Material handling is an integral element for any large scale manufacturer. It usually involves a lot of equipment that can consume a vast amount of money. At the same time, the obvious expenses and material handling costs can also be hidden and difficult to estimate at first.
Managing material handling costs require unique skills. It demands managers to ensure their operation has necessary material and supplies at the right time, in the right place, and in the right amount. Altogether, managers need to make their supply operations are working efficiently.
So, what would you need to do to reduce material handling costs in your organization? If you don’t have the answer for that, continue reading and take a look at some effective ways to save money on material handling.
Make the Best Use of Available Space
It’s important for your business to review the space you are using every year. Besides, complete evaluation of your warehouse space is very important, especially if your company manufactures different types of products or has recently changes its character somehow.
You need to optimize your warehouse space to ensure its benefiting you. For this, you can take help from heavy equipment movers to shift racking and shelves from one place to another in the warehouse and maximize its space. Also, by taking the unused floor space to your advantage you can greatly contribute to reducing material handling costs.
Decrease Touch Labor
Unnecessary employee movement of goods only raises costs, and does not add to operation efficiency. Excessive time spent picking, moving, repackaging, sorting and preparing goods often results in lower productivity.
To reduce material handling costs it’s imperative to reduce touch labor. Though it won’t be as easy as it sounds, but with the right plan it won’t be something difficult to achieve. Take a look at what’s operating really need touch labor, and minimize it to save time and money. For example, you can deliver a lot of equipment in one go to the production facility using moving casters, instead of transferring them in small numbers manually by hands.
Take Care of Storage Conditions
Ensuring that storage conditions are suitable such as temperature and humidity can ensure that the goods stored inside the warehouse are kept to a superior standard. Products must be stored in the warehouse according to the standards helps maintain their quality and keeps them from damage.
Further, all areas of storage must be covered properly to ensure secure storage of goods and to avoid unnecessary production costs.
Prevent Product Damage
There is no question that any damage to material handling equipment and finished goods are correlated with high costs. And if they pile up, they can be a serious threat to your company as they can bring heavy losses.
It’s necessary that you design SOPs to ensure that all the material handling equipment as well as the finished goods is handled properly. This way you can prevent damages and reduce the overall costs of your production department. For instance, you must have an easy to understand guidelines to use equipment moving casters for shifting products and ensure none gets damaged.
Value Employee Ideas
Employee ideas can play a critical role in cutting costs and improving warehouse productivity. They have practical experience in day-to-day operations, and can come up with cost-saving ideas that are easy to implement.
Talk with your employees if they have any suggestions to improve the overall material handling costs of your facility. This also ensures a greater commitment on the part of employees to implement the cost saving strategies as employees feel more involved in the initiative.
Use Continuous Improvement Programs
Continuous improvement programs can reduce motions wasted time and wasted inventory. They can also help you choose the best products like a skate machine to move inventory from one place to the other.
Efficiencies can be improved by implementing such a program in the warehouse and costs can be minimized, which can ultimately help to achieve reduction in material handling costs.
