How to Improve Your Stockroom

Your business is up and running, and it’s a huge success. The orders are coming in thick and fast. So much so, you’ve had to keep growing the storage space.

That’s great news. But have you discovered a few problems?

Have you run out of storage space but can’t afford to move to bigger premises? Are stock items getting lost resulting in reduced pick times and wasted costs? Are customers starting to complain about delays to their orders? Is your storeroom in chaos and you don’t know how to improve the situation?

If you can answer yes to any of the above, now might be the time to improve your stockroom.

Organising a stockroom

Getting stuck in and organising your stock room can offer multiple benefits:

• Managing stock levels – knowing your stock and how quickly it moves out the door will help you to plan restocking timescales. After all, if you end up with a stockout on your most popular items it’s going to end up with unhappy customers and damage to your reputation. Not ideal.
  
• Make stock easy to find – take away the guesswork in your stockroom by organising stock into logical sections. Then clearly identify storage areas and label product sections to help reduce wasted time. You’ll thank us when it comes to the all-important inventory checks.
  
• Health and safety – a messy storage area is an unsafe workplace. Boxes cluttering up the floor become trip hazards while storing heavy and bulky items on higher shelves will increase the chance of accidents. All too easily someone could get hurt. Not a position you want to find yourself in.
  
• Prevent stock damage – if your stock isn’t in harm’s way it’s less likely to get damaged. Keeping stock in designated areas will mean that your employees are visually aware of its location and can pick items without risking damage.
  
• Improve customer satisfaction – when orders are flying out of the door, there is no time for delays. Picking and packing in the shortest time possible equals increased efficiencies and satisfied customers receiving their orders on time. Happy customers are more likely to reorder!

Planning your stockroom layout

Of course, any space is limited by the width and length of the room. But don’t take it for granted that you can’t possibly maximise your storage capacity.

When planning your stockroom space, you need to take into account a few key questions:

• What items you are storing? Are they large and bulky or small but incredibly heavy? Are you using the best storage location for the product?
• Can you categorise the items into distinct sections – what should be grouped next to each other?
• How they are stored – pallets, boxes containers, clothes on hangers? Maybe you have lots of small, loose items that need storing.
• How they are picked – by hand, mechanical equipment?
• How many of your employees will be working in the area? You will need adequate space for everyone to move safely.
• Which are your most popular items? Frequently picked stock should ideally be in easy-to-reach locations with minimal movement time between the shelf and the packing area.

Armed with these answers, you can now play around with the design of your stockroom.

If you don’t know where to get started, why not get in touch with a member of our design team. No matter how big or small your space is, they will visit your site and help you plan the perfect solution. Even better, it’s completely free of charge! Head over to our website for more details.

Should I choose racking or shelving for my stockroom?

There is no right or wrong answer to this question. Shelving is generally smaller in size with a lower load capacity – ideal for smaller and lighter stock. It also tends to be cheaper in price, making shelving like our Stockrax system a great starting point for your stockroom. It also comes in a range of shapes, sizes and styles with the option to choose either our standard shelving (it holds up to 360kg) or our heavy-duty system (it goes all the way up to 650kg).

If you’re taking your first steps with racking, our Apex Starter Kits are ideal. They are bigger than shelving systems with an increased shelf width and depth. Designed for strength and durability, they work perfectly if you’re looking to fill the height of your storage space with racking. If you need to carry a whole lot more stock, you could also consider our Apex Longspan which has a wider shelf span.

Even better, our shelving and racking systems are modular in design. This means you can seamlessly add in additional units at any time – no need to splash all your cash upfront. We also have a range of accessories that work perfectly with the systems, anything from clothes hanging rails to pick bins and shelf dividers.

Get in touch today and see how we can help you design your perfect storage solution.