Consumer Products Warehouse Solutions for Speed and Safety
Warehouses that carry consumer products are meeting increasing demand. According to a report by the Consumer Brands Association, demand for consumer products hit a record high in September of 2021, with a growth of 8.3% since the same period in the previous year. With higher demand comes new challenges, and companies need updated warehouse solutions to thrive in a dynamic market.
Improved speed and safety mean operations can be more cost and time-efficient, saving warehouses considerable resources. This guide can help product warehouse managers keep updated on industry changes to develop effective solutions for satisfying customer demands and staying ahead.
Jump to Sections:
- 8 Common Consumer Product Warehouse Challenges
- 5 Solutions to Increase Speed and Efficiency
- 5 Solutions to Increase Worker Safety
- Why Choose Cherry’s Industrial Equipment?
- Contact Cherry’s Today
8 Common Consumer Product Warehouse Challenges
As continued spikes in demand change the landscape of the consumer products industry, warehouses know they need to find strategies for optimizing the supply chain. Yet increased consumer demand is just one of the developments affecting warehouse operations. Here are some of the top issues facing the consumer products industries:
1. Lack of Space
Higher demand for all kinds of consumer products, from clothing to groceries to cleaning supplies, generates a higher influx of orders into warehouses. These facilities have to cope with a greater volume of materials shipping in and out of the warehouse without a greater physical storage capacity. A limited space puts constraints on business growth if warehouses cannot meet demand promptly.
Warehouse layout for consumer products manufacturers must maximize the building’s layout so employees can pack and ship more efficiently. Workers can stack materials on shelving racks and stackable pallets to make use of vertical space along with floor footage. Without procedures for adapting warehouse space to meet heightened demand, warehouses may fall behind on shipping deadlines and lose customers in the process.
2. Inefficient Equipment
Keeping pace with evolving demands requires warehouses to utilize more sophisticated systems and equipment. Managers may bring on more workers to handle increased order volume, and training workers on unnecessarily complicated machines can take valuable time. It might make sense for a warehouse to invest in simpler machinery that takes less time for new workers to learn.
Outdated machines can also cause problems for facilities seeking to increase their efficiency. Older versions of equipment are likely less efficient and may not integrate with certain warehouse management systems. Updated equipment boosts system productivity and saves workers from taking extra steps. Newer equipment is also usually more straightforward to repair, whereas outdated machines might need difficult-to-find parts.
3. Imprecise Warehouse Location and Monitoring
The coronavirus pandemic has illuminated the need to source products closer to the end consumer. When warehouses are located far from consumers, the cost of transporting goods increases. Nearshoring allows companies to pivot to deliver products more readily to the point of sale, providing greater resiliency when consumer demands shift.
Inconvenient warehouse locations introduce another difficulty — monitoring daily operations. Increased consumer demand calls for around-the-clock adaptability from every step of the supply chain, which is impossible to maintain if supervisors don’t carefully oversee warehouse operations. Without a comprehensive monitoring system in place, managers and operators will have trouble understanding the root of any issue along the supply chain, leading to backed-up shipping.
4. Inaccurate Inventory
Keeping a steady eye on inventory levels is key to meeting customer demands. Warehouses want to accurately and swiftly fill orders to meet customers’ expectations. On top of this, if inventory is inaccurate, items could be over-ordered, and customers will experience unnecessary delays. Many warehouses also work with multiple vendors and have a complicated inflow of materials to tag and track. When items are inaccessible, employees waste steps trying to find the products they need for an order.
A warehouse management system (WMS) can harmonize the picking process and stock levels to eliminate time wasted searching for items. The versatility of WMS solutions has led to their widespread use, with one study finding that 83% of warehouses use a WMS. Warehouse management systems can do everything from indicating the precise location of an item on the warehouse floor to maintaining accurate stock levels so warehouses can avoid overstocking or running out.
5. Unnecessary Operations
A significant way to improve productivity in consumer products warehouse operations is to eliminate unnecessary actions. Many warehouses suffer from unnecessary procedures that add extra steps and cause delays. Spending too much effort on low-impact activities stunts productivity and keeps workers from maximizing their time.
Unnecessary procedures can creep into every aspect of warehouse operations, from pallet handling to filling orders and managing paperwork. Think about consolidating the layout when considering how to design a consumer products warehouse. Any step that is not streamlined costs the warehouse time and money that they could use on more pressing tasks.
