Warehouse Tips Archives

How to Encourage a Culture of Safety in Your Warehouse in 2019

Encourage a Culture of Safety

Keeping your warehouse safe is always at the top of your mind. Maybe you’ve just gone through dealing with an employee accident, or perhaps you want to prevent it from happening at all. Either way, we have some helpful tips that can make it a lot easier.

Cultivating a Culture of Safety

Your team will only take safety seriously if you do. You need to be their leader because if it’s important to you, they will make it important to them. This is just the beginning of creating a culture of safety in your workplace. There is more that can be done as well.

Employing Observational Safety

Even though safety is really important, trying to convey this to your entire group of employees might not be effective. It’s usually best to start by training a smaller group to observe the practices of the warehouse. They can be your eyes and ears, and if something isn’t right, they can bring it to your attention, or even correct it right then and there.

Opting for Tugger Carts and Other Equipment to Enhance Safety

If you do begin to utilize observational safety practices, you may notice that many of your employees are struggling as they work. A lot of warehouses don’t have the proper equipment to allow their workers to do their jobs and avoid injuries. At DJ Products, we see this all the time, which is why we want to help.

We specialize in tugger carts, dumpster movers and trailer caddys to assist businesses like yours in keeping their workers safe from injuries. If you haven’t considered equipment like this before now, we would love to talk with you about its benefits. Please contact us right away for help.

Warehouse Tips: Special Considerations for Warehouse Shift Worker Safety

Always Enforce Safety Rules – It Might Just Save a Life!

While material handling equipment can handle the demands of being on duty 24/7, warehouse workers rely on shifts to accommodate round-the-clock staffing needs. While nearly 15 million Americans are employed on shifts, night or long-term shift work can result in health and safety risks.

Happy and healthy workers improve job productivity and employee retention rates. Protect your staff with these helpful tips for managing shift work.

Tips for Managing Warehouse Shift Work

Shift work, especially for employees on rotating or night shifts, interferes with the body’s circadian rhythms, which form the internal clock that governs wakefulness. Disrupted sleep patterns can lead to emotional, metabolic and cardiovascular problems as well as greater risk of workplace errors and injuries.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends that employers incorporate these procedures for shift workers:

– Schedule workers for a minimum of 10 consecutive off-duty hours each day so they can get seven to eight hours of sleep.

– In addition to regular meal breaks, provide short breaks every one to two hours for particularly demanding jobs.

– Limit shifts to no more than 10 hours wherever possible.

– Provide workers with education and resources about shift work.

Here are steps that shift workers can take individually to control fatigue:

– Take a walk before the start of the shift, preferably outdoors in daylight.

– Limit consumption of caffeinated beverages such as coffee and cola to the first half of the shift to avoid sleep problems.

– Take frequent mini-breaks to move around and keep muscles loose.

Combat Shift Work Fatigue with Material Handling Equipment from DJ Products

Our battery-powered material handling equipment is easy to use and designed to prevent common musculoskeletal injuries. Contact us to find the right tug, mover or pusher for your applications.

Three Tips to Keeping Your Warehouse Staff Cool in Summer’s Heat

Workers In Distribution Warehouse

Heat is a good thing when you’re lying on a beach near some refreshing water, but not so much when you’re working indoors in scorching summer temperatures. With doors frequently opening and closing, relying strictly on air conditioning can be a losing proposition. Keep warehouse staff productivity up on hot days with these “cool” tips.

Make sure your warehouse has the proper amount of insulation. This will also help the building stay warm during the winter.
Adding a coat of white paint to the roof deflects the sun’s rays, reducing the amount of heat building up in the warehouse.
Stagnant air feels much warmer. Ceiling and floor fans keep the air circulating so that it feels cooler. Ceiling fans have seasonal settings so that air blows downward in summer and gets drawn upward in winter. Industrial ceiling fans use high volume and low speeds to compensate for the frequent opening and closing of doors.
Use vinyl strip doors on the docks to allow easy in-and-out access while reducing the movement of air. Place solar film overlays across windows to cut down on heat.
While using exhaust fans to dehumidify the air will reduce heat, misting fans and evaporative coolers are also helpful.
Encourage your employees to drink plenty of water regularly, not just when they’re thirsty.

