Improving Warehouse Efficiency Archives

Boost Warehouse Efficiency with a Motorized Trailer Dolly

Prevent Unnecessary Injuries with a Motorized Trailer Dolly

When your warehouse workers need to move or tow heavy equipment and items around, this can take up a lot of their time. Without a reliable way to do this, efficiency in your warehouse can suffer. A motorized trailer dolly can help boost warehouse efficiency while also reducing the risk of workplace injuries. Learn more about the benefits of using this type of dolly.

Greater Control and Safer Maneuvering

Moving a trailer dolly around manually can be difficult for warehouse workers to do. These trailer dollies can be tough to turn and maneuver in tight spaces, which can raise the risk of injuries and accidents. Using these dollies also leads to a higher risk of having items or equipment damaged, especially in small warehouse areas. Motorized trailer dollies provide better control over steering, so that heavy loads of equipment can be moved from place to place more efficiently and safely. This helps workers accomplish these tasks in a shorter amount of time with a lower risk of workplace injuries.

No Licensing Needed

Operating a truck to tow heavy loads or equipment around can lower warehouse efficiency. Warehouse managers who use trucks need to make sure every driver has the right licensing, and they need to keep a log of driving hours. This can become a time-consuming task that slows down warehouse operations. Using motorized trailer dollies doesn’t require any licensing or logging hours. While warehouse workers who use these dollies need to undergo safety training, this still takes up less time overall compared to having them operate trucks.

Cost Savings

Using trucks for heavy equipment comes with higher operating costs due to the need for fuel, licensing, and maintenance. These costs can quickly add up for warehouse managers. Motorized trailer dollies that run on electricity help lower costs, since they don’t need fuel to operate. Warehouse managers also save in other ways, such as not needing licensing for drivers or a lot of maintenance to keep these trailer dollies in good condition.

If you’re looking for a motorized trailer dolly for your warehouse, please contact DJ Products. We can help you find the ideal solution for moving heavy equipment around safely.

Top Technology Trends in the Logistics Industry

The newest logistics technology is radically reshaping the way we buy groceries, shop for clothes, and even how we do our own jobs. Warehouse managers today are quite likely to rely heavily on technology that didn’t even exist just a few years ago.

A look at the top five trends in logistics technology covers everything from software to your friendly neighborhood robots:

• Warehouse robots have been popularized by Amazon, but other companies continue innovating their own solutions. Most prominently, motorized equipment can assist human workers with faster, safer fulfillment.

• Augmented reality for pickers and other warehouse workers can be used in smart eyeglasses to assist with finding items accurately and quickly.

• Predictive analytics up to and including “anticipatory shipping” before a customer actually buys and Uber-style trucker-to-shipper matching will continue to revolutionize the warehouse data game.

• Autonomous vehicles may be the solution to the truck driver shortage while lowering the cost per mile.

• Drones are poised to fulfill their destiny as the solution for last-mile delivery.

Data and Equipment, Working Together

Data shapes decisions in logistics, and your warehouse equipment supplier has the tools to put that data into action.

At DJ Products, our industrial cart movers help with the human side of the equation. Heavy stress from pushing loaded carts and repetitive stress in warehouse jobs both contribute to productivity loss and worker injury.

Powered material handling equipment, from our CartCaddyLite cart puller to the WagonCaddy industrial power mover, enable your workers to move at the speed of modern logistics. Get a free demo from DJ Products, your warehouse equipment supplier for powered cart movers and more.

Direct-to-Consumer Sales Turn Stores Into Local Warehouses

Facing pressure to match the e-commerce giants, more retailers have begun using brick-and-mortar locations as fulfillment warehouses. With the right adjustments, stores can deliver faster, cheaper shipping than using a remote distribution center.

For warehousers, this ups the ante for efficient and affordable third-party fulfillment services. For retailers, it creates a new need to alter retail space and train employees differently.

Pymnts.com recently examined the direct-to-consumer warehouse trend by looking at how Kohl’s has invested billions of dollars to turn its big box stores into warehouses. It may be just what traditional retail needs to keep up.

Businesses need to invest wisely with a warehouse equipment supplier for the right tools to make brick-and-mortar locations as effective as fulfillment centers. A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed questioned whether retailers are prepared for the challenge.

Challenges for turning a store into a warehouse include:

• Customer shopping replaced by the new labor of employees picking

• Retail employees need different skill sets for warehouse work

• Small storage space can be difficult to maneuver boxes, carts, forklifts

As a warehouse equipment supplier, DJ Products understands the challenges of workers picking items and moving cart loads of boxes and inventory items around tight spaces. Employees face high injury risk when maneuvering loads around corners and carrying heavy packages in and out of the warehouse.

