Typically, warehouses are not performing slowly due to the lack of effort from the team or limitations in the size of the building. They operate slowly because a person is required to walk the same 40 feet repeatedly during a shift to access three specific products. When you solve the walking issue, you also address the majority of the issues related to shipping.
Start With Where Things Sit, Not How Fast People Move
Before you even think about software or staffing, just look at the physical blueprint. Run an ABC analysis on your SKUs – i.e., determine which items account for the bulk of your sales, regardless of how “important” the other items might be to your overall business. Put the fastest-moving stuff (Class A) as close to your packers as possible. This probably isn’t a mind-blowing revelation for you. It should be, but it isn’t.
Your inventory likely arrived at your door and got slid into an open slot in your racking, and regardless of the fact that 60% of it hasn’t shipped in six months and the stuff you’ve sold the most of is halfway across the warehouse from your packing dock, it’s been untouched ever since. This is also easily fixable – if you know what you’re selling, where the low/mid/Class B and C volume stuff is doesn’t matter. So long as there is a slot for a box, you can pick from it and put the box in a truck. That’s it. Maybe check your ABCs once a quarter. Wiggle some racking around, take an extended lunch, and call it a day.
Change How Orders Get Picked, Not Just Where Items Sit
For smaller operations, single-order picking seems like the easiest method in terms of organization. However, it is the slowest as it has one person going around your entire warehouse for one order. So, once you have a lot of orders coming in, this may not be the ideal choice for you.
Batch picking is when a worker gathers items for multiple orders during one trip through the warehouse. Zone picking is when you break up the warehouse into sections and assign the people to those fixed areas, passing orders on to the next zone once their portion is finished. Both eliminate unnecessary extra steps, and both are better alternatives to single-order picking if you’re doing more than a few dozen orders a day.
Zone picking is best for high SKU-count orders and simple, low-item orders tend to perform well using batch picking. However, the best way to determine what’s right for you is to test these methods using your actual orders.
Know When In-House Stops Being The Answer
There is a limit to the impact that layout changes and picking methods can have. When order volume exceeds the capacity of your physical space, or you’re having to hire temporary workers every few months just to handle the load, you’re not optimizing anymore – you’re patching.
For most e-commerce brands on the up-and-up, outsourcing starts to make more sense by that point. At a certain size, the costs (in money and management time) of running your own warehouse start to exceed the costs of a good fulfillment partner. This is especially true for food and beverage brands, where compliance requirements and inventory tracking add another layer of complexity on top of everything else. Professional pick and pack services built around those specific demands are designed to step in at this phase – they’ve already worked out the kinks of layout, staffing, systems, and regulatory handling in such a way that they can do it at scale for less than you can in your own growing warehouse.
It’s normal and healthy to shift to outsourcing when space outgrows your needs. Staying slow just because switching feels like sacrificing control is the real waste.
Clean Up The Packing Station
Sorting gets most of the attention, but packing is where seconds pile up quickly, and it’s the easiest and cheapest to address.
Adopt the 5S process – sort, set in order, shine, standardize, sustain – for every packing station in the facility. Tape should be in the same place at every station. Boxes should be in the same place, labels, and dunnage. Standardize means every station looks and functions identically, so anyone can step into any station without searching. That standardization is more important than people realize.
Kitting helps too. If certain items or bundles always go together, kit them during slow times instead of building them fresh at the packing stage. Get the work off the clock when everyone is in a hurry.
Stop Typing The Same Order Twice
Many shipping delays can be attributed to manual data entry. Often, an order is re-entered by someone from the e-commerce site to the WMS, or from the WMS to the shipping system, and mistakes are made in that process. This could be a simple number mix-up or the accidental omission of important address information. Each of these errors is a potential delay; with a direct connection between your storefront and your inventory/shipping technology, this delay never happens.
Track The Numbers That Actually Matter
If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it. Most warehouses measure too little. The three key statistics to measure are lines picked per hour, order cycle time, and order accuracy rate. Post these in the warehouse on a regular basis where staff can see them and be either motivated or warned by them. It is amazing how pressure can be its own improvement tool.
However, don’t post these metrics in a vacuum. You should be promoting training and proper tools as well as incentives (not just threats) to help employees achieve the company’s goals. Post these metrics and consult with employees on why they may be less than optimal and ways to improve them. Most warehouse workers do not want to be seen as lazy or ineffective workers. Give them the room and tools to excel for you.
Fast Shipping Is A Series Of Small Decisions
All of this does not necessitate robotics or remodeling a warehouse. What you need to do is take a good look at where your Class A products are located, how your team navigates the facility, and if your systems are integrated without human intervention. When you optimize these aspects, the other issues related to your shipping speed will likely be minimized.