Smart Ways to Optimize Your Order Packing Operations

In order packing, time is money in the most literal sense. A simple glitch that leads to delays will influence the entire supply chain loop. And your client may receive their products later than they needed them.

In the current market conditions, you cannot afford to miss a single delivery deadline. Competition is breathing down your neck and your most loyal client will eventually find another supplier – one who can guarantee on time deliveries.

Order Packing Optimization: A Small Step to Improved Logistic Operations

What you need to do in order to be able to ship all the orders on time is a little order in your own work. More precisely, in your packing activities.

The team of packaging experts at Logistic Packaging has helped many clients over the years optimize their warehouse activities, including order packing. A smooth and streamlined process without a hitch takes a little preparatory work and lots of discipline from your employees.

We will assume that you have a professional and dedicated team that can handle any order, no matter how complex, in the shortest possible time. Thus, we will focus on the steps you can take to optimize your workers’ order packing activity.

1. Designate a Permanent Packing Station

A packing station is a place where your employees can easily access packaging materials, fill in waybills and apply labels on each packing unit. This area needs to be free from pedestrian and vehicle traffic and have a sturdy workbench with all the necessary equipment (including handheld RFID readers and a printer).

No other activity should take place here. Also, the packing station must never become a temporary storage area for empty packaging materials.

2. Reevaluate Your Stock of Packaging Materials

Old and unreliable packages do you a lot of disservice. For one, you must spend money constantly on deep cleaning and repairs for these packages. For another, they hamper an efficient order packing activity.

Imagine that a worker is ready to put the products in a crate and finds that it is broken or dirty. The worker has to stop what they’re doing and look for another crate. That takes time – time you can’t afford to lose.

By comparison professional plastic packaging materials are reliable and designed for intense use over a long period of time. You can find any type of packaging solution at Logistic Packaging, from large pallet containers to small shipping totes with lid and stack-nest crates for bread and pastries.

3. Implement an Efficient Labeling System

Labels create order everywhere. A warehouse where all types of merchandize are clearly labeled is a place where employees find the products they need quickly. If you don’t know where to start, we recommend you Placard label holders, which can be applied on almost any surface: racking systems, plastic containers, walls, etc.

These label holders can be reused multiple times. Every time you need to replace a label, just peel it off. There will be no adhesive residue left behind and your employees can quickly add the new label.

For more advanced labeling systems, you can choose to customize plastic pallets, containers and shipping totes with embedded RFID chips.

4. Expand Storage Space Upwards

Racking systems for pallets can go as high as your warehouse (or nearly). You should always choose the highest possible system for your warehouse layout. In this way, you can group the most frequently sold types of products on racks close to the packing station.

Instead of going to the opposite end of the warehouse, your employees will find the products close by. By upgrading your storage racks you can also afford to keep larger stocks of products without a significant investment in expanding your facility.

5. Make Your Workers’ Activity Simpler with Logistic Equipment

As a golden rule, motorize and automate as much physical labor as you can. Forklifts, dollies, pallet box discharge systems and other such devices can perform work faster and safer than workers.

Also, modern packaging materials are design to facilitate handling by these automated logistic machines.

The team of packaging experts at Logistic Packaging is ready to help you upgrade and optimize your order packing activities by using the right kind of packaging solutions. Send us an email or schedule a live Skype chat to discuss your project with us!

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