An industrial cart mover can transform your storage room into a high-functioning distribution center. The CartCaddyShorty motorized cart puller, for example, pulls up to 3,000 pounds and can be operated safely by virtually any employee.

Contact DJ Products to speak with our helpful warehouse equipment supplier team today.

Increase in E-Commerce Creates a Booming Demand for Warehouse Space

As foot traffic in brick-and-mortar stores continues to decline, commercial real estate is being hit hard by mall closings. But that’s good news for warehouse landlords, who are seeing an increase in demand driven by the rise in online shopping.

Warehouses: The Hot New Real Estate Properties

Most retail properties are controlled by real estate investment trusts, also known as REITs. Retail store closings and bankruptcies have caused retail REITs to drop nearly 20 percent in early 2017.

On the other hand, industrial REITs that control warehouses are benefitting from a demand that outstrips current supply. Jonathan Petersen, analyst for global investment banking firm Jeffries, says the shift to e-commerce has caused price targets for industrial REITs to be raised across the board.

According to industry estimates, online retailers require three times as much warehouse space as traditional brick-and-mortar retailers. Peterson explains that e-commerce makes up 10 percent of retail sales, and simply doubling their share would create a need for 600 million square feet of new warehouses.

What Does the Future Hold?

The increase in e-commerce and warehouse demand is more than just a cyclical event. Peterson goes on to say that he and Jeffries see it as the beginning of a “secular growth trend” that’s expected to continue for several years.

Electric Industrial Tugs from DJ Products

As warehouse use increases, efficient operations will be more vital than ever. Industrial tugs such as our CartCaddyShorty let a single employee move loads of up to 3,000 pounds quickly and safely.

Visit our website and let our cheerful sales engineers help you find the right industrial tugs for your applications.

Mobile Computers and Their Role in the New Warehouse Landscape

The digital age has made its presence known with material handling equipment, but is warehouse intelligence as effective as it could be? Hardware and software experts are working to use mobile computers for a more integrated communications system.

Mobile Computers: Expanding the Horizons

Mobile touchscreen computers are making it easier for lift truck operators to handle the work flow. According to Mike Maris, senior director of transportation and logistics at Zebra Technologies, they could be even more efficient if the technology was integrated into one central communications point.

Directing a lift truck from point A to point B is only part of the equation. Each lift truck is part of an entire fleet of vehicles that needs to be managed, and maintenance also needs information to keep the trucks in good working order.

Instead of simply communicating work orders, mobile computers have the potential to handle a number of data streams. Different screens can be dedicated to different functions, such as one that provides task instructions and another that relays maintenance information or real-time maps.

Better Technology = Improved Productivity

Maris explains that the mobile computer on a lift truck can serve as a point of communication to broader systems rather than just a portal restricted to one vehicle. Streamlining the process can pay off with a 10 to 15 percent improvement in productivity.

State-of-the-Art Material Handling Equipment from DJ Products

Maximizing your work force is a major element of top productivity. Visit our website to learn how using electric material handling equipment such as our CartCaddyLite can be like adding an extra employee.

Tips for Improving Warehouse Productivity the Low Tech Way

Improving Productivity

Technology has made its way into nearly every part of our personal and professional lives. In warehouse inventory management, solutions ranging from barcodes and scanners to industrial powered carts improve accuracy and efficiency.

This doesn’t mean that old school methods have no place in today’s warehouses. Here are some tried-and-true ideas to boost overall productivity.

Four Low-Tech Tips for High Productivity

Clean house. Daily operations cause disarray to every warehouse, no matter how organized it is to start. Walk the floor regularly to spot and correct any potential risk areas such as poor shelf placement of high-velocity items.

Implement cycle counts. Once-a-year inventories are a must, but they allow too much time for small problems to snowball into serious ones. Conducting cycle counts lets you correct discrepancies before they get out of hand.

Have a clearly defined receiving area. Receiving errors are like dominoes that trigger a ripple effect through the entire chain. Make sure your receiving team has plenty of space and all the necessary tools to work accurately.

Plan clean-up time. If your employees start the day in a messy workplace, their attitude and actions will quickly follow suit. Specify a cutoff time for processing orders and have employees use the rest of the day to clean up. With everything in place, they can start off strong each day.

Reduce Injury Risk with Industrial Powered Carts from DJ Products

Workplace injuries are a major drain on productivity. Industrial powered carts such as our popular CartCaddy5WP are ergonomically designed to allow a single employee to safely move loads of up to 10,000 pounds. Visit our website for more information.

Tag: Improving Warehouse Efficiency