21 mistakes adding cost and killing productivity in your warehouse - #3

3. Products not set up correctly in the business system

Your staff may have all the information they need and an efficient process flow but if the stock they receive has no purchase order in the system or new items have arrived that have not been set up in the business system, then they will not be able to receive the stock and it will sit on your dock taking up valuable space and getting in the way of normal business.

The fix to this is easy, and simply requires some basic business disciplines.  Sometimes administration staff have no awareness of the downstream impacts on the warehouse of their actions.  Engaging the administration staff with the warehouse staff by tours and live examples of the problems will go a long way to enhancing understanding and prompting corrective action.  

New procedures may be required to ensure that new products are signed off by the warehouse manager before they can be ordered.  If stock arrives with no purchase order then get the warehouse to send it back to the supplier.  This will usually create the sort of drama that ensures compliance by both the supplier and the purchasing staff in future.

This is post is taken from an ebook that is now available as a bonus to members of the Warehouse Performance Initiative (WPI*).

The WPI is a place for learning how to improve your knowledge of warehouse operations improvement, sharing skills and ideas and helping other warehouse professionals.  Joining the WPI will give you access to a growing range of free and premium content which will have a direct impact on improving your warehouse performance when you apply it to your business.

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