5 Methods to Reduce Warehouse Product Damage

Posted by admin on April 10, 2012

In any warehouse or manufacturing plant, products inevitably break or become damaged. But then there are those million-dollar mistakes that happen sometimes, like the Australian wine maker who dropped $1M worth of Shiraz wine due to a malfunctioning forklift. This mistake cost winemaker, Sparky Marquis, one-third of his annual production. This disaster – described by Marquis as looking like a murder scene – is on the more extreme side. The normal everyday broken products (maybe one out of every 100 batches) don’t make the headline news or cost the salary of nine employees to fix. The bottom line is that mistakes do occur and – in most cases – they are preventable.

HOW YOUR WAREHOUSE CAN REDUCE PRODUCT DAMAGE

• Check and re-check pallets. Stringers, nails or missing support blocks, or faulty plants have the potential to cause loading and unloading malfunctions. In one particular instance, loose stringers can get hung up on pallet racks and cause a load to collapse.
• Be clean and pristine. Cluttered and disorganized aisles are recipes for product damage. This disorganization could force forklifts to maneuver around obstructions, creating the likelihood that a forklift may drop a load or run into shelving and other racking systems.
• Manage your weight. Overloading shelving or racks can cause a dangerous collapse, which could destroy thousands of dollars worth of inventory. Make sure you and your team knows the capacities your storage systems can hold. Unfortunately, It is common to ignore capacity and warning signs until it’s too late and an accident happens. These signs should be taken very seriously.
• Invest and install safety equipment. It may not feel like it’s in your budget to go all out on purchasing the best safety equipment. However, installing rack safety netting may prevent injury or death of an employee. Rack safety netting can help stop cartons from crashing down off of palletized loads. Pallet rack column protectors are another option  and are typically less expensive.
• Use accumulation conveyors. Accumulation conveyors hold products in place until signaled for release. This helps to stop collisions through minimal or no driving pressure.

These five accident preventatives are a few of many to help keep your warehouse products safe and sound. Whether you’re in the market for purchasing additional safety equipment, learning new best practices and how-tos, Material Handling Network is your connection. We provide you – material handling manufacturers and distributors – with education, industry leads and advertising services. For more information on how to get started working with us, contact us today at:

Matt Witte

mwitte@abstraktmg.com

(314) 338-8824