5 Tips To Prepare Your Warehouse For Peak Season

5 Tips To Prepare Your Warehouse For Peak Season

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The holidays are upon us, which means your warehouse is likely gearing up for a flurry of activity. November and December tend to be the busiest times of the year for the warehousing industry. In 2018, Cyber Monday generated $7.9 billion in online sales—making it the biggest sales day in the history of U.S. eCommerce.

Today, many consumers prefer to do their holiday shopping online as opposed to waiting in line in a store. Instead of dropping off products in bulk at a local retailer, warehouses all over the country must now deliver products to individual consumers all over the country. Whether you plan on partnering with national couriers like UPS or delivering these products yourself, optimizing your warehouse for peak season will help you and your team prepare for the holiday rush. It’s all about getting orders out on time and stocking your inventory accordingly, or your customers may not have what they need for the big celebration.

Also Read: From Where Can I Get The Best Cyber Monday Deals

With so much riding on the holiday season, your business can’t afford to wing it. The holiday season now accounts for around 20 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales, and it is often responsible for up to 30 percent of some individual retailers’ total sales. Regardless of what’s being stored in your warehouse or what holiday you celebrate, use these tips to get your warehouse ready for the peak season.

Get Preventative Maintenance Out of the Way

Nearly every warehouse depends on some form of technology, including forklifts, barcode scanners, inventory tracking software and automated technology like pickers and stockers, but there’s always a chance this technology could fail when you need it most. Nothing will slow down your warehouse like a broken piece of equipment. Routine processes that would normally take just a few minutes may now take the better part of an hour, delaying your operations in more ways than one.

That’s why it’s best to get your preventative maintenance out of the way before the peak rush arrives. Preventative maintenance is designed to address potential mechanical issues before they disrupt your operations. Instead of waiting for a piece of equipment to fail, you can take it offline when it’s not in use and make sure it’s running properly. If you’re unfamiliar with the mechanics of your machinery, schedule an onsite visit with a technician as soon as possible. It may be difficult to get someone in the warehouse at the height of peak season.

Man Checking The Products

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Manually Inspect Your Inventory

Inventory tracking systems aren’t always 100 percent accurate. While they can help you predict inventory shortages, there’s a chance that the number of products in the system isn’t the same as the number of products on the shelf. Before the rush heats up, have your team conduct a manual inspection of your inventory so you can address any discrepancies in the system.

When products start flying off the shelf, a small miscalculation or inaccurate readings can throw your entire warehouse into chaos. Your team may need to retrieve products that aren’t actually there, or excess inventory may start piling up around your warehouse. Without an accurate count of your inventory, there’s a good chance you may end up disappointing some of your customers.

Optimize Slotting Based on Seasonal Demand

Product slotting refers to how you organize your inventory on the shelf. Without a coherent system in place, your team may have trouble retrieving the products they need and sending them out for delivery.

To speed up the order fulfillment process, keep your best-selling items close to the loading dock. Invest in the proper rack systems to organize your inventory. Break up dissimilar items with bins and plastic totes so your team can find what they need as quickly as possible.

When you organize your fulfillment center with stack racks, your team can quickly scan their surroundings and find the items they need without second-guessing themselves. Divide your stack racks into different zones or sections based on SKU numbers and product types. Use labels and proper signage to point your team in the right direction.

Containers like wire baskets for storage help keep your warehouse flexible during the busy season. Use mesh containers to keep your products visible. Wheeled containers make it easier to move your inventory. It’s all about finding the right type of container for your business.

Inside Warehouse

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Consider Moving Less Popular Inventory Offsite

As you start stocking up on some of your most popular products, you may run out of space in your warehouse. If some of your products tend to sit on the shelf during the holiday season, consider moving some of your inventory offsite to make more room in your facility. Your team won’t have to visually scan as many products on the shelf and everyone will have more room to focus on the task at hand. You won’t have to worry as much about team members knocking into each other, accidentally damaging your products, or running out of shelf space when you need it most.

Streamline Order Fulfillment to Limit Product Touches

You can also adjust your operations and the order fulfillment process to get packages out the door as fast as possible. If your customers tend to order the same item over and over again, store popular items in the loading dock. Invest in cross-docking so you don’t have to waste time putting popular items back on the shelf. Create a temporary gift-wrapping station to give your team more room when preparing packages.

The nature of your business will likely change over the next several months. Use your warehouse management software to get a better sense of what your customers will be buying this holiday season. You can then adjust your operations accordingly.

Preparing for the holiday season all depends on what your customers are looking for. Use data and previous seasons to better optimize your warehouse for the coming rush. Once the peak season is over, you can put your warehouse back the way it was.

How To Organise Storage Cabinets

How To Organise Storage Cabinets

Storage Cabinets

Storage cabinets are a common sight in workspaces all over the world and with office life being so fast-paced and ever-changing, it is important to keep storage cabinets properly maintained and organised in order to ensure they remain an efficient work tool.