Excessive stress and strain on the job can intensify the effects of heat on your warehouse staff. Battery-powered tugs like our CartCaddy 5WP allow your employees to easily move heavy, awkward loads. Call 800.686.2651 and let our knowledgeable Sales Engineers help you find the best solution to increase your warehouse productivity.

Five Tips to Turn Your Warehouse into a Clean and Organized Space

Housekeeping isn’t just for your home. Clutter and debris in the workplace can negatively impact employee productivity and efficient performance of warehouse equipment while increasing risk of injury.

Don’t let good cleaning practices get lost in the hectic rush of day-to-day operations. Here are some expert tips to keep your warehouse organized and clutter-free.

Establish a Cleaning Schedule

Take a week to analyze operations and determine areas where clutter tends to accumulate. Pay careful attention to loading docks, workstations and other high-traffic spots.

If it’s within your budget, consider hiring an outside cleaning service. Otherwise, create a specific list of cleaning tasks and add them to the daily, weekly or monthly schedule where appropriate. Keep cleaning supplies in strategic locations for employees’ convenience.

Use the Right Warehouse Management Software

When workflows are poorly organized, it’s reflected in a cluttered and messy warehouse. Effective warehouse management software optimizes productivity and eliminates inefficient procedures.

Evaluate Warehouse Floor Plan and Storage

Do warehouse aisles, workstations and storage areas follow a logical set-up? Minimize clutter with a floor plan that reduces employee travel time and eliminates traffic bottlenecks.

Streamline Picking and Order Fulfillment Procedures

Implement a picking method that’s best suited for your business and organize inventory accordingly. Keep warehouse equipment located in proximity to bulkier items.

Eliminate Slow-Moving Items

SKUs that don’t turn do nothing more than take up space that’s better used for more profitable items. Assess your product line and look for opportunities to remove items that don’t meet an acceptable turnover rate.

Improve Efficiency with Warehouse Equipment from DJ Products

Does your current warehouse equipment help or hinder efforts to maintain a clean and organized workplace? Call 800.686.2651 for information about our CartCaddyLite and other electric tugs, movers and pushers.

Summer Tips to Keep Your Staff Cool in an Un-Air-conditioned Warehouse

Summer is quickly approaching and with it comes rising temperatures. For warehouse employees who are diligently working inside, summer months are something to dread. Spacious work areas are difficult to warm and extremely expensive to cool. So how can employees and their conscientious employers gain some relief from the heat? Check below for a few easy-smart heat-battling tips!

Prepping for the Heat

Extreme heat conditions are trying on the body in any environment, and especially on the job. In buildings that are vulnerable to intense temperatures, your employees often battle exhaustion, dehydration and other trying ailments related to heat. On the business side, difficult working conditions lower productivity and increase the potential for threatening and costly safety issues. Here are some summer heat solutions you can implement to create better on-the-job experiences for your hard-working base:

– Make sure to inspect the insulation. If the warehouse building is properly insulated, heat can’t find its way in quite as easily.

– Add ceiling fans. They are affordable options that allow for good air flow to permeate large areas.

– Fight humidity. By running dehumidifiers, removed moisture often brings instant cooling relief.

– Inform your workers of heat dangers. Knowledge is an elemental factor in preventing dangerous accidents. Self-awareness plays a part in lessening the chances of incurring injury related to high heat levels.

– Purchase durable material handling equipment. High-functioning material handling equipment performs well in various temperatures. Heat wreaks havoc on machines that run too hot. Hot machinery produces excessive heat. The right products simplify worker tasks rather than create more troublesome problems.

