EP 221: Warehouse Standards

In this episode, I discuss warehouse standards and their importance. This has been one of the most important things to getting fully effective processes in place during my career in warehousing.

Standards Breakdown

• What is a standard?
  • A process that is proven to be effective and is repeatable with the desired outcome
  • Rules that are put in place to ensure the right outcome is achieved every time
• How to develop a standard
  • Map out your process that you want to standardize
  • Include all aspects of the process; no matter how small
  • Evaluate the process to see if it makes sense; can you improve any steps?
  • Ensure the process gives you the desired outcome
  • Get feedback from the parties doing the process
• Document, document, document
  • If the standard is not documented then it might as well not exist
  • Tribal knowledge will kill you when the person with the knowledge leaves
  • Everything should be documented and readily accessible for reference
  • Update documents accordingly when changes are made
  • Create a standard for organizing your documents
• Training
  • The key to having your standards succeed is to ensure the training is robust
  • All employees should be well versed in the standard and trained from when they begin
  • Do not throw them out there and train later
  • Start them right and with the expectation
  • Follow up on training periodically and ensure that it is top of mind
• Improvements
  • Be sure to review your standards for potential improvements periodically
  • Value your employee’s input; they know the process the best
  • If something doesn’t make sense question it