Warehouse storage systems are a crucial part of your operation—without them, you wouldn’t be able to effectively house the inventory that generates revenue for your business.
But did you know that investing in the best warehouse storage equipment and maintenance services now can also be a key way to cut warehouse costs down the line—enabling you to make the most out of your budget? Well, it’s true! Now it’s time to find out how.
Why Selecting the Right Warehouse Storage System is Essential
Utilizing a solid warehouse storage system can result in both cost and space savings—but only if you’re choosing the right one for your specific needs. This can have a major impact on your ability to meet your productivity and efficiency goals, so it’s essential to do your research and make a well-informed decision.
There are many types of pallet racking systems and warehouse shelving on the market—all with different features, functions, and capabilities. While sticking to your budget is certainly important, choosing the warehouse storage system that is most aligned to meet your specific needs is even more important. If you choose an option simply because it’s the cheapest one, it will likely end up costing you more down the line. How?
If you spend time and money choosing and installing a warehouse storage system only to realize afterwards that it isn’t working out, you have to go back to square one. This means paying to have the current warehouse storage system removed and repeating the selection and installation process all over again. So, if you’re looking for a warehouse storage system that will help your business save money over time, the key is to choose the right one in the first place (even if it’s a higher up-front expense than other options).
How a Poor Pallet Rack Installation Can End up Costing You Down the Line
Choosing the wrong industrial racks and shelving for your facility isn’t the only storage mistake that could end up increasing your warehouse costs down the line. You could choose the best warehouse storage system in the world that is perfectly aligned to meet your needs, but if it isn’t installed properly, you’ll still be faced with higher warehouse costs over time.
For example, pallet racking systems are a simple solution that can help you get the most out of your limited warehouse storage space—but a poor pallet rack installation will end up doing a lot more harm than good. How? If you don’t measure the dimensions where the pallet rack will be placed before it’s installed, you could end up trying to force one into too tight of an area. This makes the pallet rack installation more difficult and prevents the system from being able to store its maximum capacity—meaning you won’t get the most out of your investment.
Additionally, a highly organized warehouse storage space can be key for maintaining worker efficiency. A proper pallet rack installation makes this possible by allowing employees to quickly locate the materials they need to do their jobs effectively. On the other hand, a poor pallet rack installation means your warehouse storage space is likely to be messy, overloaded, or unstable. This makes it harder for your employees to complete basic job tasks—which can quickly cause frustration, downtime that negatively affects your bottom line, and mistakes when it comes to processing, shipping, and receiving inventory.
Plus, overloaded or unstable pallet racking systems can create a serious risk for workplace injuries. If a worker is injured from falling debris or a collapsing pallet rack, you could be stuck paying higher workers’ compensation premiums, not to mention insurance and legal fees. The key takeaway here? Ensuring your industrial racks and shelving are properly installed will improve warehouse optimization, efficiency, and safety for your employees—ultimately saving you on unnecessary warehouse costs down the line.
How Investing in Warehouse Maintenance Now Can Lead to Long-Term Savings
Another key way to save money through your warehouse storage system is to ensure that it is properly maintained. Unfortunately, due to the everyday wear and tear your industrial racks and shelving will endure, damage to warehouse storage systems are a pretty common occurrence. Luckily, there’s a super simple way to minimize the need for expensive repairs—planned preventative maintenance.
While warehouse maintenance services certainly aren’t free, they are more than worth the investment in the long run. Conducting the proper warehouse maintenance on your industrial racks and shelving is often overlooked—but it’s vital that warehouse managers regularly check and repair their storage systems just like they would their high-value machinery and forklifts. If you don’t because you think it’s not worth the budget allocation, you’ll be shocked to find out just how much it can end up costing you down the road—delivering a bigger blow to your budget later on when you aren’t expecting it. How?
Using damaged warehouse storage systems creates a huge risk for workplace injuries. A faulty pallet racking system that has loose bolts or unbalanced shelving levels can cause debris to fall, which could land on an employee working in that area or passing by. These problems could have been easily identified and repaired during a routine safety before they resulted in an injury—helping you avoid higher workers’ compensation premiums and legal fees.
Plus, if you ignore preventive warehouse maintenance on your industrial racks and shelving, you won’t be able to proactively make smaller, less expensive repairs because you won’t even know that they’re necessary. With routine warehouse maintenance and safety checks, you can quickly identify if a part of your warehouse storage system needs to be repaired or replaced before it results in the entire thing collapsing or failing in the middle of a shift—which would create a much bigger, much more expensive problem.
Keep in mind that warehouse maintenance isn’t just something you should be doing because it could help you save money—it’s a legal necessity. Warehouses must adhere to OSHA regulations outlining the proper warehouse storage system safety measures. If you’re not in compliance, you could face additional warehouse costs such as fines and legal ramifications.
5 Simple Warehouse Storage Ideas to Help You Save Money
There are lots of warehouse storage ideas that can help you lower your overall warehouse costs and experience warehouse optimization. Here are just a few of our favorites:
- Install mezzanine floors. Mezzanine floors are a cost-effective way to increase your warehouse storage by utilizing existing overhead space without taking on the high cost of traditional building expansion.
- Expand upwards. If you don’t have space to add more racks to the left or right of your existing warehouse storage system, consider expanding upward. You can make use of your warehouse’s vertical space by adding taller storage racks with more levels.
- Analyze your sales data. Get with your sales team to go over patterns and trends, then adjust your stock levels to allow more space for those products expected to perform well in future. If you identify a declining product line, eliminate some of that excess inventory—this will help you save money when you aren’t storing products that don’t sell and drive profits by making more space for the ones that are.
- Organize your products. If your inventory is randomly scattered all over your warehouse, it will take longer for your employees to find what they need to complete their job tasks—creating delays that can put you behind schedule. By organizing products by type and setting aside specific areas for each product category, it will be much easier to find what you’re looking for. This means more time spent moving products that actually drive revenue for your business rather than wasting time simply trying to find them.
- Seek professional installation and repair services from the experts. Ensuring your warehouse storage systems are installed correctly, maintained properly, and always operating at maximum safety and efficiency can be a lot for any one warehouse manager to take on. Turning to the professionals to help you keep everything on track will take some of the pressure off you and allow you to focus on bigger-picture tasks that will move the business forward.
At Southern States Enterprises, we’re ready to be your expert and go-to partner for all your warehouse storage needs. We have a large inventory of reliable, high-quality warehouse storage systems plus offer the comprehensive services you need to get the most out of them—from installation to safety checks, preventative maintenance, training, and repairs.
Ready to utilize a warehouse storage system that will help you cut costs—without sacrificing safety or efficiency? Reach out to us today!
