Tips on How To Best Organize Your Warehouse

A well-organized warehouse can lead to increased productivity and efficiency. With a well-thought-out organization system, you can cut down on the time spent searching for parts. At Q Source, we offer storage solutions from Quantum Storage Systems to help you streamline your assembly processes.

Keep Your Warehouse Clean
Cleaning is the first step to take toward organizing your warehouse. Having a clean warehouse will help you keep track of your inventory while removing any safety hazards. The more clutter you have around your warehouse, the more likely you are to lose parts. You also risk employees getting hurt. A clean, clutter-free warehouse also allows workers to move around quicker, increasing efficiency during shifts.
Cleaning your warehouse doesn’t have to be done on a daily basis. Setting aside a few hours every week or so to tidy up should be enough.

Use Shelf Bins to Hold Parts
To organize your parts, you need something to hold them in. The Quantum QSB100-BK Economy 4" Shelf Bins are perfect for the task. Made from a polypropylene material, these bins are extremely durable and have the dimensions of 11.625" x 2.75" x 4". They feature a rear hang lock and a wide hopper front. These allow the bins to be fully accessed while still on the shelf. This means parts can quickly be accessed, and you don’t have to worry about the bin being misplaced since it doesn't have to be removed from the shelf.
The tough material of these bins will stand up to wear and tear, and the edges are reinforced for extra strength. To top it all off, the shelf bins are resistant to most chemicals. They are available in more colors than just black to make organizing and color-coding easier. They also come in a variety of sizes to fit the needs of your shelving and parts.

Label & Record Part Locations
Having all the same parts in a bin doesn’t do you much good if you don’t know where that bin is. Labeling your parts is essential to being able to quickly find them. Luckily, the Quantum shelf bins available from Q Source feature a built-in label holder. Already having a designated space to place your label makes the process quicker and easier.
What information should you put on your labels? The more specific you can get, the better. Labeling a bin something generic like “screws” won’t do as that part can come in different sizes and types. Include things like a specific part name, color, and size.
Once you have all your bins labeled, consider taking it a step further and creating a map. If you have a lot of shelves, it will come in handy to have a guide of which bins are on which shelves and where those shelves are located. This can be referenced until employees have it memorized.

Sort by Demand
It’s a good idea to have the parts used most often in a place that's easier to reach. If a part is used often, place it closer to your assembly spot. This will make accessing the parts faster and increase efficiency.
Using colored bins, you can color-code parts by how often they are used. Green bins can indicate parts that are most in demand, yellow bins can be for parts that are used less often than green parts but still on a regular basis, and red bins can be for parts that are rarely needed.