Time for change? How to manage a warehouse update

Change can be unnerving but also positive. In the context of a warehouse update it offers opportunities for increasing efficiency and boosting productivity, as well as reducing mistakes and errors where inventory is concerned. Change management is essential, no matter what your motivation for entering into a warehouse update. Planning and handling the process of change ensures that you can reap the benefits of investment in new systems and equipment and avoid the chaos that can result if change is not properly managed.

Start by identifying required actions

What needs to happen to enable the process of change to be successfully completed? This starts with the necessity of making a list of all the actions you’ll need to focus on in order to prepare for a new system or equipment. What training might be necessary, where do you need to make physical layout changes and what other barriers are there to integration?

What does change look like for your team?

Go through the process of change from the perspectives of everyone within the business. What does each person need to know and what can they expect change to look like? This level of transparency will enable expectations to be managed and give you the opportunity to identify any potential issues early on.

How will this change impact on goals?

For example, many businesses opt to update operations with a new warehouse system because they are looking to increase accuracy levels where orders are concerned. Identify your goals in making these planned changes and state them in clear and quantifiable terms. Once you’ve established the goals think about the steps that are likely to be necessary to achieve each one. For example, how quickly do you need staff to be able to start working with a new system? What implications will this have in terms of the training that everyone should have in advance? Successfully achieving the goals that you’ve set for a warehouse update will require you to break down each one into a small measurable pieces that you can plan for and track.

Managing the process of change itself

It’s important to have some contingency in place to handle any issues and queries that may arise during implementation and the early stages of use of any warehouse update. How will you handle questions from staff about problems that might be stopping them from using new equipment or systems – where is the key support going to come from? Equally as essential will be putting feedback systems in place so that you can get an idea of how successful implementation is and whether any tweaks or changes need to be made to help everyone get to grips with all the updates.

Managing a warehouse update is a fairly simple process of preparation, analysis and putting practical solutions in place to support your workforce throughout. It may require some time and resources to handle but it could also mean the difference between success and failure for the start of this new phase.