thing, especially if much of the product is never distributed. Healthcare innovation often leaves previously essential products redundant and what are you left with? Aisle after aisle of excess inventory.
Now, of course some products will always be in high demand. But for those products that are not, be decisive. Eliminating excess inventory is the key to maximising your healthcare storage. Moreover, this will help businesses to save money and increase profitability. Why? Your warehouse will consistently ship product that’s in demand.
Consider Future Trends
Okay, so this requires a bit of forecasting. However, get it right and you’ll optimise your warehouse no end. In 2021 there’s likely to be a huge demand for efficient storage and streamlined logistics of the Covid-19 vaccine. There’s also likely to be a rise in the demand for products like syringes to administer the vaccine.
Having a dedicated section of your warehouse with secure storage that’s both easy to access and meticulously organised is a supply chain requisite.
Also, don’t forget that the Covid-19 vaccine isn’t the only trend on the horizon. Progressive warehousing operations factor in future trends of all kinds. Do this and you’ll have a fully optimised warehouse that promotes operational efficiency today and in the future.
Relocate Frequently Shipped Products
Your products that are shipped frequently should be in an easy-to-assess and move location. No warehouse operative wants to go trudging across the entire warehouse to find the same item(s) three, four, ten or twenty times a day!
By storing such item(s) in a convenient location, your warehouse team can access them easier and quicker, improving warehouse efficiency.
Optimising Warehouse Storage Capacity Is Simple… When You Know How
With a bit of thought optimising your warehouse storage capacity can be achieved with ease! Now you’ve read our five tips tell us something, is your warehouse storage space fully optimised?
