Top 5 Tips For Warehouse Cleaning

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12 February 2020

Barry Crackett shares an insight into the benefits of regular cleaning and maintenance for warehouses. Crackett has been a product designer at Brushtec, a specialist in brushware for industrial and municipal applications, for over twenty years.

The UK is experiencing a massive slump in productivity. Due to a number of factors, the nation’s services and manufacturing industry has seen a drop of 0.5% in output per hour, according to the ONS figures for Q2 2019. As a result, business leaders are looking for ways to get their output back on track.

If you’re wondering how you can increase productivity in your warehouse, regular cleaning and maintenance could be the answer. Below, I’ll take you through my top five ways a clean and tidy warehouse can boost productivity.

"Cleaning, tidying, and organising your warehouse regularly gets rid of obstructions and can help make everything easier to find, shaving minutes off your picking and packing times."

–Barry Crackett

Product Designer, Brushtec

1. It increases efficiency

Equipment, communication tools, stock and other important items are far less likely to go missing in a tidy warehouse. Cleaning, tidying, and organising your warehouse regularly gets rid of obstructions and can help make everything easier to find, shaving minutes off your picking and packing times as employees don’t have to hunt around to find what they need. They’ll also spend less time fixing incorrect orders if you can guarantee all your stock is in the right place. So, to make your operations run a lot smoother, it’s better to be rigid in your organisation and implement strict rules surrounding tidying up to save wasting time.

2. It reduces the need for maintenance

Regular light maintenance also reduces the amount of time and money you need to spend deep cleaning. By keeping on top of wipe downs and rubbish collection, dust and dirt are less likely to build up and require extra time or specialist cleaning to sort out. Your warehouse will still need to undergo a thorough scrub every few months or so but daily cleaning means that you won’t have to do it so often. Plus, if your warehouse operates 24/7, that means less downtime, which is even better news for your productivity.

3. It reduces the risk of injuries and accidents

Britain lost 28.2 million working days due to work-related injuries and illnesses in 2018/19 (hse.gov). To save avoidable accidents from affecting your business, keeping a clean and tidy warehouse is key. You should already be reviewing issues such as trip hazards and combustible materials in your monthly risk assessments but taking extra care to store stock safely, get rid of rubbish and clean up dirt and spills can go even further to ensuring your staff are kept as safe as possible in their workplace. So, try performing an assessment of your current cleaning processes and identify areas for improvement.

4. It increases employee wellbeing

Environment can have a huge impact on a person’s wellbeing, which in turn can affect their productivity. Small issues with their workplace, including lighting and temperature, can affect an employee’s motivation and lead to bigger issues for your business further down the line. Making sure your warehouse is well-maintained means having it cleaned, keeping it tidy and dealing with issues such as flickering lights or faulty equipment, so your staff can do their jobs to best of their ability without frustration.

5. It can make a good impression

A sparkling warehouse not only motivates your staff but can help you impress clients, both existing and potential and any other visitors to the site you may have. This can help you build good relationships that contribute to the success of your business - and successful businesses can afford to hire the right talent who can help give your productivity a boost. Plus, an attractive warehouse with a good reputation will tempt a better quality of candidate to apply to fill your roles anyway. So keep on top of warehouse maintenance if you want to raise the standard.

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Picture: Cleaning can help to maintain a happy and productive warehouse environment.

Article written by Barry Crackett | Published 12 February 2020

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