How To Keep Your
When was the last time you cleaned the warehouse? Was it last Christmas or Diwali? Cleaning a warehouse once a year is a big mistake.
Regularly working warehouses are prone to grime, dust, and trash lying here and there, which requires cleaning regularly.
Keeping the warehouse clean and neat is an overwhelming task, but great teamwork can make the task easier and faster.
This blog covers the importance and necessity of keeping warehouses clean. So stay tuned till the end to know how to carry out such a task efficiently.
The workspace speaks a lot about work ethic and morals.
Meaning, a disorganised and cluttered warehouse can harm the business.
Now, tell me where you would like to work: a cluttered warehouse full of dust and grime or a sophisticated warehouse, clean and neat with everything organised? Obviously, the answer would be the second one.
A disorganised and cluttered warehouse can cause
Or, you may be charged with high fines if you deal with food and beverages or pharmaceuticals.
Fines are not limited to specific industries, but you need a cleaner environment to feel more enthusiastic towards work.
A clean warehouse reduces the chances of accidents and errors and boosts productivity.
How will cleaning a warehouse benefit you? You might have come across this question, so to answer your query, here are some great benefits of cleaning a warehouse.
Clean warehouses have better productivity as compared to cluttered ones. You must be focused and quick to speed up the order-fulfilment process in the warehouse.
Think of this psychologically: a cleaner place allows workers to concentrate better and reduces their inventory search time, speeding up the order-fulfilment process.
It becomes more accessible for the warehouse staff to manage the inventory when it is cleaned and organised.
With all the obsolete stock gone and everything placed at its designated place, pickers can pick the inventory more efficiently and speed up the process.
Warehouses can produce most of the waste, but it can be tackled easily by reducing, reusing, or recycling.
Moreover, regular warehouse cleaning also helps eliminate extra waste piled up in the receiving and packaging areas.
Space is the major warehouse issue, which needs to be maintained wisely. Do you run out of space often?
Sometimes space is misused due to the disorganisation of the warehouse. For example, empty pallets and cardboard boxes lying on the racks.
So by cleaning, you can get unnecessary clutter out of sight and improve warehouse space utilisation.
A cluttered warehouse is inclined to have accidents, which can be avoided by cleaning. For example, metal pieces on the floor can harm employees or equipment.
Plus, the cluttered warehouse also invites the growth of bacteria and fungi, resulting in employees' sick leaves. A cleaner warehouse space keeps the microorganisms at bay and the staff healthy.
Remember, “healthy staff always equals a healthy business.”
Warehouses are not small places. They cover larger areas and require regular cleaning.
It sounds easier said than done. Unlike your home, warehouses have high ceilings and racks where dust typically accumulates.
Let’s get to know the most efficient warehouse cleaning process to clean the warehouse in just five easy steps.
Before you begin the mission of warehouse cleaning, ensure you have all the necessary cleaning equipment with you. Which includes
Tip: Remove all the clutters from the floors beforehand. Also, remove all the forklift trucks from the cleaning area.
If you want to speed up the process, then clean all the deposited dust and debris. Simply broom the floors before beginning in-depth cleaning.
Start from the higher areas if you want to clean floors only once. Because by cleaning higher racks, debris will fall on the floors and lower racks which will require cleaning again.
Higher areas must be cleaned first, including upper shelves, racks, pallets, windows, frames, and heating or cooling duct. Use an industrial vacuum cleaner for better suction and cleaning.
Floors are the areas where most of the accidents occur, which include slipping, tripping, and falls. Floors need to be cleaned and maintained to avoid all these accidents.
Remove dirt, mop the floors or use warehouse floor cleaners for better results. Scrub out the scratches and marks that forklifts leave. Clean all the areas, from under the pallets and even the nook.
Before wrapping up, check all the areas again for the remaining stains or areas you left uncleaned.
Now, as you are ready to clean the warehouse, here are some tips to make the cleaning mission more efficient and easier.
Warehouses are enormous and often get dust and debris accumulated here and there. For these, you need to clean the warehouse regularly.
