Designing and Optimizing a High-Performing Warehouse
Warehouses are big business. Across the globe, companies spend over $350 billion a year on their warehouse operations. Keeping warehouses efficient and streamlined helps companies keep their costs down and margins high. Warehouses today, though, face more challenges than ever in keeping performance and profits high. First, warehouses, like many other industries, face a shortage of talent. Competing for the available talent often means higher talent acquisition, training, and compensation costs. Second, the shifting demands from customers have forced warehouses to innovate and speed up their process. Ever since Amazon revolutionized shipping times, warehouses everywhere have had to implement new
5 Strategies to Increase Warehouse Worker Retention
Warehousing is an expanding industry in the US, growing at an annual rate of 2.7% from 2018 to 2022. With a market size of 35.4 billion dollars in 2023, the warehouse industry has grown to accommodate shifting consumer preferences towards e-commerce and the expanding global supply chain. While the demand from consumers and businesses for efficient warehouses has not slowed, the industry is hindered by a limited workforce. Coupling a high turnover rate with a nationwide labor shortage, warehouses spend a disproportionate amount of their resources on recruiting new talent. According to McKinsey, each frontline employee departure can cost your
Are You Focusing on the Wrong Skills When Hiring Operators?
As Industry 4.0 and digital transformation are changing every aspect of manufacturing companies and the way they are run, the types of workers needed to build a successful organization are also changing. Over the last few years, manufacturing as an industry has embraced data and connectivity, analytics, human-machine interaction, and improvements in robotics. Companies are seeking out these new technologies to enhance productivity and efficiency. According to a Deloitte study, 86% of manufacturing executives surveyed believe that smart factory solutions will be the primary drivers of competitiveness in the next five years. Manufacturing companies need to innovate their processes, technologies,
How to Leverage Q1 Production Numbers for Q2 Workforce Planning
Talent is the fuel that powers your company’s financial success and growth goals. When you incorporate workforce planning into your organization’s growth toolkit, you can create a workforce strategy that better insulates your company from many pressures and challenges that come with staffing in the manufacturing and industrial sectors. An adaptable, agile, and thoughtfully allocated workforce is a crucial asset that drives growth. Unfortunately, many organizations have not yet tapped into the potential of workforce planning. Most professionals still think reactively, rather than proactively, when it comes to staffing. With organizations collecting more data than ever before, forecasting based on
Strategic Staffing: The Key to Preventing and Bouncing Back From Downtime in Industrial Manufacturing
According to Forbes, unplanned downtime costs manufacturing companies a whopping $50 billion per year. These unexpected halts in production—whether due to equipment failure, staff shortages, or other unpleasant surprises—not only cause these painful financial losses, but they can disrupt the entire supply chain and the people who count on them. It’s no secret that every minute counts in industrial manufacturing. Downtime—especially when it’s non-purposeful or unexpected—is a critical issue that can significantly impact operational efficiency and your bottom line as a result. Unexpected downtime is beyond frustrating. Machines will malfunction, employees will call in sick, and supply chains will get
How to Optimize Your Warehouse Operations: The Value of Experienced Shipping and Receiving Managers
Efficiency is the very heartbeat of a safe and successful warehouse operation. A well-oiled warehouse ensures that products move safely and seamlessly from the supplier to the customer's doorstep to guarantee customer satisfaction and operational success. However, achieving this level of precision is no small feat. It requires the dedication of skilled professionals—especially on your shipping and receiving teams. Along with serving as essential checkpoints on the supply chain, shipping and receiving professionals are key to maintaining the balance of accuracy with speed in a lean and fast-paced warehouse environment. As businesses continue to navigate the complexities of distribution and