Warehouse tips 5 and 6: Never retype anything and use a WMS

Each week, we share tips on how to set up your warehouse as a newcomer. You’ll get advice on structure, automation and the physical setup of your warehouse. Today is part 5 in the automation category.

Tip 5: Never retype anything

If you run a webshop, your customer already enters their address and order details. That means you should never have to retype address information or product data—not even for a shipping label or an invoice. Retyping is a waste of time.

Connect all the systems you use so that data is transferred automatically. When you start automating, make it your goal to (almost) never have to retype any information.

Do you also receive orders by phone or email? Make sure you only need to enter them once and that picklists, packing slips and invoices are generated automatically. Your stock levels should update automatically too.

Tip 6: Use a WMS

Life becomes a lot easier with a WMS, like Picqer ;-) WMS stands for Warehouse Management System. In other words, a system to manage your warehouse. If you choose a ready-to-use WMS, you’ll instantly cover many of the earlier automation tips. No more retyping, and you’ll always know exactly what’s in stock.

Using a WMS can save you at least 15 minutes per order, not even counting the benefits it brings for purchasing and internal communication. A WMS also helps ensure that “everyone can do everything,” as mentioned in Tip 3.

Our previous tips

• Tip 1: Make sure everyone knows the process
• Tip 2: Complete each order in one go
• Tip 3: Reduce exceptions
• Tip 4: Automate everything

You can also download all tips at once in our book A warehouse to be proud of.