There are generally two types of warehouses: clean and messy. What do the best warehouses do to stay clean and organized?
Consider what a warehouse does: it receives and stores inventory, with the intent to distribute inventory to customers in most cases. Therefore, it tends to accumulate a lot of goods, and goods need to be organized. However, many warehouses easily become disorganized, full of clutter. That’s no good.
A Commitment From All Workers
In order to have a clean, organized warehouse, the people who work there have to decide they care about cleaning, and then actually do the cleaning required. It’s not just a once-a-month thing, either; it’s every day. It comes down to picking up a gum wrapper off the floor when walking by it, because if little things like that get ignored, pretty soon the whole place will be messy.
Properly Tracking Operations Flow
Smart warehouses track their operations flow and then look to see where clutter tends to build-up– that way they know to pay extra special attention to cleaning and organizing those specific areas. Meanwhile, they set goals and have a cleaning calendar. That way, tasks are assigned and given priority on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. For instance, perhaps sweeping floors every night is on the calendar, while wiping down machinery is “every Friday at 10.” Writing down tasks and displaying these tasks will help workers focus on cleaning/organizing jobs, while also helping to establish routines that’ll help maintain the place.
Offering the Right Incentives
Workers will do a good job cleaning and organizing when their work is noticed, applauded, and/or rewarded. Offering incentives never hurts! Making cleaning supplies readily available and accessible makes getting the job done easier. For some warehouses, they ask workers “How can we improve operations?” and then get great feedback, which can lead to revised floor plans and more efficiency overall.
Basically, caring about what goes where and how it’s taken care of will determine how clean and organized a warehouse truly is. When the majority of workers in a warehouse are on the same page about making sure the place looks good and runs great, then that warehouse is a success.
If you’re looking for clean and organized warehouses you can trust, learn how Affiliated Warehouse Companies can help.
