Why Your Warehouse Needs Ongoing Service to Increase Efficiency

January 09, 2019

Performing ongoing warehouse maintenance is important to ensure your daily warehouse operations run as smoothly as possible. An unsafe work environment can reap disastrous results and can be a quick way to drive up a warehouses’ monthly costs.

Ongoing warehouse services means taking the right measures for the proper planned maintenance of your motive power, dock and door, and storage and handling equipment. Along with protecting the safety of your warehouse employees, you are also avoiding unnecessary repair costs that could cause you to go over your yearly warehouse budget. As you go through your maintenance checklist, remember to make sure these vital areas of your warehouse operations are not overlooked when receive your ongoing warehouse services.

Keeping Preventative Maintenance Strategies Up-To-Date

One of the most important parts of ongoing warehouse services is the ability to maintain the proper warehouse safety regulations. Slips and falls, injuries from motive power equipment, or worse, fatalities, can all be avoided with the right preventative maintenance strategies. The biggest mistakes can happen by simply not following proper safety guidelines.

A warehouse that stays consistently busy can make it easy for accidents to occur. Areas like your warehouse loading docks can be especially hazardous with truck trailers and heavy assets continually moving in, out, and around your warehouse docks. Adding equipment features, like dock seals and shelters, can minimize the risk for injury or damage to workers and your warehouse, and help warehouse operations run more efficiently.

Ensuring Motive Power Equipment Operates Efficiently

By receiving ongoing warehouse services, you can also be sure your motive power equipment, like forklifts and vertical reciprocating conveyors, are functioning correctly. According to a census report from the U.S. Department of Labor, 47% of worker fatalities in 2017 were from those employed in transportation and material moving or construction and extraction occupations, with 40% of the total number of fatalities being caused by transportation incidents.

A forklift not receiving any planned maintenance can cause sudden forklift failure, which can lead to a worker losing control of the machine and endangering himself, warehouse assets, and other warehouse employees on the floor. Poor motive power battery care can also allow for costly forklift battery replacements due to improper charging practices, as these practices can shorten a battery’s useful life or cause excessive battery sulfation.

Ongoing warehouse services helps mitigate these hazards by aiding in battery and charger repairs and testing, or by replacing damaged parts. We at Southern State Enterprises even offer service technicians that are on-call 24/7 to troubleshoot and repair your motive power batteries at your location.

Organizing Warehouse Assets

A cluttered and disorganized warehouse can heavily impact the efficiency and speed of your daily warehouse operations. Scattered boxes and containers and idle equipment can make driving a forklift difficult and create delays for workers searching for a needed asset or piece of equipment. More importantly, it can be dangerous in the case of an emergency evacuation. Blocked exit pathways and an unclear floor space can quickly cause a serious situation to become fatal.

With the proper warehouse services, you can maximize warehouse storage, minimize operational delays, and properly manage your yearly warehouse budget by clearing out motive power equipment and excess warehouse assets that is no longer used or needed. Be sure to inquire with your warehouse service technician about installing a pallet rack, if you don’t already use them. Pallet rack systems are great for increasing warehouse space and every racking system style is capable of handling a certain weight quota (some by as much as 4000 lbs).

Ensuring Racking Systems Are Properly Installed

As mentioned in the above section, pallet rack systems are a great warehouse organization asset. However, one that is improperly installed can create a warehouse’s worst nightmare.

A pallet rack with loose bolts or parts, or a system storing asset weight passed its capacity can cause the whole structure to collapse. Not only will all the assets on the rack system be severely damaged, but any employees near the area could be badly injured from falling debris, or worse case scenario, be buried under the rubble.

When you perform ongoing warehouses services however, you can use your planned maintenance appointment to make sure your pallet rack system is structurally sound. If it needs to be repaired or replaced, your warehouse services technician can ensure the new racking system is installed properly and fits to your warehouses’ storage needs.

A warehouse cannot maintain a high level of efficiency in daily operations without allowing for ongoing warehouse services. No one can be fully prepared for when a problem suddenly arises, but it’s important to minimize that risk of an accident or equipment breakage as much as possible. If you are in need of any warehouse services, we at Southern State Enterprises can help! Our extensive list of warehouse services performed by our expertly trained technicians will ensure your warehouse is safe and fully operational. Contact one of our representatives today!

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