Technology plays a big role in making your warehouse run as efficiently as possible, but even the best technology can’t fix a disorganized facility. A well-organized warehouse is an efficient one, and custom warehouse labels can play a big role in making that organization pay off in operational improvements.
These labels make operations much more efficient by providing a consistent framework for inventory control and navigation. Custom labels also enhance the visual appeal and organization of a warehouse, while also making it possible for staff to pull up product and location data using a barcode scanner.
Below are four ways that custom warehouse labels can improve your operations.
1. Inventory Control: Not every item that arrives in your warehouse is going to be labeled in a way that is helpful for your own tracking applications. Having custom labels available to place on goods at receipt can help improve the flow of inventory through the warehouse and provide tracking information for the WMS that will help guide putaway and picking.
Using floor labels, hanging signs, or rack labels, warehouse operators can improve efficiency by clearly and accurately marking warehouse locations. This makes it easier for employees to pick and put away goods using mobile barcode scanners, while keeping an accurate record of exactly where each item is stored.
2. Navigation: One of the biggest sources of waste in the warehouse is the amount of time employees spend looking for products. Rack and shelf labels are a necessity to streamline the workflow of your warehouse. With clearly labeled racks and shelves, your staff will be able to quickly locate and identify the right inventory for stocking and shipping. Multicolored graphics allow for easy tier identification.
Floor labels can take advantage of space that is otherwise unused in terms of signage, and that can easily be utilized for labeling purposes without encumbering other operations. Durable floor labels can be used as convenient location markers.
Multilevel warehouse rack labels can eliminate the need for long-range scanners, because employees can quickly identify products on different levels with a single label. Directional references like up or down arrows and barcode symbologies allow automated location verification as well as clear human-readable instructions.
Custom barcode signage can also be used to mark other warehouse locations with graphics that help improve traffic flow.
3. Accuracy: Using custom warehouse labels on inventory and on rack and bin locations will improve accuracy of your warehouse operations. Scanning goods and location labels will ensure that you know exactly where each item is, how many have been removed from or placed into inventory, and where to go when it’s time to pick those items later.
That data also improves and reduces the time required for annual inventory procedures by allowing employees to confirm quantities with a simple scan.
Custom warehouse labels can be created that not only provide barcode and serial number data in human-readable form, but these labels can be color-coded to match internal or proprietary organization systems. They can also be printed with customer or supplier logos to improve identification accuracy.
4. Flexibility: For highly dynamic warehouses where location identification may change or inventory needs are constantly shifting, there are magnetic labels available that can be easily and quickly moved without the hassle (and mess) of removing adhesive-backed labels.
With retro reflective, long-range labeling solutions you can improve scan distances by as much as 50 feet, which provides more options for your scanning processes. Scanning signs and labels from a distance makes scanning more efficient, and reduces the time it takes to pick and pack goods.
While custom warehouse labels can boost efficiency, deploying new labeling systems can be a daunting and time consuming task; if you hand this off to your employees, you disrupt normal operations and procedures. Your label supplier or value-added reseller (VAR) can help make this process as simple and easy as possible.
Imprint Enterprises, for example, offers its warehouse labeling and signage consulting services. The company and its integration partners work with warehouse operators to identify their labeling needs via a facility analysis, creating storage location data to populate the labels, installing the signs and labels on site, and designing custom labels, signs, and placards. In addition to label and signage consulting, Imprint also offers products like CleanBeam, which is the ideal solution for the stubborn, stuck-on remnants of old labels.
Organizing your facility around a well-design custom warehouse label system that makes it easier to navigate racks and shelves will improve warehouse efficiency and accuracy. That leads to happier employees and customers, along with higher profitability.
