The “Amazon Effect” is changing business models. Even the B2B space has been disrupted by the behemoth digital marketplace. Making smart decisions with industrial storage can help meet key business challenges.
Industrial customers expect accelerated product delivery and demonstrate a greater willingness to walk away in the face of mistakes. Also, in the current climate, every industry is seeking to corral costs while expanding agility. Cost efficiencies can be found by addressing key challenges such as optimizing space, enhancing ergonomics, improving accuracy and securing inventory. This article addresses each challenge specifically offering the industrial storage solution to help.
Challenge 1: Optimizing Space.
Floor space is a big investment for a business. Taking up a valuable footprint for inventory can be a painful necessity. As inventory grows, floor space shrinks. This brings added challenges:
- Cramped storage
- Smaller work areas
- Difficulty managing inventory
- Inefficiencies in accessing and distributing inventory
- More inventory mistakes
Ease the pain by making the most of the footprint used for inventory.
Solution: Organize your parts, materials or product to reclaim valuable floor space using automated vertical storage. Incorporating a Vertical Carousel or Vertical Lift Module (VLM) can eliminate the need for excess storage space.
Footprint dedicated to inventory can be reduced by up to 80% with all current storage methods compressed into one vertical solution. You can use the freed-up floor space for additional services, a new product line or other revenue-generating activity.
Challenge 2: Enhancing Ergonomics.
Worker wellbeing is always a priority. Yet even picking or accessing parts, inventory or merchandise can take a physical toll. The walking, stooping and climbing employees are doing can increase their risk of injury.
When items are stored too high or too low, or people need to contort themselves into crazy positions to get at something, it takes extra time and effort too. That negatively impacts productivity. Though not as bad as actually losing a warehouse worker to injury, which also hurts bottom line.
For optimal handling efficiency, your inventory needs to be accessible in the ergonomic “golden zone.” No, we’re not suggesting you paint your pallets gold (though you can do that if you want). The golden zone refers to the area between mid-thigh and mid-chest where it is ergonomically best for your workers.
Too many storage options, such as traditional shelving or bins, think only about optimizing space. That can leave your staff stretching awkwardly and having to stoop to lift.
Solution: You can deliver needed items directly to the operator’s ergonomic golden zone using automated vertical storage. The Hänel Rotomat® Vertical Carousel or Lean-Lift® Vertical Lift Module eliminates the need to walk, stoop, climb and carry. Stretch your storage dollar without straining workers while saving floor space.
Challenge 3: Improving Accuracy.
Customer expectations for order fulfillment have evolved. Today, the customer wants product delivered right away, flawlessly. You must be able to rapidly and accurately pick and deliver products. Making a mistake is costly.
Yet maintaining efficient warehouse processes is challenging. In one study, 34 percent of businesses reported they had shipped an order late because they inadvertently sold a product that was not in stock. Plus, the worldwide cost of inventory distortion (including shrinkage, stockouts, and overstock) is an estimated $1.1 Trillion.
Inventory visibility and accuracy are key, and the right industrial storage can help. When inventory is packed intelligently (e. g., by volume, type, size, weight, SKU, etc.) into bins or trays, employees can rapidly retrieve the parts they need from a single location.
Solution: Hänel technology enables you to track and manage inventory for better accuracy and efficiency. Avoid mistakes, shortages or overstocking with tech-assisted inventory delivery via an automated vertical storage system.
An automated vertical storage system helps improve the business bottom line through:
- Increasing inventory accuracy by up to 99%
- Reducing costly shortages and overstocks
- Avoiding the occurrence of errors
- Improving employee accountability by tracking access to inventory
Automated vertical storage can transform your storage room or warehouse into a productivity center that helps power your business and grows your bottom line. With fewer time-consuming manual touchpoints, you can reduce waste, improve accuracy and boost employee productivity.
Challenge 4: Securing Inventory
Parts and inventory are the lifeblood of the industry. But they can also be your organization’s greatest risk. Damaged or misplaced merchandise due to haphazard storage and poor inventory management is costly. So is an inability to locate the right item when it’s needed.
Then there’s employee theft. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, “employee dishonesty costs American business in excess of $50 billion annually.” Selecting industrial storage with security features in mind can improve efficiency and accuracy while also reducing inventory shrinkage.
Solution: Automated vertical storage can help you ensure inventory security. The system automation disperses the precise inventory requested — and only those parts or products. Further, the vertical storage system minimizes the number of employees who touch or handle parts or merchandise. And you can track which users are retrieving what from storage.
Although this article has focused on four big challenges facing the industry today, we should also point out Hänel vertical storage solutions support workplace health initiatives. Automated vertical storage systems can help limit the spread of bacteria and viruses from person to person.
Industrial storage solutions address the challenges your business faces today. Automated vertical industrial storage optimizes floor space, enhances ergonomics, improves accuracy and efficiency while helping to ensure inventory security. These benefits can also boost the business bottom line by improving employee morale and customer satisfaction too.
