Best Practices for Distribution Centers and

Warehouses
JUNE 13, 2022 ADMIN DISTRIBUTION, LOGISTICS, SUPPLY CHAIN

In This Article
 How Do Warehouse Operations Work?
 Warehouse and Distribution Center Management Best Practices
o 1. Regulate Vendor Compliance
o 2. Employ Advanced Shipment Notifications
o 3. Implement Automatic Data Collection
o 4. Minimize Touches
o 5. Engage in Cross-Docking
o 6. Record Movement as a Transaction
o 7. Utilize a Warehouse Management System
o 8. Evaluate Requirements
 Contact Crown LSP Group for Warehousing Services and Transportation
Requests

How Do Warehouse Operations Work?

Warehouse operations and transportation take effort to manage. Different procedures
and strategies can potentially influence production, costs, efficiency, compliance,
accuracy and data collection. To stay ahead of these concerns and enhance the
functionality of your warehouse distribution, it’s important to learn about the various
elements you can practice to strengthen sustainability and capacity.
Warehouse and distribution center best practices provide a structure that can lead to
success. Implementing these practices in your system can help you reach your goals,
whether you’re aiming for reduced costs or labor, increased productivity and
efficiency, organization, data and information accuracy, or regulated transportation.

Warehouse and Distribution Center Management

Best Practices
Efficient warehouse operations are crucial for optimizing distribution strategy and
organization. With improved efficiency, you may see an increase in productivity and a
reduction in costs. Here are some of the most efficient warehouse best practices you
can implement in your management.

1. Regulate Vendor Compliance

Vendor compliance programs may be crucial for collaborating and communicating
about products and requirements. Warehouse distribution centers can enable a
working relationship between suppliers and vendors to enhance efficiency and
improve internal facility operations. Vendor compliance programs may help the
supply chain process by:

 Streamlining warehouse operations

 Reducing handling of products
 Improving transportation services
 Checking that purchase orders are in compliance
 Ensuring seamless movement
 Providing visibility
 Leading the way to increased customer satisfaction
A vendor compliance manager can handle and oversee these processes. Compliance
managers are also responsible for monitoring all requirements and performance. With
a manager in place, any concerns, issues or feedback with products or merchandise
can be properly communicated to the vendor to reach a solution. Vendor compliance
programs may also ensure suppliers provide sufficient information regarding standard
case quantities, accurate bar code labels and advanced shipping notifications.
Observing the process of labels helps organize and optimize the warehouse
distribution process. These processes may help identify any issues with non-
compliance, which can produce ways of fixing the supply chain to enhance strategic
relationships. Non-compliant shipments from a warehouse may cause a retailer to
issue deductions or fees from a vendor.

Making specific changes without authorization can incur additional expenses that
cause issues for your company. Minor improvements over a period of time that satisfy
business rules and requirements can lead to overall efficient and productive operations
that make a difference. Using your business guidelines, history, goals and customer
service standards may help internal and external cost reductions as they comply with
terms and conditions.

2. Employ Advanced Shipment Notifications

Advanced shipping notifications (ASN) can go hand in hand with vendor compliance.
These notifications allow suppliers to see consistent status updates about when their
product has been shipped from the warehouse and when it’s expected to arrive.

This information exchange is typically done with electronic data, which is part of an
overall warehouse management system. With these notifications, you can improve
efficiency by reducing delays or disruptions in the supply chain process.

Engaging a third-party logistics (3PL) company, such as Crown LSP Group, can help
protect your investment in these kinds of practices. Upholding orderly communication
among carriers and receivers is essential for scheduling receipts and prioritizing
actions.
When receivers are notified of when to expect an incoming shipment, they will be
better equipped to direct that product to the proper place. ASN also helps with
management functions such as adequate staffing and receiving information about
when shipment orders or inventory requirements are fulfilled. When transportation
and labor are appropriately distributed and optimized, you can then begin to reduce
the overall cost of operations.
Some issues and questions that ASN can help resolve among vendors, retailers,
businesses, suppliers and receivers include:

 Notifying what orders have been shipped

 Describing the items that are being shipped and their quantities
 Notifying when the order is expected to arrive
 Detailing if the shipment contains the complete order
 Notifying if the load is packaged with bar codes
 Listing the shipment or package tracking numbers
Many modern sellers may not even accept certain packages or shipments without an
ASN, so you should implement this practice to help maintain accuracy and
consistency. If someone identifies any error after a shipment label is scanned, you can
immediately notify the supplier and quickly resolve the issue.

