HARNESS THE POWER OF SMALL SPACES IN YOUR WAREHOUSE

No matter how spacious or well-planned, warehouses often have those little spaces left over. You know the ones we mean, those awkward corners, small aisles or gaps, and ceilings that aren’t tall enough to fit things like pallet racking can all be a hassle in any warehouse, but they can present an opportunity if you get creative. These smaller spaces can be used to install more compact shelving and storage options, allowing you to maximise whatever area you have left. Will these methods replace your pallet racks or existing shelving styles? No – but they could make life a little easier for your team when they need to store stock and other items. Never underestimate small spaces – Using Smaller Spaces smarter in Warehouses. SMALLER SHELVING The first step for making the most of your smaller spaces is to find shelving that can fit. Consider narrow wire shelves, corner wire shelving, or even smaller rivet shelving that can slide into cramped areas. Knowing your options for storage can go a long way toward helping you understand what sort of spaces to look for and how you can best use them. If in doubt, get in touch; maximising the use of space is what we love! THINK ABOUT THE QUANTITIES YOUR STOCK ARRIVES IN Most of the time, when you get items shipped to you, it’s usually in a complete pallet, right? But for those items that tend to come in smaller quantities, it can be challenging to know where to store them without getting them lost in the shuffle of other products. CREATE CROSS-DOCKING SPACE Cross-docking can be helpful for items that sell more quickly or anything you don’t have the space to store in the general inventory areas, and it doesn’t require a lot of space to create. If you have a small amount of room near your main docking area, consider setting up some shelving space to create a place for cross-docking, allowing you time to store and document these products without adding them to the main inventory before they get shipped back out. LOOK OUT FOR AREAS WITH OTHER INSTALLATIONS Often, under-utilised warehouse space comes from larger installations that may seem difficult to work around. Take a look around your warehouse, spot things like gravity conveyors that you may have thought took away too much space from other shelving, and start thinking outside the box, well, in this case – warehouse. Install a warehouse mezzanine that could stand over the conveyor to let your team still move products while adding more floor space for inventory and product storage. When you look for small spaces in your warehouse, don’t be afraid to use your imagination and look for areas you might not have considered before! At Ikon, we love a challenge, so if you are still scratching your head about what to do with an awkward small space – get in touch.

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