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When the temperatures start to rise in the summer, so do the dangers to your warehouse staff. The U.S. experienced its hottest June on record in 2021, and there were over 31 million people subjected to heat advisories or excessive heat warnings in one month alone.

When it’s over 100 degrees outside, you can bet that the temperatures are much higher inside a warehouse or distribution center. That’s why it’s vital that fulfillment centers, warehouses, and 3rd party logistics providers understand the dangers of heat stress and take the proper steps to avoid it.

Warehouses have been evolving for years, and the past few have been no exception. In an era impacted by a deadly pandemic, warehouses are among the rare businesses that experienced a surge in demand for workers, making it more important than ever for employers and managers to motivate their existing staff.

Peak season creep is no joke. According to the National Retail Foundation, over half of the consumers are well underway with their holiday shopping in early November, and many much sooner. As seasonal shopping preferences shift, warehouse preparation must react in kind, prompting the question of how soon is too soon to get ready for that peak season rush.

Ramping up your operations with the expectation of more activity is one thing. But what about changing your warehouse processes or making some upgrades? Would these types of changes benefit your operations or give you one more headache that you’ll have to manage in the coming months?

It may seem odd to think about the holiday season during the heat of summer. But anyone working in retail or order fulfillment knows that the busy season is just around the corner. And those who are best prepared for the holiday rush and the logistical challenges it presents can reap the greatest rewards.

One warehouse process that we don’t see discussed as frequently as we’d expect would be Quality Control (QC). While the need for QC for the products coming into the warehouse varies by industry or types of products, it tends to be overlooked in many of those places where you would expect to see it.

If any of the following scenarios applies to what you do in your facility, then read on, this could be something that helps:

• You sell products are received directly from 3rd party manufacturing partners
• You have products that have a traditionally high return rate
• You have products that have high price points and are kept in secure storage

There are other scenarios that apply as well, but let’s prioritize covering these more common ones:

What are reverse logistics? How do they affect your supply chain? What can you do to leverage reverse logistics and improve your bottom line?

Read more to find out how the return of goods can actually create potential profit for your company. Learn how to measure and assess your company’s reverse logistics system. Find out some of the benefits that come with a good reverse logistics workflow.

“Quality is Everyone’s Responsibility”

Edward Deming, considered to be a “God” in the eyes of the Japanese business community for his influence on their manufacturing sector after WWII is attributed as the source of the now somewhat obvious quote above. His philosophy was one that wanted us to see manufacturing as a “system,” not a series of bits and pieces of additive work.

Warehouse receiving operations are a critical part in maintaining the integrity of inventory systems and ensuring the availability of products for customers. Without an effective receiving system, items fall through the cracks, are not counted, do not receive adequate inspection, and fail to provide evidence of problems with vendors that affect profitability.

Order picking methods are defined in terms of: (a) pickers per order - the number of pickers that work on a single order at one time; (b) lines per pick - the number of orders a single item is picked for at one time; and (c) periods per shift - the frequency of order scheduling during one shift.

How does your labeling process work for your facility after expanding it to support your e-commerce business? Unlike the simpler processes of shipping out pallets and totes to a retail location or distribution partner which lives on the common 4x6 label, e-commerce shipments of individual bags or cartons being shipped to residential addresses can come with a very different level of complexity.

While the standard 4x6 stock label may still be the best option for many of your shipments, it’s worth a look at some of the other considerations to take into account to ensure that your labels are not the weak link in ensuring that your distribution center is not a source of lower customer satisfaction.