Aim High with Vertical Warehouse Management

Things are looking up. The economy is doing well, consumer confidence is on the rise, unemployment is low, companies are hiring, and inventories are increasing. All of this is great news, and it bodes well for a strong future. As you find yourself with an embarrassment of riches and you need to find a way to make even better use of your existing facilities and resources, consider this strategy: Aim high. Let’s talk about how you can do this with the help of vertical inventory management.

A Strong Foundation

Before we can look up, we need to begin with a strong foundation. Only a strong foundation can last and provide the strength you need to make everything else work on top of it. So think about how you group your products. There are several ways you can go about it. You can put similar-sized items next to each other on the shelf or you can put items that have a similar function together. For example, nuts, bolts, tacks, nails, and screws logically go together, so it makes sense to store them on the same shelf. Assign a spot on every shelf and aisle to all of your products and materials that you track in your inventory, and then you will have a solid base to work off of.

Building Up

Once you have established exactly where you will keep your inventory on the ground level, then you can start thinking higher. Consider putting additional copies of the same items right above the ones at the bottom so that you can easily transfer them down when they get low below. That way, the extra items are both accessible and easy to find. If there is not enough room on the ground level for every type of item in your warehouse, you can handle it by putting higher-selling items on the ground and then stacking slower-selling items above them. This still puts items close together, but some are more readily accessible than others. You will want to use forklifts to move pallets up and down the shelves. The number of forklifts you will need depends on the size of your warehouse, number of workers, and the number of shelving units and items in your warehouse. You might consider separating your warehouse into quadrants and dedicating one forklift to each quadrant, or something of that nature. Use Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse to help you reach new heights in your warehouse management. These solutions will help you reorganize your warehouse to maximize space and boost your efficiency. Get a free trial today and start aiming high with Fishbowl!