At RMH, we have a lot of ideas on how to keep your warehouse running smoothly.

Clean Out Bins

Trash cans are there to collect trash and be a centralized location for getting rid of the mess. But unfortunately, they can also become a mess themselves.

Make sure that the trash bins are getting a regular clean-out, whether it’s the ones at the picking and packing center or in the lunchroom. Overflowing trash cans can suggest to warehouse workers that there’s no place to put their trash—so why should they clean in the first place?

Keep Cleaning Supplies Near

Most people are guilty of the following ideology: “I don’t have the tools, so I won’t do the job.” Sometimes it makes sense: not having a $1,000 lathe can certainly prevent someone from making a chair, but cheap cleaning equipment should never prevent someone from keeping their work area in good order.

Having cleaning supplies close by is a great way to ensure that employees do their part in cleaning the warehouse. Simply doubling the number of brooms and dustpans conveniently placed around the warehouse will make them more likely to clean up, especially if the only broom used to be in a faraway closet. Putting spill kits on more support beams will make it more likely that an employee will deal with the problem instead of just ignoring it. Taking away excuses and making it easier on employees will almost certainly increase their interest in doing so.

Block Off Areas

Have you noticed that restaurants often prefer to seat customers close together, especially later at night? The primary reason they do this is that they are trying to keep a particular area of the restaurant clean, and avoiding that area means less vacuuming at the end of the night.

Something similar can be done with a warehouse. If you have a lot of extra room in your warehouse—like if it has recently had warehouse optimization performed—then you might consider blocking off sections with warehouse safety barriers. By doing so, you’re ensuring that no one is creating a mess in that section of the warehouse. It means less cleaning for your crew, which is sure to make them happy.

Deal With Spills

Some warehouses are more likely to have spills than others. Are you a beer distributor? It’s much more likely you’re going to have some broken bottles and burst cans from time to time. Do you carry any sort of oil, whether it’s cooking or motor? Something will eventually leak out and create a dangerous situation in your warehouse.

Of course, it’s not just about safety (though that should be your primary concern). It’s also about looks, and spills left to linger will usually end up staining. That’s why it’s important to clean up those spills as quickly as possible in order to keep your warehouse looking nice. While no warehouse will ever look like a fancy hotel lobby, it’s important to keep it looking as nice as the nicest warehouse. And while we’re talking about floors…

Get A Floor Sealant

Floor coatings are a great option for many warehouses, and we detailed the many advantages they offer in this article. The most obvious is that they offer easy cleanup, whether something on one of your pallet racks bursts or a forklift is leaking motor oil.

Warehouse floor sealants can also offer other advantages, such as anti-slip additives. This can give forklifts better traction and prevent employee falls should there be something slick on the floor. You can clean any skid marks more easily than from concrete, and a white substrate covered with a floor sealant can actually reflect more light and reduce the amount of artificial light needed in the warehouse. Oh, and floor sealants just look good, too!

Increase Your Recycling

One way to keep your space cleaner is to increase the amount of recycling you do. Many employees will go out of their way to pick up something that can be recycled, simply because they are interested in doing what they can to help the environment. Other employees may engage in recycling because of their innate interest in seeing stuff sorted—which might partially explain why they’re working in a warehouse in the first place.

There’s no doubt that recycling takes up a little extra space in a warehouse. But it can also be a cost-saving measure, which often more than makes up for the space the extra bins take. For example, recycling is often free, while you have to pay for other trash to be removed. Some metal-heavy recyclable waste could actually end up making money.

Organization and Clean Go Together

A clean warehouse is one that simply works more efficiently, so keeping it clean can increase productivity. How can RMH Systems help? We can provide you with warehouse organization supplies and an optimization plan that can streamline how you work. Contact us today to get the process started.