Cleaning the warehouse is essential, but you must remember that it should not hinder daily logistic operations.
To tackle this problem, scheduling the cleaning process at regular intervals helps manage the time more efficiently and makes the warehouse cleaning process smoother.
Areas like shelves, pallets, containers, and racks should be cleaned monthly to help you with
Has it ever happened when you are ready to clean the warehouse but have a broken broom, mops are unavailable, or there is no detergent?
Not having cleaning equipment around discourages employees from proceeding with the cleaning procedure.
Moreover, if employees have to travel a certain distance to grab all the cleaning essentials, it will add up the time, and you won’t be able to complete it on the scheduled day.
The best way to avoid all this is to have supplies stocked up before the cleaning day.
A warehouse is a large place. To clean the whole warehouse efficiently, you need good teamwork. For this,
Implementing such practice will help carry out the warehouse cleaning process efficiently and ensure everything runs smoothly. For example, assigning warehouse packers to the shipping area can work.
How long does inventory sit on shelves? Sometimes a day, or sometimes it even leads to the year. This stocked-up inventory mainly invites dust and grime particles.
Compare this situation with the home. At home, if you leave a certain thing in the attic or a shelf for over a month, it will be full of dust when you finally take it out.
Similarly, in the warehouse, this is the same situation. The obsolete stalks become the primary reason for the dust, making the warehouse cleaning process more difficult.
Not only this, but obsolete stock also leads to
Try to clean this stock regularly, put up sales or resale it to clear the valuable space.
What if bins are full? People will throw litter here and there, making the space look dirtier and inviting to moss and mosquitoes, directly impacting the staff's hygiene.
It is essential to put garbage cans in every warehouse area and empty them regularly.
Especially the packing and receiving areas; both these areas are prone to most of the litter and need an excess amount of garbage cans to keep the place clean.
Adapting the “Clean As You Go” approach can make the warehouse cleaning process much more manageable.
It is unnecessary to do cleaning only on the scheduled day, as it can be done daily. Not the deep one, but staff needs to clean as they move.
For example,
Cleaning as you go is necessary for the warehouse to keep it hazard-free.
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. This approach should be implemented to keep your warehouse sustainable to help the environment, and it will also help to make the warehouse cleaner.
In the warehouse, we can reduce the use of excess materials. Like you can reduce the use of plastic wraps while packaging the items.
Plastic is not suitable for the environment, so it is better to reduce its use. Or you can develop innovative, eco-friendly ideas to replace the plastic in the warehouse.
Another term is reuse. You can reuse the pallets repeatedly. Aside from this, switching to the returnable-packaging option can add up your green points.
Recycling is the main task. Whether it is worn-out pallets, cardboard, or plastic waste, it can be recycled and used again.
For this initiative, place the recycle bin at convenient locations and label different bins for different waste materials.
After you finish the warehouse cleaning process, review every step, and mark where you need to improve. Implement some standard rules regarding cleanliness in the warehouse if necessary.
Tip Communication is the key. Train the employees to report any spills and accidents as soon as possible.
Warehouse cleaning can be overwhelming. So, instead of cleaning the warehouse yourself, hire professionals.
There are so many companies providing warehouse cleaning services. So if the warehouse is busy, in a cleaning schedule, one can hire a professional team and get the work done.
Meanwhile, the employees can focus on their work.
You should not only clean yourselves and your home but also keep your warehouse clean.
A cluttered warehouse can slow down your overall warehouse operation and can cause accidents. While a clean and decluttered warehouse boosts productivity, improves efficiency and accuracy, and decreases accidents at work.
A clean space encourages employees to do better and increases their job satisfaction. So what are you waiting for? Just plan a cleaning schedule and start cleaning. Remember, “A Clean Place Is a Safe And Happy Place”
Prime Associates hopes that this blog will be helpful to you, and if you still have any questions, our team can assist you. We are just a call or an email away.
If you want to know more about the warehousing business, read our informative blogs, and increase your knowledge.
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