Search for warehouse efficiency and you will get robotics, slotting software and warehouse management systems. All useful, all a significant investment, and none of it much help on a Tuesday afternoon when the stretch wrap runs out and four pallets are sitting on the dock waiting for a courier.
Here is the part those articles tend to skip. In most warehouses, the biggest opportunity is not equipment. It is people. Your team is the largest line in your operating cost, and the number that really matters is how much labour goes into each order you dispatch.
Everyday supplies have a direct impact on that number. The wrap, cartons, tape, labels and tools your team handles all day either save them time or cost them time, and it multiplies across every order that leaves the building.
The catch is that the product with the lowest unit price is often not the one that delivers the most value. That is exactly why this gets overlooked.
Start by measuring the right things
Most sites track what they spend per unit and stop there. That only tells you half the story. These five measures give you the full picture.
|
Metric |
Impact |
|
Labour per order dispatched |
Your largest operating cost. Small time savings per order compound into significant value across a year. |
|
DIFOT (delivered in full, on time) |
The customer's view of your performance. Almost every hold up on the floor eventually shows up here. |
|
Stockout disruption |
Every shift held up by a missing item is paid labour producing nothing. |
|
Damage and returns |
A damaged load is paid for twice, once to build it and again to replace it. |
|
Time spent reordering |
Hours of admin each month that add no value and are easily removed. |
Take a baseline over a month before you change anything. Once you can see labour and supplies together, a product that costs a little more and saves your team 40 seconds a carton stops looking like an expense and starts looking like an obvious win.
Start with the carton
Before the ten essentials, there is one area that shifts your labour number more than any of them.
If your cartons are not the right fit, your team pays for it on every pack. An oversized carton has to be filled, and filling takes time, material and sometimes a second pair of hands. It also ships air, which you pay freight on, and it lets the product move around, which is where damage comes from.
Get the size right. Look at your top twenty order types and check what they actually ship in. Most sites find they are running two or three carton sizes for twenty different order shapes, and the gap is being filled with labour. Adding the right sizes usually brings pack times down before you change anything else.
Choose a quick void fill option. Where a size gap cannot be avoided, the method matters more than the material. Anything your team has to scoop, level and top up is slow. Paper systems, air cushions and pre formed inserts go in once and stay put.
Your customer benefits too. A snug carton with clean void fill presents far better than a half empty box with product rattling around inside. The unboxing experience usually improves at the same time as your labour cost comes down.
This is the point most efficiency reviews miss. Investing in the right packaging is not an added cost. It is a labour saving that happens to arrive on an invoice.
The 10 essentials worth keeping stocked
Protect the load
1. Stretch wrap. The difference between a stable pallet and a claim. Set a standard number of wraps for each load type and post it at the wrap station, because most teams either over wrap out of caution or under wrap out of habit and neither gets measured. Heavier or awkward loads need a stronger film than a light, uniform one. Hold at least two weeks of cover, as wrap is the item warehouses run out of most.
2. Edge protectors. They stop strapping and film cutting into your product and help the pallet hold its shape in transit. Start with your highest value lines and any route that keeps generating claims. One rejected load costs more in rework than a year of protectors.
3. Pallet covers. Protection from dust, moisture and handling damage, most valuable for anything held in an open yard or staged before dispatch. A small stock on hand is worth having for unexpected weather. For food, healthcare or clean environments, build them into the process as a standard step.
Seal and identify
4. Packaging tape. Match the tape to the job. Standard tape handles most cartons at room temperature, while heavier cartons, recycled board, chillers and outdoor storage all need something stronger. Keep your tape guns in good order too, because a worn blade turns a two second seal into a fifteen second job across hundreds of cartons a day.
5. Labels. The link between your stock and your system. Get them wrong and you get mis picks, failed scans and stock that is technically on hand but nobody can find. Keep blanks for manual overrides plus pre printed labels for the messages you use constantly. Match the label to where it is going, because standard paper will not hold in cold storage, damp areas or an outdoor yard. Repeat scan failures are usually the label, not the scanner.
6. Markers. Simple, and more valuable than they look. Markers keep things moving when a label peels or a scan fails. Buy them in boxes and keep a supply fixed at every pack bench and dispatch station, because hunting for one is lost time. Choose markers that write on plastic and film, not just cardboard.
Equip your team
7. Utility knives. A blunt blade is a leading cause of cut injuries, because it takes more force and slips more easily. Order replacement blades at the same time as the knives, since blades are the item most often forgotten and a team without them will keep using a worn one. Safety knives with retracting blades open cartons faster, without cutting into product.
8. Safety gloves. Hand injuries are among the most common warehouse incidents and most are preventable with the right glove for the task. General handling needs a coated grip glove with good dexterity. Strapping, sheet metal, glass and timber need a cut resistant glove. Cold store teams need warmth without losing grip. Hold a full size range, because a glove that does not fit will not be worn.
Keep the floor clear
9. Bin liners. A liner that splits turns a two minute job into a ten minute clean up. Match the grade to the waste, with heavy duty for strapping, offcuts and timber, and standard for general waste and paper. Colour coded liners make recycling easy to get right without anyone thinking about it.
10. Cleaning supplies. Spills, dust and debris are trip hazards, they damage stock, and they are the first thing a customer or auditor notices. The core kit is brooms and squeegees, general purpose cleaner and cloths, spill absorbent, and hand cleaner at the exits. Store it where spills actually happen, not in a cupboard at the far end of the building.
Value is not the same as unit price
Every point above comes back to one idea. Efficiency in a warehouse is mostly about not stopping, and the things that stop your team are small, everyday and easy to overlook.
A load that arrives intact does not generate a claim, a credit or a replacement pick. A carton that fits does not need three minutes of filling. A team with the right tools does not lose hours to injury or rework. None of that requires a capital project. It requires the right products, in the right specification, actually on the shelf.
So when you compare two options, compare them on the time they save and the damage they prevent, not on unit price alone. The better value option is often the one that costs a little more up front.
The hard part is remembering to reorder
Most warehouses can name their essentials without thinking. Replenishment is what trips them up. Someone notices the wrap is low, it goes on a list, the list gets forgotten, and three weeks later a pallet ships under wrapped.
That is what a standing order solves. It is a fixed list of products delivered on a set frequency, whether weekly, fortnightly or monthly. Same products, same quantities, same schedule. No purchase order to raise and nobody having to remember.
We set standing orders up manually with you rather than through the website, so the list is built around how your site actually runs, not around what happened to be in the last cart. Once it is in place it simply arrives, and you can adjust it any time your volumes change.
Look at your reordering time from the table above. For most sites that goes close to zero, and the disruption from stockouts follows it down.
To review your carton range or set up a standing order, talk to your Primepac account manager.