Surviving and thriving with a resilient warehouse and strong supply chain

Building a resilient warehouse is not an easy exercise but definitely one worth investing in when it comes to future-proofing your business.  A ‘strong’ warehouse ultimately means a strong business with satisfied customers. When it comes to managing your warehouse in terms of the surge in online sales and ultimately customer fulfilment, implementing a Warehouse Management System (WMS) can save your sanity and make your warehouse resilient enough to ensure your business doesn’t just survive but thrives.

Many warehouse owners and operators know that they need to keep up with the times, improve their efficiency through automation digitisation and modernise their business but a large majority are often slow to look into and implement new solutions.  It has now become more critical than ever to take the step but some are still nervous and even unsure of where to begin the process.

Addressing a few key issues can take you far in your journey to enjoying the benefits of a resilient warehouse, these include:

• Revamping your warehouse layout to achieve the most efficient design for your warehouse space.  This alone can hold incredible outcomes such as improved accessibility to inventory, better flow and movement and even a safer warehouse environment which all contribute to your business’ success at the end of the day.  You can also build in layout options for future growth and scaling of your business and expansion of your operation and warehouse.
• Inventory forecasting thanks to data collection within an automated WMS – knowing what items are selling and which aren’t is key to making a resilient warehouse… being able to use data collected to facilitate inventory forecasting is crucial when it comes to keeping your shelves stocked with in-demand items and freeing up space.
• Streamlined picking processes can save you huge amounts of time and as they say ‘time is money’.  Picking is one of the most time consuming, labour intensive, laborious tasks and often leads to expensive errors.  One of the benefits of installing a WMS is that your picking process can be made far more efficient and accurate thanks to using RFID tags and 
• A modern packaging process – when it comes to packaging of orders, modernising your warehouse process can mean an accurate and fast packaging process – getting it packaged right, first-time, every time.
• Real-time tracking of orders using RFID tags or barcodes coupled with a warehouse management system makes for better control in the challenging, yet crucial process of getting goods out the warehouse and to the customer.
• Implementing a ‘reverse logistics’ process – perfected through using your WMS, can be an attractive added bonus for customers who are looking for an excellent process for returns which impacts the customer experience and in turn, your bottom line.  Offering customers the opportunity to track their return in ‘real time’ gives an added element of assurance to your process and the crucial ‘last mile’ of the supply chain journey.

The management of warehouses and supply chains has tested managers to their limits over the past few years but it has also meant that those in the industry have learned some invaluable lessons.  All that has been learned will stand them in good stead when working on fortifying their warehouses and supply chains and making them resilient enough to survive the next round of challenges and keep their businesses going well into the future.

“We know that our world class WMS together with the expert knowledge and experience of our QWIX supply chain consulting team gives us the winning formula when it comes to warehouse and supply chain management and we thrive on sharing this with our clients. We then, in turn, get to share with them the joy of their success and growth,” says Sean van Harmelen of QWIX.

“A resilient warehouse and operation makes your business more efficient and productive and at the end of the day you will achieve better overall results.”

QWIX can help you to guide you in the process of modernising your warehouse and handling the challenges your supply chain and business may face in 2023 and the future – contact the QWIX team today.