Now, let’s take a look at what our warehouse consultants do to help you manage inventory. This is an important task we perform at Monarch because our clients come to us with many unique and pressing inventory problems. Sometimes, these things become so difficult that business processes get out of control, and valuable products get misplaced.
The Basics of What Warehouse Consultants Do
Anything within the facility’s four walls is in play for a warehouse consultant. Our job is to determine the problems the company is experiencing, monitor the various processes, suggest solutions, and oversee their implementation.
It’s critical to note that many warehouses are similar, but no two businesses function the same. Even if they look alike, each warehouse company has its own standard operating procedures and inventory format. Companies employ our services because they have problems they can’t solve or don’t have the time to do it fully.
For example, a warehouse might need help after they experience slow order lead times. If what once took four weeks, now takes six weeks, there’s bound to be a problem in the process somewhere. That’s where we come in to help.
How Warehouses Are Supposed to Function
It’s also worth understanding how warehouses should operate in order for us to catch problems and implement fixes. These are the general warehouse processing steps you’ll see in most places:
- Receiving Processes
This is where products arrive at the warehouse facility. Often from a variety of vendors, using their own variety of processes. - Put-Away Processes
Upon arrival, they’re systematically assigned to inventory locations and physically placed there. - Picking Processes
Products are physically and systematically retrieved and either taken to shipping or furnished in a permanent warehouse department. If the physical retrieval doesn’t match what’s in the tracking software, it causes a domino effect of further problems. - Shipping Processes
Last, the warehouse ships items to other distributors or direct to consumers. If any of the previous processes have trouble, shipping will struggle as a result.
In addition to those, most manufacturing and distribution operations use some form of quality control and cycle counting. We mention those because they are a couple of the critical areas we emphasize in our business audits.
Process Solutions that Warehouse Consultants Use
The first thing we do is visit the warehouse facility and discuss the operational structure with site management. We take a preliminary look at everything within the four walls to get a feel for their process. In our experience, while there are some commonalities (receiving, picking, shipping, etc.), no two sites are ever the same.
Next, we closely observe all the processes and identify which ones are contributing to poor outcomes. Many times, there is more than one problem, too. From there, we assist in implementing approved recommendations and assign temporary monitoring to those areas to measure the outcomes.
If positive results are observed, we can begin the hand-off to site management to uphold the changes we implement.
Put-Away Process Example
Let’s say there is a problem in the put-away process. Perhaps employees are failing to adhere to a process because it is unclear or incomplete. We would monitor the picking process for a couple of days, determine what kind of adjustments would improve the outcome, recommend a solution, update an existing SOP, implement those changes, then evaluate the results.
Monarch: Premium Level Warehouse Solutions
Our consultants work tirelessly to get warehouses back on track, running efficiently, and not losing inventory. It’s mission-critical that a warehouse physically operates the way it intends to function according to its SOPs. Otherwise, your business will suffer.
While we can’t control everything that happens in a busy warehouse, our veteran consulting crew can recommend and implement adjustments that will bring results quickly. We focus on the highest impact areas first. Everybody on our team has years of experience in warehouse and manufacturing settings. Therefore, we’ve seen it all and know how to adapt to your specific business concerns.
If you are interested in talking with our dedicated warehouse consultants about a problem in your facility, call us soon for a free estimate.
