Common Mistakes in Warehouse Storage and Handling and How to Avoid Them — Streamlining with ERP for Building Materials
Efficient warehouse storage and handling practices are essential for building material distributors. The materials you handle—whether lumber, drywall, steel, or cement—are often bulky, fragile, and prone to damage if not stored and handled correctly. Small mistakes in storage and handling can lead to big consequences, including:
Product damage
Inventory loss
Delays in order fulfillment
Increased operational costs
In this blog, we’ll identify the common mistakes in warehouse storage and handling and show how ERP software can help avoid these pitfalls and improve your warehouse efficiency.
✅ Why Proper Warehouse Storage and Handling Matter
The building materials industry deals with a vast variety of products — from heavy construction equipment to fragile glass and insulation boards. These materials are often expensive, and proper storage and handling ensure they arrive at the jobsite in the same condition as when they left the warehouse.
By avoiding common storage and handling mistakes, your business can:
Reduce material loss
Increase efficiency in order fulfillment
Maintain high customer satisfaction
Extend the lifespan of materials
📦 Common Warehouse Storage and Handling Mistakes
✅ 1. Improper Stacking of Materials
The Mistake:
Stacking materials improperly can lead to misplaced stock, product damage, and inefficient use of space. Heavy items might be stacked on top of lighter, fragile materials, or materials might be stacked too high, causing instability.
How ERP Helps:
With ERP software, you can assign storage locations and stacking guidelines for each material type.
Track material dimensions and weight categories to ensure correct stacking procedures are followed.
🟢 Result: Proper stacking prevents material damage, maximizes warehouse space, and minimizes retrieval errors.
✅ 2. Lack of Labeling and Tracking Systems
The Mistake:
Without clear labeling and inventory tracking, workers may struggle to find materials, or may pick the wrong materials, resulting in delivery delays, errors, and rework.
How ERP Helps:
Barcode scanning and RFID technology integrated with your ERP ensures accurate tracking and labeling of every product.
Workers can scan barcodes during receiving, picking, and dispatch to ensure the correct items are handled and dispatched.
🟢 Result: Faster order picking with fewer mistakes and improved inventory accuracy.
✅ 3. Failure to Monitor Temperature and Humidity for Sensitive Materials
The Mistake:
Some materials, such as wood, insulation, and cement, are highly sensitive to temperature and humidity. Improper storage conditions can lead to material degradation, mold growth, or swelling.
How ERP Helps:
ERP systems can be integrated with environmental sensors that monitor temperature and humidity in your warehouse.
You can set alerts for materials that require special conditions (e.g., wood or adhesives) and ensure automated stock relocation to more suitable areas.
🟢 Result: Materials that require special storage conditions are preserved, reducing waste and damage.
✅ 4. Overcrowded Warehouse with Poor Organization
The Mistake:
Overcrowding occurs when there is insufficient space, or when materials are not organized properly. This can lead to difficult stock retrieval, unnecessary damage, and slower fulfillment times.
How ERP Helps:
With location-based inventory management, ERP allows you to optimize warehouse layout by tracking product movement and identifying high-traffic areas.
It helps create zones for materials based on usage frequency, ensuring that popular items are easily accessible.
🟢 Result: Improved warehouse flow, faster order fulfillment, and less risk of material damage.
✅ 5. Failure to Implement FIFO or LIFO Inventory Management
The Mistake:
Not using the First In, First Out (FIFO) or Last In, First Out (LIFO) method for inventory management can result in aging materials being left unused, leading to waste, especially for products with expiration dates (e.g., adhesives, paints).
How ERP Helps:
ERP systems allow you to implement FIFO or LIFO based on the material type.
Automatic stock rotation ensures the oldest inventory is used first, reducing product waste and overstocking.
🟢 Result: Reduced inventory spoilage, and better stock turnover.
✅ 6. Insufficient Training for Warehouse Staff
The Mistake:
Warehouse staff who are not trained properly on handling materials can cause inventory damage, miss important safety protocols, and fail to meet order requirements.
How ERP Helps:
ERP can integrate training modules for staff, ensuring that each warehouse worker is trained on proper material handling, safety protocols, and warehouse workflows.
Assign task-specific training and track employee progress within the ERP system.
🟢 Result: Well-trained staff lead to fewer mistakes, improved workplace safety, and faster handling of materials.
✅ 7. Lack of Regular Inventory Audits
The Mistake:
Skipping regular inventory audits can lead to inaccurate stock counts, misplaced items, and untracked losses. Without audits, it becomes difficult to identify inventory discrepancies and optimize storage.
How ERP Helps:
ERP supports regular inventory audits, with features like cycle counting and real-time updates on stock levels.
Automated alerts notify you when discrepancies occur between physical stock and ERP records.
🟢 Result: Improved inventory accuracy, reduced discrepancies, and better stock control.
✅ 8. Not Using Automation for Order Picking and Dispatching
The Mistake:
Manual processes for order picking and dispatching can result in errors, slow processing times, and poor resource management.
How ERP Helps:
ERP systems enable automated picking based on real-time stock availability and customer demand, reducing human errors.
Integration with warehouse management systems (WMS) allows you to automate dispatch workflows and improve stock retrieval accuracy.
🟢 Result: Faster, more accurate order fulfillment, and more efficient warehouse operations.
