Warehouse management in 2020, STILL's guide to intralogistics!

The modern warehouse plays an essential part in every supply chain. The leaner and more efficient your warehouse is, the greater time and cost savings you can pass onto the business and your customers. At STILL we’ve pioneered the concept of the inter-connected warehouse, we call it ‘intralogistics’. In this guide we share the fundamentals of how to manage your warehouse effectively and make the most of the innovations which intralogistics can offer.

What is intralogistics and why is it important?

Intralogistics is the process of using technology to efficiently move materials through a warehouse to fulfil your supply chain. Today’s warehouse technologies go beyond stock checking systems to more automated processes that can transport and move materials onto the next steps of your supply chain, while analysing and reporting performance data from across your warehouse.

By adopting modern intralogistics into your warehouse, greater efficiencies can be made to your material fulfilment and at the same time a whole world of data can be made available to help shape key performance indicators for your warehouse and its productivity.

Warehouse planning - setting the foundations for your operation!

Getting the foundations right is fundamental in any construction project, and the management of your warehouse should be no different. Planning your warehouse will take time and thought, thinking far beyond the size of your warehouse space.

Start your warehouse planning with the objectives of your company, how much inventory does it aim to process and sell? This will determine further factors like how much stock to store, and how frequently it will need to be processed. Once you have the space required how will you store it? Conducting a thorough analysis of the inventory you plan to store and turn over will help narrow down the options for storing and processing it with material handling equipment (MHE).

Today’s wide choice of MHE has expanded from the conventional forklift truck, which of course still has its place in the supply chain. However, for maximising the space in your warehouse Very Narrow Aisle Trucks and a high racking warehouse system offer the same benefits as a skyscraper; storing more stock over a massively reduced warehouse footprint.

Once you decide the method of storing your inventory, and how best to handle it, these decisions can be integrated into the material flow plan for your warehouse. Here you will need to plan out every step of the material’s journey through the warehouse, including the equipment and people needing to process it. Getting the planning stage right will help you manage your warehouse better and bring efficiency improvements for the business.

Warehouse fulfilment, choosing the right fleet!

Warehouse management systems, measuring your warehouse KPI's.

Now that you have your warehouse planned out and a fleet of forklift trucks and material handling equipment have been optimised for the job, it’s time to consider a warehouse management system (WMS) to look after your investment. With today’s warehouse management systems, you can monitor and control every move of material within the warehouse. Data such as serial numbers and ‘best-before-dates’ are tracked to help you improve storage and dispatch strategies.

Inventory tracking is one side of what an WMS can do, fleet manager systems look after the movements and diagnostics of the forklifts and warehouse equipment which is operating. Fleet management software can even be used to modernize older trucks, creating even greater efficiency opportunities for warehouse managers.

Experts in 'intralogistics'

With today’s supply chain demands, planning and managing a successful warehouse requires expertise to get it right. At STILL we have nearly 100 years of experience in warehouse technology, including pioneering the concept of intralogistics. We work with customers on a goal-orientated basis, consulting and implementing solutions fit for their logistic operations. If you need advice and support on optimising your warehouse, then please get in touch with one of our consultants today!

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