What You Need To Know About Keeping Warehouses Cool
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Managing a warehouse space isn’t easy. There are many things to monitor, and occasionally, some oversights occur.
Though warehouses are in increasing demand due to the surge in online shopping, that doesn’t mean business leaders should lose their grip on the real world. These spaces require careful management practices, especially when controlling temperatures in the workspace.
Warehouses must be kept cool at every juncture without exception. But why is this so important? What are the best solutions to ensure this happens?
Here’s everything you need to know about keeping warehouses cool.
Why Keeping Warehouses Cool is Important
If you’re managing a warehouse, you must ensure it stays cool. There is a lot at stake in doing so.
The priority should be maintaining workers’ well-being. Managers need to be mindful of how working in extreme heat can affect those performing strenuous tasks. Heat exhaustion can be caused. Additionally, employees may experience rapid fatigue or in their discomfort make mistakes that lead to accidents and injuries.
There is also the case of keeping stock in good condition. Certain products like food or pharmaceutical items will need to be kept cool, and any excessive heat can ruin them. They may be unusable, or the consequences of inaction may only be apparent once the goods are in the customer’s hands. Then, the business will likely lose them forever.
Excessive heat in a workspace can also lead to damage and disruption on-premises. Warehouse safety measures are enforced largely by safety information. However, these labels can start to peel away or even shrink in extreme temperatures. Keep an eye out for these subtle signs of temperature change, as it can lead to far bigger problems later on.
What Are Potential Solutions
Now you’ve been reminded of what’s at stake, you’ll appreciate that there can be no half measures when keeping warehouses cool. Considerable investments may need to be made, but you can be confident that they will be worthwhile.
Some people might use air conditioning or industrial fans to cool their warehouse workspaces. While some results can be achieved here, it tends to be evaporative coolers that achieve the best results. Fortunately, this guide on how to cool a warehouse outlines the options available in more detail. It explains that evaporative coolers can cool larger and more open spaces. Installation is also easier, with lower running costs and reduced maintenance periods as well.
Warehouses can have many moving parts to manage that can become overwhelming in time. Therefore, it’s important to implement the best solutions possible, if only to make your life easier in keeping things running effectively. Evaporative coolers are surely the most straightforward answer to keeping the warehouse cool.
Some sources recommend keeping doors and windows shut to trap the cold air and retain it longer when keeping a warehouse cool. However, you can leave them open if your warehouse has an evaporative cooler installed. It’s a small perk, but it can help ventilation and make an industrial workspace feel more open.
You should consider switching labels around to solve the peeling problem in heat-related emergencies. For example, investing in thermal transfer labels can help solve the issue. Polyester, polyimide, and polypropylene can all withstand higher temperatures.
Working with the public sector – what you need to know
As an Insider you can write for our blog free of charge. Here business owner and affiliate Robyn Banks from Adavista
“So you want to work with the Public Sector…
Just as we all started to get our heads around “data protection”/”GDPR” – European and UK versions, and “freedom of information” – the Government announced through the Queen’s Speech on 10th May 2022 that they have reforms in the pipeline. However, to date, I am struggling to find any details on the proposals and it wont be law for a couple of years, so I have time…
BUT this is what I do know! – it will become easier for small business (presumably sole traders) to tender for contracts with public authorities, such as schools, NHS trusts, councils etc. This is good news and should reduce the amount of bureaucracy involved.
If this is something that you are interested in exploring for your business, then we should have a chat because;
The first thing you need to do is discover if the public authority you think will be interested is actually able to work with you. I had a client who was a complimentary therapist. Whilst he was adamant that the Trust would benefit from his services for their patients, the Trust ended up taking him to the ICO who in turn took him to Court.
All of this could have been avoided as I found out from the Trust that they have a policy of never working with complimentary therapists – regardless of what the services are.
The new legislation may make this kind of policy obsolete to open up opportunities for sole traders in all fields.
BUT until then, its best to find out first!
We can make a “Freedom of Information “Request on the public authority and find out. They are not allowed to charge for providing the information when it is a small amount of information as this would be. They cannot hide the information without very specific reasoning. If you would like to take this further, then don’t attempt to go it alone. It’s much easier employing someone like Adavista who are experts in ensuring this is handled in a way that can progress the opportunity to work with the public sector.
I can appreciate that many aspects of my work can seem daunting. Insiders will tell you that within a few hours and for often a very small budget Insiders have been able to ensure their company is legal, secure and handling data correctly. This then can be very advantageous to business growth too.“
To learn more about how Robyn and her company can support your small business to ensure you are compliant and not at risk from fines (Did you know not being registered with the ICO can lead to a £400 instant fine?) click here.
As an Insider you get a discount to work with Robyn’s company, greatly reducing the cost to becoming a fully compliant small business owner. Robyn is also an active mastermind group member so is often on hand for instant advice too!
The Importance Of Customer Service: Why Businesses Need To Maintain A Positive Reputation
Customer service can make or break a business. It can influence a potential customer’s perception of the business before they even speak to a representative at the company. A bad customer service reputation can be costly for a company. Reports highlight that 14% of start-ups in the UK fail due to ignoring customers.