ASN can also provide efficiency with outbound transportation once the warehouse
team is notified of incoming shipments. This procedure can help save time and reduce
the likelihood of human error causing issues with sorting, unexpected delays and
missing inventory.

3. Implement Automatic Data Collection

Automatic data collection, such as using bar codes, is more efficient than using
manual processing. This implementation helps lower labor costs because most of the
work can be done with technology.
You can also use radio frequency identification (RFID) tags to help with this process,
as they help prevent human errors in counting or data information. In this
instance, utilizing a company like Crown LSP Group lets you focus on what you do
best with the help of flexible and scalable automated solutions.

Removing the need to handwrite long tracking or shipment numbers significantly

advances your tracking process, increasing order visibility. In warehouse distribution,
tasks or steps you can replace with technology make it easier for management because
they will have fewer trivial things to focus on. Utilizing automated data collection
technology gives you more time to focus on making decisions and streamlining your
turnaround process.

Additional examples of ways that automatic data collection can help improve
productivity in your warehouse can include:

 Providing shipping and label bar codes

 Boosting efficiency with handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets
 Giving you control over inventory loss
 Enhancing management and count of inventory
 Improving data accuracy and analysis
 Providing access to lot tracking and expiration dates
 Establishing software to help with order management and production
consumption
Implementing automatic data collection can help your warehouse benefit from these
services, letting you meet business goals and customer demands. It may be helpful to
evaluate your warehouse to identify areas that automation technology can improve.
When establishing automation processes, check your existing records to ensure
information accuracy, which helps you anticipate challenges or difficulties if you are
new to the process.
Once you can verify that there are no outstanding maintenance issues, you can expect
increased productivity and, therefore, increased sales.

4. Minimize Touches
By utilizing automation technology, you can also reduce touchpoints in your
distribution strategy. Minimizing manual touches in your warehouse can affect almost
all elements of distribution processes. This can include eliminating packing stations
and replacing them with automated ones or implementing print-and-apply technology
for labeling processes. An order fulfillment company like Crown LSP Group can help
minimize employee touches and improve pick-and-pack operations by reducing
unnecessary steps for orders to go through.

For example, picking to a shipping carton rather than a bin or tote would be much
faster and may lead to improvement in overall systems and cost reduction. Essentially,
every time a product or shipment is touched, it creates room for more expenses, errors
and time delays. When innovation is disrupted, it can lead to obstacles that hinder
acceleration.

Some other ways that minimizing these physical touch aspects can improve your
warehouse operations include:

 Minimizing operational costs

 Reducing the likelihood of errors and time delays
 Improving storage capacity
 Streamlining process handling and internal procedures
 Meeting higher demand
 Processing faster deliveries
 Maximizing profit margins
 Gaining a competitive advantage
Regulation requirements for many industries are rapidly growing and changing, so
you can further benefit from these advantages by staying ahead of the game. While
changing your traditional distribution model or system may seem challenging, staying
up to date to deliver a reliable flow is important for your business’s efficiency and
success.

Being proactive is an essential strategy in any business or industry, so it’s worth

taking the time to locate where you can reduce costs and generate improvements.
Minimizing product touches can also allow you to minimize waste and allocate the
extra time, energy and labor to more important processes that cannot be automated.
This may be very helpful for the efficiency of your warehouse operations.

5. Engage in Cross-Docking
Cross-docking is a method that can help improve order fulfillment and enhance
competitive advantages in many ways. Cross-docking involves taking incoming
delivery shipments or products directly to outbound transportation vehicles.
This practice helps with overall quicker processing for high-volume shipments
by speeding up the flow of goods between distribution centers and consumers or store
locations. There are several kinds of cross-docking, including manufacturing
distribution, transportation, retail and other types that can satisfy vendor and customer
needs.

