In the first article of the “Geolean Warehouse Solutions” series, we talked about making your pallet racking work for you by incorporating flow racks. Once your pallet racking is squared away and “flowing” properly, you can move on to the value-add areas of your operation, which are often in a sub-assembly or packaging/re-packaging area of your warehouse. Here, too, clutter and overhandling of product can really drain the productivity of your warehouse. Just take a look at this photo.
Unfortunately, this is an all-too-familiar sight in many warehouse packaging areas. Boxes spread around the area are hard to find and hard to reach. Packaging materials and discarded materials are cluttering up the workstation, making it difficult for the operator to be efficient and get their work done quickly.
Don’t overlook this important area of your process. If your workstations look like this, you’re allowing wasted space and wasted effort to slow down your profitability and productivity.
Improve Process Time and Save Space with Customized Workstations
The image above is a before picture of an actual Geolean client. They knew that their current workstations weren’t serving their process well, so they asked us to come on board and help them develop a solution that could improve their profitability. As a next step following our on-site consultation, we provided the following concept drawing, which the client approved.
This is what that same client’s workstations look like now, and here’s what they have to say about their new, customized workstations:
“The Geolean team helped us layout, build, and install our new packaging station. The result is a brighter and better-organized work area. In addition to a 60% reduction in space, we also improved the average process time by 33%.“
By customizing this packaging station to hold everything the packager needed right in arm’s reach, this client saw a 33% improvement in their average process time. Installing this customized workstation also reduced the packaging area’s space by 60%. In crowded warehouses where space is money, that’s a serious saving.
How Can You Customize Your Workstations For Simplified Order Processing?
If you repackage product or provide some other type of value-add service for your customers or production facility, customized workstations can add significant value to your operations. Items like labels, printers, packaging, tape, and more can all be conveniently positioned to make easy work of packaging and preparing shipments.
There are a variety of tools and features that a customized workstation can provide to speed up your process, and ultimately improve your profitability. Let’s look at a few popular features that can help reduce workstation’s space while improving process time:
- Overhead lighting makes it easier for packagers to see what they’re doing. When everything they need is highly visible, they don’t have to hunt for the right items. Chose from standard industrial lighting fixtures or use Geolean’s exclusive LED Light Tubes that can be built right into your workstation
- Overhead monorails with tool balancers put the items your operators need exactly where they need them. Tools aren’t lost under boxes or papers. They’re immediately visible and easy to reach directly in front of the work.
- Height-adjustable work surfaces improve ergonomics for multiple operators. This ensures that all operators are comfortable and able to complete their work easily, safely, and without pain. Options are available for easy to use push-button hydraulic systems or low-cost hand-cranking systems to support your specific requirements.
- Designed to support your requirements. Our workstations can be constructed from a wide range of materials to ensure they meet the rigorous demands of your operations. Heavy-duty frame materials and multiple worksurface options are standard, as nothing is more important to us than your long-term satisfaction with your new workstation.
All of these tools help your warehouse team complete their work more efficiently. When you’re simplifying order processing and reducing the time it takes for product to leave your facility, you’re delivering a better service to your customers, and you’re increasing your warehouse’s productivity.
Like flow racks, customizable workstations are modular. As your order processing needs change, or as your teams think of additional solutions to improve their process, you can adapt and further customize those workstations with ease. Geolean’s modular solutions are built to be reconfigured, so they’re always serving your warehouse’s needs.
Have more questions about the returns customized workstations can provide? We’d love to chat. As lean integration experts, we’ve helped warehouses in a variety of industries reconfigure their facilities with modular solutions; we have the experience to answer your questions, and to help get your warehouse on the right track.
Geolean Warehouse Solutions Mini-Series
Flow Racks in the Warehouse – Part 1
Efficiency With Custom Workstations – Part 2
Custom Delivery Carts in the Warehouse – Part 3
