Inefficiencies in managing your warehouse can have a detrimental effect on your business output and cost you a great amount of money in the long run. This is why effectively managing a warehouse is such an important part of business. A well-managed and maintained warehouse will be far more productive, efficient and cost-effective ensuring you don’t face as many large-scale problems or employee downtime. Let’s take a look at some facilities management tips for maintaining a large warehouse.

Get Organised

One of the most important aspects of any warehouse is its organisation. With a vast inventory of goods, it is essential to know where everything is and how to access it, otherwise your business will suffer, and customers may turn elsewhere. Having a well-organised warehouse also means you can ensure you have the right amount of stock and know where to find it.

In order to get organised, utilise both your product and sales information to ensure you have enough stock of your bestsellers and these are easily accessible. Make sure to keep a full inventory and warehouse plan to avoid un-organisation in future.

Health and Safety

Health and safety is incredibly important in managing a warehouse, there are a range of risks which are present in warehouses from operating machinery to trip hazards and working at height. It is essential that regular risk assessments are carried out and recorded accordingly. In addition you must ensure that you remain compliant with all health and safety legislation within the premises such as ensuring water systems are maintained correctly to reduce the risk of legionella and that all fire safety regulations are adhered to and assessed regularly.

In addition, it is important to remain compliant with electrical and gas safety as well as with Asbestos regulations and air conditioning legislation as without this, you can potentially cause harm to anyone on the premises and be open to fines or prosecution in some cases. It can be overwhelming to ensure you remain compliant with all relevant legislations, therefore hiring a specialist can be worthwhile. MSL can help ensure your business remains compliant and up to date with required inspections.

Hygiene

Hygiene is as important in a warehouse as it is in any business, especially whilst we are in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. Businesses must now follow specific government guidance on hygiene in the workplace which includes increased handwashing, implementing sanitising stations and reducing the amount of people in high-traffic areas such as entrances and exits.

It is important, now and always, to keep hygiene levels extremely high throughout the warehouse – by regular deep cleaning of surfaces which are touched often as well as encouraging workers to keep up their own personal hygiene through the use of handwashing posters.

Implement a Planned Maintenance Schedule

Implementing a planned maintenance schedule can help ensure your warehouse and business remains cost efficient. Planning maintenance ahead of time can help prevent smaller problems stacking up and identify problems before they lead to bigger repairs or replacements which may result in business downtime.

By implementing planned maintenance, you are taking a proactive approach to your warehouses maintenance, ensuring you can avoid some of the bigger issues associated with purely relying on reactive maintenance. A planned maintenance programme can involve maintaining things such as roofing, air conditioning, roller shutters as well as pest control at appropriate times of the year.

MSL can help you to understand the needs of your warehouse and develop a tailor-made planned maintenance programme suitable to both your budget and requirements to prevent any large-scale breakdowns and excess costs.

Reactive Maintenance

Reactive maintenance refers to ‘reacting’ to and issue as it occurs; where planned maintenance involves regular inspections and maintaining your building, reactive maintenance is useful for the issues which cannot be predicted or avoided. Reactive maintenance services help to ensure that if you do experience any breakdowns or failures in the fabric of your building or warehouse that you can have them fixed quickly and with minimum disruption to your business. MSL can help with reactive maintenance services, ensuring that unexpected issues are resolved as quickly as possible, whilst keeping your employees safe and saving you money in the long term.

When utilised effectively and in unison, all of the above can help to contribute to the effective running of any large warehouse. Combining the various elements of a facilities management programme will help you stay organised, compliant and cost efficient whilst helping to avoid large scale breakdowns and business downtime.

For more information on how MSL Property Care Services can assist with the facilities management of your warehouse, contact us today.