Ensure good working conditions continue by employing the proper preventative procedures. And when you utilize quality material handling equipment like those offered by DJ Products, productivity and employee morale will increase!

How to Keep Birds Away from Your Open Warehouse Dock Doors

Birds may think your material handling equipment makes attractive perches, but a warehouse is no place for our feathered friends. In addition to being a nuisance, birds can create serious safety risks and impact productivity.

Here are some expert recommendations for products to help prevent birds from entering your open warehouse dock doors.

Netting

Netting is a great way to block birds while still allowing doors to remain open. Mesh is available in different sizes to accommodate types of birds prevalent in your area, and material is flame-resistant, rot- and water-proof.

Vinyl Strip Doors

Vinyl strips come in both standard and custom sizes to fit any type of door, interior or exterior. The flat strips overlap to provide a secure barrier, but they’re flexible enough to allow passage for workers and material handling equipment.

Bird Repellent Gel

Bird repellent gel is non-toxic to both humans and birds. The transparent, odorless substance works by making surfaces too sticky for birds to land on. There are several brands on the market, and the gel is applied easily with a standard caulking gun.

Sonic Deterrents

Birds are subject to a number of natural predators. Sonic deterrents use pre-recorded calls from these predators to send birds off in search of safer quarters. This product is made with UV-protected materials so it’s weather-resistant, and it includes a handy volume control.

Spikes

Stainless steel bird spikes have blunt edges, so they don’t cause physical harm. It’s simply more awkward for birds to land on a surface with spikes attached. The plastic base strips are flexible enough to allow mounting on curved or contoured surfaces.

Contact DJ Products for Your Material Handling Equipment Needs

Call 800.686.2651 to learn more about our battery-powered tugs, movers and pushers.

Five Summer Warehouse Staffing Tips

Is your business staffed and equipped to handle the holiday crunch? From Valentine’s Day to Christmas, every industry has its busy seasons. Now’s the time to start staffing and determining your need for material handling equipment – before mistakes that lead to shipment issues and injuries ruin your reputation.

Five Staffing Tips for Managing Seasonal Operations Employees:

1. Bring back the best.
Stay in contact with the best holiday workers from previous seasons, contacting them by phone, text or postcard to invite them to return. Bonus: These workers are already trained. Be sure to note the potential for a year-round position for top-performing candidates to encourage returns. A system based on attendance, productivity, and teamwork (over seniority) can fuel performance.

2. Enlist a skilled staffing agency.
A strong partnership with a temp agency can help you build your staffing resources. Look for providers who can supply you with workers in hours, if necessary. Aim to be a business BFF to top agencies to ensure top-quality employees. Keep staffing agencies on-point with a list of busy seasons, giving them as much notice for temporary labor as possible.

3. Involve team leaders with hiring.
Team-up with HR. You need more than warm bodies to build a skilled team.

4. Try a trial run.
Have test runs several times before peak season, identifying top performers and requesting their services for holiday spikes.

5. Pay well.
Pay rates above minimum wage are a huge motivator, weeding out those who don’t want to work in favor of quality staffers.

Stocked up on staff? Ensure both new and seasoned and employees have the material handling equipment they need for success. Prevent injuries and streamline your shipping operation with the help of DJ Products today.

Tips for Saving Space Creatively in Your Warehouse

Quality material handling equipment can increase productivity in your warehouse, but it can’t increase your workspace. If you’re not prepared to move to a new facility or make costly renovations to your present one, use these creative ideas to save space in your existing warehouse.

Add Over-Aisle and Over-Dock Storage

Installing beams over cross-aisles provides additional room for pallets. Over-dock storage is often used for cardboard boxes, stretch wrap and other supplies. Be sure to look for a racking system with high impact resistance to guard against the effects of forklift traffic.

Use Vertical Space

Raise the height of your racking system, either by purchasing taller uprights or attaching extensions to the current ones. You might also consider a mezzanine for holding slow-moving items.

