Warehouse Improvements
Warehouse improvement programs are being implemented every day by many companies throughout Australia and indeed the globe. Some are highly successful, some make smaller differences and some projects fail in implementation. It’s very important that warehouse improvement projects are implemented successfully, not just to ensure your productivity improves but also to ensure that all your team stay engaged and not disillusioned with the changes you are making. Depending on the scale of your warehouse or workshop improvement project some of the ways to ensure success include; ensuring clear responsibilities, having a project champion, ensure you’ve engaged all the team in scoping stage, engage a storage solutions provider, engage a lean consultant and if you don’t have your own safety team in house you should also engage a safety consultant. Whilst this is a large list and can seem overwhelming, below we drill into the detail as to why you should consider this process and how it will help ensure a world class outcome.
Ensuring clear responsibilities
Setting up clear responsibilities at the beginning of the project is one of the most important steps in the process of ensuring a world class outcome at your facility. If it’s not clear at the beginning of the project then it’s likely that during the course of the project timelines will very quickly be missed and even worse still you could end up with a disgruntled team where they feel they’re doing other team members work. If everyone is in agreement at the start of the project and on the same page to help ensure success then you’re much more likely to end up with a great outcome.
Project champion
Having a project champion is absolutely crucial. Whilst this role is often just called a project manager the importance of a project champion is that they own the project and they will ensuring follow-up and follow through of all aspects of the project to ensure “the wheels don’t fall off”. The project champion will need to be passionate about both the project and the overall business to ensure that at all stages they are making decisions in the best interests of both.
Engaging your team in scoping stage
Many projects fail because they haven’t taken into consideration all factors that could impact success of failure. You could for example work through in small groups to ensure maximum engagement with each group. Working through with each group to ensure their ideas and thoughts are captured, after which you can collate and assess for commonality and review the most critical parts. Whilst there will be conflicting ideas meaning both can’t be implemented and not every idea will be implemented, you will end up with a much better solution then if you only listen to the team directly involved in the management of it. By going through this process not only will you have better ideas you will also have more buy in from the team when you need their help at implementation stage. Many times there are great ideas for teams that go missed and unused because they are never asked.
Industrial Storage Solutions provider
Quality industrial storage systems from Containit Solutions will help improve your warehouse and ensure maximum efficiency and safety in your operation. Solutions such as pallet cages, high density drawer cabinets, shelving, parts racks will likely be required along with other possible niche solutions and patented solutions which they can offer.
Lean consultant
Depending on what you are seeking to achieve, engaging a lean consultant to help assist in the flow of your operation is crucial to ensuring a good outcome. Whilst we often assume that we know our operation better than anyone else, lean consultants understand flow and lean process better than anyone else. Ensuring good flow and other lean concepts are introduced into your design will likely mean your throughput and efficiency gains in this project will be even better than you expected. Ensure though that they engaged at the beginning of the project where they can make the biggest impact, but always remember to ask questions as you still know your business better than anyone else.
Safety consultant or safety team involvement.
Whenever you look to implement changes in your organisation you also need to consider what new risks you might be introducing. Overlooking new risks could result in injuries or worse if you don’t implement things correctly or control measures if required. Whether you’re large enough to have your own safety team or you need engage a consultant, ensuring that safety is considered in your project is particularly important.