6. Unwieldy Products
Bulky orders pose a problem for warehouse storage. Whether consumers order a bulk-sized quantity of a typically smaller item or purchase a difficult-to-store item such as a luxury vehicle, warehouses need creative solutions for unwieldy products. Sometimes, workers can store these items in taller storage racks or on stackable pallets.
Large products can also be challenging to move across the warehouse floor and package for shipment. Because of their weight, they need to be handled by multiple employees or special equipment. Warehouses should consider warehouse layout tips for the consumer products industry to make good use of floor space. Managers also need to choose the proper packaging to avoid paying additional costs for transportation.
7. Worker Injuries
Workplace injuries are one of the most dreaded events that can happen on the warehouse floor. Because of repetitive movements like constantly lifting and moving heavy items, warehouse employees are prone to back and neck injuries. An injury like this can cost an employee days off, lost wages and medical bills.
Higher demands on productivity levels can also create pressure to cut safety corners, as employees may feel that they will not reach production goals if they slow down to take precautions. Breaches of safety protocols can be life-threatening and stall warehouse operations, leading to loss of efficiency and a higher rate of workers’ compensation claims.
8. Supply Shortages
Recent delays in supply chain efficiency have led to a global shortage of goods across industries. A scarcity coupled with increased demand has made everything from laptops to food items difficult to find on shelves. For warehouses, a unique challenge is a shortage of wooden pallets due to higher costs of lumber, which more than quadrupled between May 2020 and May 2021.
According to the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association, an estimated 1.8 billion pallets are used in the United States. A recent industry survey found that 94% of these pallets in use are made of wood. With wooden pallets in such widespread use, their soaring cost heavily impacts the bottom lines of manufacturers and warehouses across the country.
5 Solutions to Increase Speed and Efficiency
With these and other challenges facing the consumer products industry, the demands on consumer products warehouses are shifting. Consumer products warehouse solutions will need to include innovative ways to cut costs, increase efficiency and solve supply shortages. With custom machine solutions from Cherry’s Industrial Equipment, warehouses can rise to the changing needs and make significant improvements to streamline operations. Here are a few solutions for how to improve consumer products warehouse efficiency:
1. Custom Machine Solutions
Every consumer products processing warehouse layout is unique, and each facility has specific needs regarding the materials it handles. Your warehouse may need a custom-fit solution to promote the most efficient workflow if ready-made equipment solutions aren’t getting the job done. Utilizing individualized equipment is one of the best storage and shipping solutions for consumer products warehouse operation because it provides an excellent return on investment. Warehouses can increase productivity when they use equipment specifically designed for their needs.
Cherry’s offers uniquely designed solutions to solve workflow issues in any warehousing facility. We manufacture custom-engineered equipment that is designed to address 100% of the challenges your company faces.
2. Plastic Pallets
Because wooden pallets are becoming a costly option for warehouses, more facilities are exploring the option of plastic pallets. Whether exporting heavy materials or storing perishable materials like food and pharmaceutical products, plastic pallets are an efficient choice for packaging and organizing many kinds of products.
Plastic pallets are a solution to several of the issues that consumer products warehouses encounter. These pallets are made of heavy-duty plastic and can handle bulky loads and high pressures. For example, Cherry’s PT 4048 Stackable Plastic Pallets can hold up to 30,000-pound static loads. These pallets are hygienic, don’t produce splinters and have a longer shelf life than wooden pallets.
3. Lift Tables and Pallet Changers
Work assist lift tables are a great way to improve productivity in consumer products warehouses. These processing platforms lift or lower materials to the right height for performing everyday warehouse operations like cutting, dumping or lifting, helping reduce workplace-related injuries. Employees can raise the lift table to the height they need to pack orders, empty boxes or rotate a load for easier access. The lifting feature allows employees to maximize their time and make fewer movements while handling loads.
Pallet Changers are another piece of equipment needed for consumer products industry production. Workers can use this machinery to transfer loads from pallet to pallet without lifting a box themselves. These equipment solutions reduce labor costs by completing a job in less time than manual effort.
4. Pallet Inverters
During warehouse operations, employees often need to rotate, transfer and lift multiple pallets. Pallet Inverters can rotate loads 180 degrees in less than a minute for more efficient load transfer, eliminating the need for extra manual labor. Pallet exchanges or pallet replacements are easier to accomplish and take less time with warehouse solutions like pallet inverters.
