Modern Warehouses- Assessing the Growth and Challenges

To outsiders, warehousing may seem easy, just keeping the products in racks and dispatching when required, but industry insiders can only wish if it was that simple!

Managing modern warehouses is not easy, moreover, new trends in the logistics industry make the work harder and more difficult to manage.

A warehouse is a trans-shipment point where all goods are received and then dispatched as effectively, quickly, and efficiently. The basic of warehousing remains the same, the challenges and growth come with advancement in technology, automation, and improvement in performance management.

The warehouse continues to be a big part of the logistic industry and continues to do so in foreseeable future. The growth of fulfillment centers and increase in a warehouse for lease is surely changing the landscape of warehousing. But warehousing is not easy, and it comes with a set of challenges.

Inventory Management

Inventory management is the coherent part of the grade-A warehouse. The issue that arises in inventory management is the inability to resolve inefficiencies such as poor storage utilization, incomplete or inaccurate records, or misplaced stocks.

These issues are mostly related to a burdensome manual process that results in an inaccurate data system. One of the easy solutions to manage the inventory of modern warehouses is the incorporation of a warehouse execution system. A warehouse execution system (WES), is software that includes a multi-agent system in the warehouse that controls inventory and communicates with suppliers for restocking.

Redundant Activities

In a warehouse, there are multiple tasks, and those operations are strung together to create workflows. But, if the system is not organized, it can lead to the repetition of the same activity more than once.

The redundancy increases labor costs when you need to rectify the mistake and invest more time in rectifying it. To break out from these mistakes, ask the team for ideas, that give a different perspective to do the same job, and if possible hire a warehouse manager who specializes in the tasks.

Poor Space Utilisation

In the splurge of the eCommerce business, there is more movement of goods in the warehouse. This can lead to poor utilization of the space. This challenge can create a huge problem in the future, as poor space utilization is a sign of a lack of warehouse training.

To resolve this, you can either install a warehouse management system for creating better stock management or hire an experienced warehouse manager who knows how to train and create a streamlined storage system for modern warehouses.

Conclusion

According to reports, the warehousing industry is going to grow exponentially in the coming years. The warehouse industry will grow at a compound rate of 19 percent annually, which means by FY26 it will grow up to 76.2million sq. ft from 31.7 million sq. ft.

The growth of modern warehouses brings challenges, which are addressed in this blog. Assessing the problems and finding solution can make the warehouse efficient and increase operational productivity in the warehouse.

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