There’s plenty of ways to get your warehouse organized, but as anyone who has dealt with chores at their home can confirm, it tends to be easier to do a bit at a time rather than to try to get it all done at once.

While we’re all surely familiar with the huge rush of trying to get your warehouse clean at once due to an inspection, a seasonal rush, or maybe you’re just tired of the mess, there’s actually a lot you can do to help keep your warehouse clean in the day-to-day. If you’re looking for better daily strategies for keeping your warehouse more organized and easier to get around in, here’s a few of our favorite strategies:

 

Set a schedule of frequently-occurring tasks. One of the easiest ways to stay on top of cleaning your warehouse is to make a list of daily, weekly, or other regularly-scheduled cleaning tasks and make sure they get done at the correct intervals. Take a look at some of your most frequently-needed cleaning tasks like restocking warehouse shelves, sweeping/mopping, cleaning up the shipping & receiving area, and so on, and work out a plan with your supervisors and staff to ensure these tasks happen as scheduled every day.

 

Provide cleaning supplies. After identifying the cleaning work that needs to be done more often, a good way to keep everyone motivated is to make sure they have the tools they need to get the various jobs done. Keep cleaning supplies and warehouse safety equipment (such as gloves) near any high-traffic site like mops, brooms, and paper towels to make sure the smaller cleaning jobs can get done as they come up.

 

Keep an eye on the floor. The more menial warehouse cleaning tasks tend to involve cleaning up the floor—removing obstructions, replacing fallen objects, etc. Make sure your workers have easy access to things like mops and vacuums for daily spills and obstructions, keep everyone aware of potential floor hazards like dropped items and cables/wiring/etc to prevent injury (and relocate those where you can), and set a regular schedule for a full-on floor cleaning to keep things safe and tidy.

 

Train workers on the usage of nearby storage. A good way to avoid messes and make sure everything is cleaned up and put away correctly is to make sure your workers understand how your storage works. Take the time to train them on how to maximize space on pallet racks, how to clean and organize wire shelving, and similar tasks. This will help your staff prevent messes as well as making better use of their storage space to keep things organized (and out of the way, which is really the end goal here).

 

Be careful where everything is stored. Proper storage guidelines are always crucial for keeping your products safe, but a little foresight as to how and where you keep your inventory will go a long way towards keeping your warehouse more organized overall. Limit stack heights, take care to not stack items too close to lights or vents, and pay careful attention to item weight and density to avoid damage.

 

Keep a floor plan. Finally, all the organization tips in the world aren’t going to be much help if your workers can’t easily find where everything is. Make sure your floor plan is constantly updated with any changes to your layout, and post it in as many places as possible to help keep things organized, well-labeled, and publicly available so your workers can get where they need to go.

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