Warehouse facility management is an essential function for many businesses during COVID-19.
An era of technological advancement, demanding jobs, and busy schedules combined with a global pandemic has forced many individuals to distance themselves from others while relying heavily on quick delivery.
The world of e-commerce has helped to fulfill many of these needs. Companies such as Amazon now offer same-day delivery while others such as Walmart and Target in many cases offer free two-day shipping with the minimum purchase of goods (Cbuelow).
The Role of Warehouse Facility Management in the Supply Chain
To meet demands and for consumers to remain satisfied, companies must create seamless systems for distribution.
The result is highly organized warehouse systems that move products quickly in order to meet the wishes of both the consumers and the businesses providing or creating the goods. In some cases, these warehouses even provide outsourced packaging services (Goulding and Sulibhavi). Thus, these facilities are a critical aspect of the supply chain that are becoming increasingly complex.
Warehouses, storage facilities, and fulfillment centers are not limited to large businesses. Small businesses have warehouse systems in order to keep track of inventory and fill both in-person and online orders, and they are critical to the supply chain. Those systems also must be carefully documented in order for business owners to communicate with building managers, technicians, and vendors.
Technology in Warehouse Facility Management
In order to optimize profit while increasing efficiency, businesses have also integrated automation processes along with robotics. As described in an article written for Facility Innovations, some warehouses incorporate “cobots” that work alongside warehouse facility managers and employees (Goulding and Sulibhavi).
Some of these coworking robots are designed to minimize certain risks within the facilities as well as to support future growth. According to Goulding and Sulibhavi, this technology is also a way for needs to be met while also cutting some of the costs associated with quick fulfillment.
For example, some of the warehouse robotics assists with the organization and loading of trucks to maximize space and time for delivery (Goulding and Sulibhavi).
Keeping the Warehouse Operational with Facility Management
Much of the oversight of these warehouse spaces, supplies, inventory, and machinery is assigned to facility and operations managers (Goulding and Sulibhavi).
These individuals must also ensure that the equipment such as conveyors, cameras, sensors, trucks, and even the robots are in optimal shape to fulfill orders (Goulding and Sulibhavi).
Their roles in these environments have become crucial to the supply chain in order to maintain the demands for expedited delivery processes. Keeping the warehouse operational and resolving work orders quickly is essential to the business’s success.
With all of these literal moving parts, managers have to develop a clear understanding of their facilities along with all that functions inside of them in order to complete routine maintenance as well as to anticipate needs using preventative maintenance measures.
Digital Documentation For Warehouse Facility Managers
Ultimately, in order to continue to create room for innovation as well as to meet current needs, it is important to carefully document and streamline the logistical components of these complicated warehouses and facilities.
As said by author and businessman Tom Peters, “Almost all quality improvement comes via simplification of design, manufacturing, layout, processes, and procedures” (Van Vliet). Experts suggest that investing in the right technology to manage all of these aspects is vital (Nelson). eFacility helps warehouse facility managers to document their facility components and communicate with technicians to complete tasks faster.
Through the use of this collaborative and easy to access technology facility workers and technicians can gather and receive facility-specific information in an easily searchable resource. eFacility enhances your use of CMMS by adding geo-location tracking and making sure your team spends less time tracking down the right documentation.
The comfort and familiarity we have all come to expect from these speedy delivery services provided through careful planning and organization in warehouses and supply chains can be further improved, replicated, and sustained through the use of technological tools.
About Us
eFacility provides software for facility managers that need to capture and share institutional knowledge.
eFacility’s patented technology captures the layout, location, documentation, and history of the facility to capture institutional knowledge and help technicians complete more work orders faster than they can without eFacility.
Geo-based documentation delivery ensures the technician can quickly access the important documentation for only the area of the facility in which they’re standing.
References
Cbuelow. (2017, May 25). How should facility managers confront warehouse frustrations? Retrieved May 2020, from https://www.minercorp.com/2017/05/25/facility-managers-confront-warehouse-frustrations/
Goulding, C., & Sulibhavi, P. (2019, February 21). Transportation, Logistics, and Distribution Centers: More Strategies To Increase Throughput. Retrieved May 2020, from https://www.facilitiesnet.com/designconstruction/article/Transportation-Logistics-and-Distribution-Centers-More-Strategies-To-Increase-Throughput–18263?source=part
Goulding, C., & Sulibhavi , P. (2019, February 13). Facility Innovations in Warehouse Design and Operations. Retrieved May 2020, from https://www.facilitiesnet.com/designconstruction/article/Facility-Innovations-in-Warehouse-Design-and-Operations–18262
Nelson, M. (2017, September 27). 4 Tips for Warehouse Facility Management. Retrieved May 2020, from https://www.eliteops.com/2017/09/27/4-tips-for-warehouse-facility-management/
Vliet, V. van. (2017, December 26). Tom Peters biography, quotes, publications and books. Retrieved May 2020, from https://www.toolshero.com/toolsheroes/tom-peters/
