All warehouses have fire risks, ranging in severity. Facilities flammable loads like paper, aerosols, liquors or fiber are at higher risk than others, but any load on wood or plastic pallets can catch fire.  For instance, manufacturing facilities with airborne debris are at more risk than those storing ceramics or steel components. While storage racks are not among leading causes of warehouse fires, (or even a cause, except for their loads) they can play an important part in reducing spread and damage.

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As we navigate this new age of Covid-19 and the distancing associated with it on all fronts of our lives, keeping areas within your facility safe and spaced becomes not only a priority now, but leads to further efficiency for operations in the future. Operations that utilize efficient means for creating visual clues within their warehouse showcase a more productive work environment that also keeps employees and equipment free from potential hazards.

One method to aid in this endeavor is floor marking. By marking areas in your facility, you highlight risks, outline areas for equipment and people, direct traffic and showcase safety considerations. In short, just by adding some color to your floor, you make your entire facility easier to navigate.

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Loading docks are critical because they’re where everything is received—and eventually shipped. The right shipping & receiving setup means smooth product flow, faster putaway and more accurate fulfillment. In short, it means a safer and better operation. To help you protect your docks and your people, check out our new dock equipment guide.

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Each year, the Warehouse and Distribution Center Operations Survey asks logistics and warehouse operators about their current business and challenges. The responses showcase trends that companies are coping with. The 2020 edition of this survey, though, reflect an industry that was impacted profoundly by this new age of Covid-19 that we are currently experiencing. In short, this is a year unlike any other, and it shows in what the respondents provided to the survey.

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Above: workers in a distribution center putaway aisle with flow and bulk storage accessibility. Picking aisles are left clear as the system is replenished. Photo credit: Unex Manufacturing.

Putaway, which is the methods and processes that occur between receiving inventory and that inventory resting in storage positions in a warehouse, may have more impact on the performance of order fulfillment or warehousing operation than most anything else.

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Dock boards and dock plates are built to transition forklifts, pallet jacks, carts, people and other transportation methods between trailers and your warehouse dock area or staging floor. How can you be sure the transition between truck trailers and your dock is safe?

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As we’ve discussed automating anything as complex as a large scale material handling process has risks, but there are ways understand the outcome better in advance and reduce any risks. It’s always good to have more data, and simulation plays into that scenario by giving you a view of what key systems, technology and process will interact in your system, with your loads.

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In this installment of Cisco-Eagle’s Shoptalk series, Rodney, Regional Director of Arkansas, discusses the benefits of using the forklift laser tine guide system.

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Automation can work wonders. It reduces costs, increases throughput, curbs errors and increases safety. The costs of automation are declining while the effectiveness of computer, vision and scanning systems are improving. Automation helps you reduce repetitive actions — the kind that adds no value. The common perception is that automated facilities are dark, free of people and full of robots, but the reality is that automation comes in many forms, ranging from picking systems like pick-to-light to automated conveyors to goods-to-person systems and much more.

For all these benefits, you want to understand the potential problems with any automation project in advance so you can avoid them as you move forward.

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As we’ve discussed before, the age of Covid-19 has brought not just a new normal for ourselves and communities, but for the warehouses and facilities we work in as well. As we pass the summer and venture head-on into the fall and winter months, many locations are starting to see an easing of the restrictions that were in place to protect workers. As these restrictions are lifted and there begins an (at least partial) return to normal, each facility must now make adjustments to this new normal of how to protect those returning to work and what to apply to their floor operations for future protection.

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