Warehouse Management in the Real World

Change is a constant in warehouse management, and it seems to be accelerating in today’s fast-paced, e-commerce driven climate. With warehouse reconfigurations, moves, consolidations, management shifts, upsizing, downsizing and everything in between, warehouse management is evolving at a faster pace than ever. It calls for a flexible and nimble environment that constantly adapts to new requirements and conditions. 

If you’re a manager assigned with keeping pace with all of this change, you know it can be exhausting and stressful. But you just may have access to an underutilized tool that can help you better position for change and, perhaps, even anticipate it. 

Consider these questions: 

• Has the layout of your warehouse changed? 

• Are you experiencing workforce turnover or management changes with new or different expectations? 

• Have you added or changed warehouse capacity? 

• Have you developed new workflows or purchased new equipment? 

Many warehouses have forklift telematics systems that are constantly capturing operational data. This data can reveal a lot about the effectiveness and efficiency of your organization and processes, especially as they deal with changing requirements and expectations. The challenge is figuring out which pieces of data are significant for your specific situation and what that data tells you. 

Your telematics supplier has the advantage of working with a broad range of customers, applications and environments and can leverage that experience to apply best practices to your situation. Crown’s experience in deploying its InfoLink® Operator and Fleet Management system has evolved into a suite of services that, when combined, define a process of reviewing, coaching and then proactively planning for change based on meaningful, actionable data. 

• Performance Review – Our expert consultants review your current InfoLink usage, identify opportunities and recommend next steps for improvement. 

• Performance Coaching – Consultants share best practices with specific step-by-step instructions in targeted focus areas. 

• Performance Plan – Ongoing benchmarking and coaching in focus areas (including monthly dashboards) that ensure that progress is made in targeted areas and adjustments are applied as the operation evolves, whether from the inside out or the outside in. 

If you’re constantly chasing productivity and safety goals, consider how you can use your operational data to identify efficiencies and improvements that will help you get ahead of those challenges. You may not be able to prepare for every curveball that comes your way, but you’ll gain more insight into your operation and better understand what resources are needed and how to react to those changes you can’t anticipate. 

If you’re interested in learning more about InfoLink Performance Services, contact your local Crown dealer.