Practical steps can be taken to keep every type of storage cabinet in order, whether it is a standard office supply cabinet, an overhead cabinet or something else. There are a number of tips that can help people to ensure their storage cabinets remain organised in the workplace.

What is the storage cabinet for?

To get the most from a storage cabinet it is important to identify precisely how it is going to be used within the workplace. Is it going to be used for the storage of files, company awards, old magazines, office supplies or something else? Is the cabinet intended for one primary function such as office supplies or a variety of different functions? Who will be allowed to gain access to the cabinet? Will it contain sensitive information?

The layout of the storage cabinet will be greatly influenced by the answer to such questions.

How will the storage cabinet be laid out?

Once you know how the storage cabinet is going to be used, you will then be able to work out where particular items can be stored inside the cabinet. It is a good idea to draw possible layouts to determine the most appropriate fit for the requirements of your workplace. RS Components are highly recommended as they have a wide range of options to suit any need.

Moreover, Materials can be dedicated to particular drawers, trays and shelves, with items that are used regularly positioned at arm or eye level, and those used less regularly either above or below. Exercise care when items are being balanced in the storage cabinet, with heavier items going toward the bottom and lighter ones nearer to the top.

Organisation

The next step is to spend some time on the organisation of the materials that will go in the storage cabinet. Any existing items should be removed to ensure there is plenty of space and gather up any extra items you are intending to store in the storage cabinet. Put like with like, for example putting all files with other files etc.

Items can be replaced into the storage cabinet as is, or storage solutions implemented such as upright folders, trays, boxes, folders and cups to keep everything contained and organised.

Regularly maintain your storage cabinet

A storage cabinet needs to be kept in the best possible condition by performing regular maintenance. Just doing maintenance for a couple of minutes every week can prevent the storage cabinet from becoming cluttered and badly organised.

Do a daily or weekly inspection of the storage cabinet to make sure all of the materials within are in order, and realign, refile or replace as necessary. Never use the storage cabinet as a dumping ground for every type of office material, storing within it only the items that really belong there. Find another storage solution for different items.

A well-organised storage cabinet is an essential tool for many workplaces.

4 Benefits Of Using A PC Case For Your Personal Computer

4 Benefits Of Using A PC Case For Your Personal Computer

Benefits Of Using A PC Case For Your Personal Computer

Personal computers are pretty expensive and require quite the maintenance to ensure a long life. Hence, in addition to getting their fan checked and getting regular service checks, you must use a PC case for your personal computer.

A PC case is essentially a casing for the CPU of your personal computer that surrounds it and is beneficial in more ways than one such as the HYTE’s ITX PC Case. Given below are four benefits of using a PC case for your personal computer:

1. PC cases help protect computers

PC cases help protect your personal computers from gathering dust and safeguard them from any unfortunate liquid spills. If you eat around your computer more often than you should, a PC case is essential in ensuring that a food spill doesn’t hurt your systems. If you have pets running around your personal computer, a PC case would help ensure that there is no mutual harm done when your pet collides with or plays around on your PC.

A PC case helps enclose all components of the CPU of your personal computer and ensures that it doesn’t come in contact with anything harmful.

Also Read: How To Check Windows Capability

2. PC cases help in compliance

For businesses that use personal computers in their offices and server rooms, they would want nothing or no one to mess with their servers. Businesses could suffer at the hands of unfaithful employees and hackers who are looking to physically steal company and customer data from their servers using predatory USB attachments or erasing important company information for competitive purposes.

To protect both company data and sensitive customer information from leaking out, governments usually set standards for PC and server security that companies have to follow. PC cases hence help ensure compliance with government regulations.

3. PC cases help maintain the computer’s temperature

When personal computers are placed on their own in their designated cabinets, while there may be space for heat to evaporate from the back and the sides of the cabinet, the heat produced on the bottom of the CPU stays put and gets trapped under it over the time of use. This may heat the CPU and also lead to system failure. In addition to that, regular cabinets do not have the storage systems for your computer’s wires, and tangled wires can also lead to limiting the airflow in your PC.

PC cases help detangle wires in dedicated spaces and can be mounted on walls which allow air to pass from all designated spaces in your CPU and avoid a potential heat-up.

4. PC cases help you save space

When a personal computer is placed without a PC case, the CPU is either placed on the ground or in a cabinet that tends to take up a lot of floor space. However, PC cases can house your CPU and mount it on a wall. Not only does this save essential space, but also makes your personal computer look organized and helps in maintaining its temperatures to ensure cooling.

For spaces that are congested and feature multiple CPUs, such as an office, server rooms, or call centers, PC cases are crucial in helping you save space.

Conclusion

PC cases are an essential part of your personal computer and are very useful in multiple contexts. They help protect your PC from gathering dust, keep its temperature low, help ensure compliance with government standards, and help you save space. Hence, if you have a personal computer that you are using as it is, it may be time to invest in a PC case. Not only do PC cases serve multiple purposes, but they also look great.