Our practical advice for your stock management: Optimise your warehousing

To organise your warehouse strategically, start by prioritising fast-moving products. Fast-moving products are those that sell the fastest. It\'s essential to place them in easily accessible locations in your warehouse. This reduces order-picking time and speeds up the delivery process. For example, you can place these items close to the shipping area to minimise employee travel. Imagine an e-commerce company that sells electronic gadgets. New models of smartphones and popular accessories can be considered fast-moving products. By placing them close to the dispatch area, the company can quickly process and dispatch orders, increasing customer satisfaction. Secondly, use clear signage: signs in the aisles, labels that can be read from a distance and colour codes, for example, for different product categories. This can greatly improve the efficiency of your warehouse. It allows employees to locate items quickly and reduces errors when preparing orders. For example, a clothing company might use colour codes for different sizes and types of garment. Red labels might represent t-shirts, blue labels jeans, and green labels jackets. This way, employees can quickly find the items they need without confusion. Adopt warehouse management systems (WMS) too. A WMS is software that helps to manage and optimise the day-to-day operations of a warehouse. It allows you to monitor inventories in real time, manage orders, plan receipts and dispatches, and improve the management of storage space. A WMS offers complete visibility of stocks in real time, which helps to reduce out-of-stocks and surpluses. It improves efficiency by automating repetitive tasks, reducing human error, and improves batch and serial number traceability, which is crucial for certain industries such as food and pharmaceuticals.Examples of successful warehouse management systems include SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM), Oracle Warehouse Management Cloud (WMS), and Manhattan Associates Warehouse Management. SAP EWM is an advanced solution for large companies with complex requirements, offering comprehensive functionality for managing stocks and optimising logistics processes. Oracle WMS Cloud is flexible and scalable, helping to manage warehouses efficiently with inventory, order and shipment management functionalities. Manhattan Associates offers a robust WMS that uses advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the accuracy and efficiency of warehouse operations. Optimising your inventory management means strategically organising your warehouse and adopting effective warehouse management systems. By following these practical tips and using the right WMS for your needs, you can transform your warehouse operations, reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. The key is to identify the tools and strategies that best suit your business and implement them consistently and effectively.