Loads of various heights and weights require different pallet inverter designs. For example, a facility without access to extra equipment like a forklift could benefit from ground-loading inverters. For a customer products warehouse that handles materials of varying heights, Cherry’s dual clamp inverters are an ideal choice because of their wide clamping range.
5. Washing Equipment
Many kinds of consumer products, like chemicals or food products, can create unsafe or unsanitary conditions if the packaging is damaged. Accidents and spills can require workers to clean or disinfect equipment to prevent cross-contamination and the spread of bacteria. Maintaining a hygienic working environment benefits warehouse workers and supports material integrity.
Cherry’s provides a range of washing solutions for consumer product warehouses to keep your products clean.
5 Solutions to Increase Worker Safety
The most recent statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2018, laborers moving freight and materials had the highest number of workplace injuries involving musculoskeletal disorders of any occupational sector. Workplace injuries are often costly and always decrease efficiency.
Fortunately, overextending muscles during work operations can be avoided with the help of safety solutions. Ergonomics, the process of adjusting a job’s physical demands to the worker, is a good way to lessen muscle strain and increase productivity. Warehouse managers can implement several solutions for improving workplace ergonomics and reducing injuries.
1. Provide Support
When considering how to keep workers safe on the job, management should offer clear support of worker safety procedures. Management must communicate new worker safety initiatives and objectives to get workers’ input and open a conversation around improving processes. A strong commitment to workplace safety will encourage employees and lead to productivity in operations.
2. Train Employees
Adequate training is a vital way to improve warehouse safety. When workers are unfamiliar with equipment used in warehousing, accidents and injuries are much more likely to happen. A complete training process ensures workers are aware of potential workplace hazards, know how to avoid them and understand the benefits of working ergonomically. Training workers sufficiently on new equipment empowers them to work safely.
3. Identify Problems
Managers concerned with safety should actively search for potential workplace hazards. Some potential dangers may be unavoidable, while others could result from uncommon situations or carelessness. Regardless of the causes of risks, managers should try to minimize worker exposure.
Supervisors can walk around the warehouse floor and stay alert to risks such as disorganized materials, damaged pallets and improperly stored products. It is also helpful to seek worker input, as employees may be more aware of the potentially harmful situations they encounter routinely.
4. Implement Safety Solutions
Once warehouse management is aware of the hazards within the workplace, they can develop a safety plan for protecting workers and maximizing efficiency. A safety plan may involve procedures for dealing with adverse conditions or steps for safely completing a task.
Warehouses can also implement equipment solutions for the consumer products industry. Equipment maximized for safety reduces the risk of harm to manual laborers. With increased automation, machines can complete many tasks that once only workers could accomplish. For instance, it used to take multiple employees working together to dump the contents of a barrel or box, which are often awkward to handle. With equipment like box and barrel dumpers, manufacturers and warehouses can rotate and empty containers more efficiently and safely.
5. Aim for Continuous Improvement
Improving the safety of a warehouse is not a one-time objective. Safety improvement requires continual attention to detail and monitoring. Once a warehouse puts a safety plan and solutions in place, it needs to determine the success of its efforts. If certain goals fail to bring desired results, a new safety plan may need to be determined.
Why Choose Cherry’s Industrial Equipment?
In a challenging market that places many demands on warehouse operations and staff, consumer products warehouses need equipment solutions to keep up with increasing demands and supply chain hurdles. Cherry’s Industrial Equipment has over 35 years of experience providing high-quality equipment for warehousing and manufacturing facilities.
Whether prefabricated or custom-engineered for your specific warehouse, Cherry’s product lines stand up to industry pressures and increase warehouse efficiency while saving valuable time. With professional post-sales support including maintenance programs and onsite services, Cherry’s skilled Service Department provides technical support to help you keep your equipment in top shape.
Contact Cherry’s Today
Cherry’s Industrial Equipment is here to serve all your consumer product handling needs. Cherry’s offers a complete range of products and services from custom engineering, installation, maintenance and repair. With equipment solutions to handle all kinds of warehousing projects, we can help you reduce human error, maximize space and boost overall efficiency.
If you are interested in efficient equipment solutions for your consumer products warehouse, contact Cherry’s online today to see how your company can benefit from our line of products.