This procedure has many benefits that help your warehouse operations run smoothly,
such as reducing:

 Material handling
 Production to consumer turnaround time
 Shipment delays and costs
 Inventory management risks
 Packaging and labor costs
 Holding and storage costs
All of these advantages benefit your warehouse and optimize your supply chain by
increasing customer satisfaction and lowering overall costs. Cross-docking terminals
let your business consolidate packages and deliver them to one destination without
additional hassle and excessive transfers or storage. Moving goods from one delivery
truck to another can help maximize productivity and ensure your time and money are
being used wisely.
When administering the practice of cross-docking, it’s essential to maintain inventory
control processes to stay on top of accountability and invoices.
6. Record Movement as a Transaction
All steps and movements within the warehouse process should be recorded as
transactions to help determine which procedures are necessary and which are not.
This action commonly relates to inventory transfers — when stock or shipments are
moved between warehouses — but it can also refer to good issues and receipts. This
method may help eliminate certain steps that take up time or money that can be
improved or altered to contribute to efficiency.

In warehouse distribution, these steps or movements that should not be part of the
operation are known as turnbacks, which typically need to be reported to help enhance
optimization.

Removing certain components such as damaged goods and issuing returns and
transfers must be recorded in a stock account to help maintain count and transaction
information. Continuously recording these movements as a transaction can help
improve operations when products and assets are continually scanned to maintain the
integrity of your inventory data.

This process may also help prevent any disruptions or deviations in the management
system and identify solutions. Inventory transfer documents and movement
transactions should also contain information on:

 Inventory postings and offsets

 Pricing and purchasing analysis reports
 Materials that are moved from one storage type to another
 Customer consignment
 Invoices for needed items and quantities
 Bin locations
 Transfer request status updates
Recording all steps in the distribution process can help in many additional ways, such
as making it easier for you to determine when to reorder as well as improving
accountability. Having all information documented improves the inventory process
and reduces human error during the movement of materials. The retrieving process is
also streamlined because, with fewer inconsistencies, there will be more time to
properly control and track essential warehouse procedures.
7. Utilize a Warehouse Management System
A warehouse management system (WMS) provides a framework for keeping all
functions and operations organized and in line with compliance regulations. Your
WMS can be tailored to fit your business’s specific needs and requirements,
especially with logistics services like Crown LSP Group, making it easier for you to
customize solutions to your specifications along with any updated changes or
regulations.

This flexibility positively impacts warehouse procedures that need to be simplified

while showing what processes can benefit from automation. A WMS can help you
increase visibility and monitor aspects that may lead to inefficiencies, such as:

 Overproduction
 Defective or damaged goods
 Excess inventory
 Overprocessing
 Time delays
When these issues, along with many others, are more closely monitored and observed,
it may create more room for components that actually add value to the supply chain.
Using a WMS, you can more easily eliminate challenges that interrupt your order
processing time by reducing any unnecessary transportation or movement that doesn’t
contribute to productivity.
Having this system in place can optimize overall warehouse performance by:

 Increasing distribution center efficiency

 Identifying and reducing risks
 Organizing execution processes and systems
 Integrating workflows that meet demands
For manufacturers looking to use 3PL distribution centers, companies like Crown LSP
Group help you structure these practices into your warehouse. Using an experienced
company to generate your WMS helps your business set new standards and reduce
diversions in your packing or transportation process. A WMS will help ensure you
consider all critical success factors and that key elements are configured to fit your
existing approach.

Before implementing a WMS, it’s important to address any possible concerns or

challenges with your vendors and associates so you’re better prepared to adjust to the
new change.

8. Evaluate Requirements
Regularly evaluating certain practices in your warehouse or distribution center is
essential for effective adaptation. Being aware of requirements for your customers and
operations provides an excellent opportunity for growth once you recognize the areas
that need improvement. After planning, designing and employing effective operations,
regularly check in on them to see how needs and demands have changed. Customer
requirements tend to change frequently, so evaluating them often can help you stay on
the path to achieving the results you wish to see.

Some additional ways that can help you evaluate customer and industry requirements
are:
  Verify quality and validation criteria
 Consider significant supporting processes
 Keep up with market conditions
 Understand your accessibility, space and workflow
 Monitor regularly to make corrections
 Integrate traceability
 Estimate consequences with change effect analysis

Warehouse and distribution centers may need to consistently adapt to environmental

or internal changes, which can relate to the goods themselves or the inventory layouts.
In any business, it’s always a good idea to review system processes and performance
to see how they measure up to expectations and if you can alter them for efficiency.
Practice this method by generating a consistent evaluation schedule that will allow
you to get a better look at what strategies are working best.