Change Beam Levels

Compare pallet dimensions to beam spacing. If there’s more room than you actually need for pallet lift-off, you can gain space by realigning the levels.

Change Storage Mediums

Regardless of the items that are stored in your warehouse, not all of them move at the same frequency or in the same quantities. Review the inventory and incorporate storage mediums that are best suited to different categories of items.

Maximize Slotting Systems

Slotting software can help you create a system that maximizes storage space and minimizes congestion. As an added benefit, a more efficient slotting system reduces travel time by workers, resulting in greater productivity.

Material Handling Equipment for All Applications

No matter how big or small your warehouse is, battery-powered material handling equipment from DJ Products enables streamlined day-to-day operations and greatly reduces risk of workplace injuries. Our friendly sales engineers are standing by to help you find the right solution for your warehouse.

Call 800.686.2651 for more information.

Can You Effectively Manage Winter Weather Delays in Your Warehouse?

Snow and Ice Can Impact Logistics.

It’s said that time is money, and nowhere is that more true than in a warehouse. Now that winter is here, do you have contingency plans to minimize inbound and outbound shipping delays caused by bad weather?

How Do Winter Weather Delays Impact Your Bottom Line?

Cold temperatures, snow and ice affect all modes of transportation, including trucks, planes and trains. Here are just a few of the ways weather delays can disrupt your operations.

• Generous lead times mean lower shipping costs, but unpredictable weather seriously hampers the ability to provide good lead times.

• As shipments back up, higher volume creates higher demand, which in turn causes higher rates due to routing guide substitutions.

• Late inbound shipments of supplies result in production slowdowns and missed deadlines.

• Accessorials, such as greater fuel consumption and more pick-ups and drop-offs, also drive rates up.

Dealing with Winter Weather Setbacks

• This is no time to pinch pennies. Choose shippers that provide a high level of service to gain an advantage over your competitors.

• Look for consolidation opportunities that you may not have considered previously.

• Examine any links between inbound and outbound transportation strategies that may have some overlap.

• Make sure your budget has built-in wiggle room to allow for weather emergencies.

• The best answers may come from the most unlikely sources. Brainstorm with members of marketing, sales, IT, finance and other company departments for creative solutions.

Industrial Tugs from DJ Products Stand Up to Any Type of Weather

Our battery-powered industrial tugs can easily maneuver carts and heavy equipment across snow, ice and other difficult surfaces. Visit our website for more information.

Top Tips to Improve Performance and Efficiency in Warehouses

Tips to Improve Performance and Efficiency in Warehouses

Warehouse management can be a tricky operation, requiring great concentration and skill, and lots of inventory lists that need to be checked and re-checked to make sure all the material that is shifted in and out of the warehouse is the right product and quantity. Here are some warehouse management tips that can make the entire process simpler and more efficient:

1. Confirm Advanced Shipping Notice

An “Electronically transmitted Advanced Shipping Notification” is a cutting-edge shipping solution that many distributors have still not started started to implement. Using the electronic option allows for more efficient planning of the distribution procedure, and reduces delays and disruptions.

2. Employ Bin Locations

Making use of bin locations allows products to be located much faster, since it allows you to locate the product on the basis of sales volume, which means having to do less legwork to retrieve the key items that are sold the most.

3. Transparency of Operation

Work done within the warehouse must be as transparent as possible, with your keeping track of every piece of inventory that is sold or bought. This allows for easy spotting of mistakes and errors, and rapid correction.

4. Have an Emergency Response Plan

Along with the usual warehouse management tips, remember to keep alternative plans in place for potential fires, lockouts, and other hazards that can occur unexpectedly and disrupt work flow.

The next time you have to deal with warehouse inventory, remember to call on DJ Products for all of your moving and packing needs. Our range of vehicle products offer the latest in cutting-edge solutions to make your job and life easier!

Tag: Warehouse Tips