2 Expert Insights

By far the most efficient and effective way to increase warehouse productivity is to adopt and maintain a just-In-Time and Lean culture within their organization, from top-to-bottom. Emphasis should be on the incremental adoption of the time-tested tools developed by Toyota and Motorola that are commonly referred to as Lean Six Sigma.

The best thing you can do is to ask the people who work in the warehouse to start thinking about it and on a regular, periodic basis review and discuss how they might work better. I encourage people to put a meeting on a calendar, once a month at least to come together for an hour or 90 minutes (typically takes a good 90 minutes) to discuss ideas for improvement.
The reason to ask the people working in the warehouse is, they are the experts in their work, more than anyone else. But even more important any idea has to be implemented, ideas that they come up with will have their buy in and excitement about. It will not only improve the warehouse flow and productivity but it will improve their overall motivation and engagement. Lack of engagement is the #1 reason people quit their jobs. So get them engaged by asking them how to improve, it is a double win.