To avoid being included within that statistic, here are a few ways that businesses can deliver an excellent service for their customers and continue operating.
How To Deliver An Excellent Service
With careful planning and the determination to do well, companies can deliver excellent customer service. Some of the ways can be minor changes to their current routine. For instance, being more personal in emails, giving clear advice, providing them with all the information they have asked for, and more.
Delivering outstanding service to a customer does not have to be financially costly for companies. All it takes is a few careful planning and the right strategies to provide an excellent service. These are some ways your company can deliver an excellent service to your customers.
Solid Business Process
The business process is a vital component of a business. It is the company’s plan to ensure that everything runs smoothly, with work being delivered to high standards and mistakes kept to a minimum. With this plan, employees can provide a consistent service which ensures that the company operates efficiently. This efficient way of working can help employees respond to customers quickly and effectively, answering any queries and resolving any issues they might have.
Listen To Customers
Answering queries and resolving issues for customers are simple ways to keep customers happy and wanting to continue investing in the company. Listening to what customers have to say about the service, product, and overall experience working with the company can be valuable for business.
The feedback provided by customers can be beneficial for the company and how it performs. It can highlight any areas that could do with improvement, what didn’t work well and what did. With this information, business leaders can introduce changes and alter how the company operates. Some of these changes could help make a noticeable improvement in the company.
The changes made will not go unnoticed by customers. They will see that the company has taken their feedback to heart and updated how the business operates to perform better and deliver an excellent service to customers. Seeing this will have a positive and lasting impact on customers. They will likely feel valued and heard by the company. It increases the possibility of them returning to the company in the future.
Consider The Delivery
From the moment a customer interacts with the business to after receiving their goods, it needs to be a positive experience. If your company sells a physical product that customers purchase, the delivery of the product must also be a positive experience for customers.
Customers want to be informed about when they should expect the delivery of a product. Before they place an order, they want to know the estimated date and time of arrival. Should there be any changes, such as delays or arriving sooner than expected, they want to be made aware of any developments.
With vehicle tracking, your company can closely monitor the delivery process of a customer’s order. Investing in vehicle tracking is simple. For example, businesses like iCompario offer vehicle tracking for companies. It allows companies to track each vehicle, from its location to driver activity and driving performance. Knowing the vehicle’s location, companies can inform customers about an estimated arrival time for the products they have ordered.
An additional benefit of vehicle tracking is monitoring how your delivery drivers drive. The driving performance of your delivery drivers can impact your business. If they get into accidents due to bad driving or when using the company’s vehicles unauthorised, it can all reflect poorly on the business. Using vehicle tracking can help your business ensure that each driver delivers the products to customers safely and responsibly.
Offer Personalised Services
No customer wants to feel like a number. They want to feel like a human whose voices and opinions are heard and valued. Delivering personalised service to customers is a simple way to achieve this. If a customer has encountered an issue with the service or product they have received, they want to resolve the problem swiftly. Speaking with multiple contacts in a company to fix one issue can be frustrating for some. It can cause them to view the company in a negative light. This issue can easily be avoided by providing personalised services to each customer.
Why A Positive Reputation Is Important
As you can see, delivering excellent customer service will not set the company back financially. Instead, it can help prevent the company from losing customers and gaining a poor reputation. Here are a few reasons why a positive reputation is important in business.
Free Marketing Tool
Online reviews are powerful. Potential customers use online reviews to make informed decisions about whether to invest in a company. Customers post reviews online about their experience with a company, both positive and negative. A company that is highly rated with countless dazzling reviews will likely attract the attention of potential customers. If potential customers see a business with low ratings and negative reviews, they are less likely to work with them.
From a business perspective, having positive online reviews can be a free marketing tool that is effective. With 89% of SMEs in the UK using their online reviews as a marketing tool, it shows the benefits your company could reap should you do the same.
Advantage Over Competitors
Boasting a positive reputation can help your company build its competitive advantage. Most industries are bubbling with competition, so, understandably, businesses want to stand out amongst the rest. If your company has a positive reputation for delivering excellent customer service and a quality product or service, it could help attract customers to your business.
Attract New Employees And Investors
Growing a company is an exciting time for a business. To achieve this, they need to ensure that they have the proper support to help them. This includes new team members to help with the workload and investors to help with funding the growth.
It is not just customers that can leave reviews about a company. Former employees also have the power to post reviews about what it is like to work for a company. These reviews can provide a glimpse to potential employees about what they can expect should they choose to work for the company.
Companies with high turnover rates and numerous negative reviews can turn potential candidates and investors away. This can make it challenging for companies to grow. Ensuring that most, if not all, reviews online posted by employees are positive can help a company attract new employees and investors when the time comes to expand.
The Bottom Line
Customer service is an essential part of the business. The power it holds to influence the company’s success is mighty. It is understandable that any business will want to deliver an excellent service. Fortunately, building a positive image around a company can be possible with careful planning and the right strategies implemented.
If you are looking to improve your company’s reputation, consider implementing some of the strategies mentioned to reap the benefits of a positive status.
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