According to the 2021 World Green Building Trends report, lowering operating costs is the number one reason business owners, developers, contractors, and more are increasing their investment in green building projects.
In today’s environmentally conscious world, internal shareholder commitment and a sustainable brand image also play major factors in companies shifting their commercial construction to meet new consumer and investor expectations. In fact, nearly 1 in 3 USGBC members cited the U.N.’s most recent sustainability goals as a primary motivation behind their new green building strategy.
Sustainable practices in corporate construction and warehousing inform shareholders and customers that a business is invested in maintaining a brand identity consistent with the priorities of the current era. The lower operating costs associated with green building projects, particularly when projected over 10 years of energy savings, mean that businesses can adapt their warehouses to current standards while improving their bottom line.
To achieve this, businesses are seeking ways to make their warehouses more energy-efficient, automated, eco-friendly, and sustainable. By utilizing an efficient warehouse management software, businesses can cut waste while improving compliance with these seven tips for sustainable warehousing.
1. Strive for energy efficiency
Reduced energy consumption is one of the primary goals of green warehousing initiatives. With current business surveys finding warehouse storage costs rising by the year, energy efficiency equates to higher profit margins in any sector that relies on inventory management. Lights, fans, equipment power, and more can be draining your warehouse needlessly, reducing your business’s compliance with green energy laws and reducing your profits.
As part of using manufacturing management services, businesses can refine their warehousing energy usage. Adopting LED lighting, setting temperature parameters for fan operations, and implementing sensors to monitor energy loss can reduce energy waste and improve sustainability. However, all businesses have different energy needs. Reducing storage space overall to better match a business’s projected inventory levels can maximize the efficiency of the spaces it needs.
2. Automate inventory management
Automating inventory management eliminates costly errors common with manual input methods, which can account for as much as 30% of a business’s yearly revenue. However, automation can also improve a business’s sustainability by simplifying its workflow and improving its accuracy. They do this through the following means:
- Automated inventory tracking reduces errors by providing managers with real-time updates to their stock levels, order schedules, and asset locations
- Vendor management and auto-reordering systems improve a business’s purchase accuracy, which eliminates costly over-stock and under-stock
- Operational efficiency tracking allows managers to input strategic changes to their business’s workflow and measure the result in real time
- Energy efficiency monitoring can help businesses downsize to lower costs and meet energy compliance statutes
- Budgetary management can be automated to eliminate the cost of storing paper records as well as reduce manual errors
Automated inventory management represents an efficient tool for modern businesses to revise their workflow for better efficiency. However, not all solutions can benefit all businesses, which is why customizability should be a priority when businesses shop for automated systems.
3. Repurpose instead of building new
The process of building new storage facilities requires energy in the form of electricity, gasses, and other byproducts of construction, increasing a business’s negative environmental impact. However, repurposing old buildings by adapting them to current warehousing needs reduces emissions, construction waste, and material costs.
This practice, known as “adaptive reuse,” is more financially sound than building new structures, in addition to being more environmentally compliant. Redevelopment may even be viewed as more positive to the neighboring city or community, encouraging other urban renewal projects that help areas prosper and improving your business’s PR.
Note that adaptive reuse applies not only to structures but to equipment as well. If older equipment can be refurbished and used as company assets, businesses can save even more on operation costs.
4. Build with sustainable materials
Whether renovating or expanding your business’s inventory space with new constructions, building with sustainable materials reduces a business’s environmental impact while lowering overhead for construction projects. Consider the following materials as a starting point for sourcing safer, cheaper, and more compliant materials as your business scales its inventory:
- Salvage: The salvage process allows businesses to reuse construction materials on new projects, lowering their impact on local landfills and global environmental change. Implementing a salvage procedure can lower building costs while in many cases improving the structures since high-quality salvage is sturdier than low-quality bulk purchases.
- Bendable concrete: Instead of traditional concrete construction, many businesses are turning toward the polymer-based concrete substitute called “bendable concrete.” When hardened, the substance acts like normal concrete but with added durability. Since it requires less cement to create and requires fewer repairs, this material reduces carbon emissions associated with construction.
- Bamboo: Wherever bamboo can replace wood, companies are jumping on the chance to use this sustainable crop to reduce their environmental footprint. Bamboo reduces soil erosion during harvesting and can be composted afterward, so it’s rapidly becoming known as a low-waste, high-reward material for companies scaling their infrastructure.
- Mass timber: Mass timber includes a number of manmade wood types synthesized by laminating different types of lumber together. It’s so strong that many companies are using it instead of steel to reduce their environmental impact.
5. Explore eco-friendly packing and shipping
Packing & shipping requires vehicles, equipment, and other carbon-emitting processes that reduce a business’s sustainability. Concern for the environmental impact of shipping procedures has led many businesses to adopt eco-conscious pack-and-ship strategies, with numerous benefits besides compliance with environmental regulations.
- Better branding: Businesses that adopt sustainability practices such as using eco-friendly materials in their packing process can commit to these changes as positive initiatives in their brand image. Studies show that 60-70% of consumers are willing to pay more for products from companies that practice sustainable packing and shipping values.
- Lower risk: Along with better branding, eco-friendly packing processes reduce the chances of PR fallout as environmental impact surveys put more pressure on businesses with higher carbon footprints. Getting ahead of public perception on this important issue can save companies time and money in the long run.
- Retaining employees: The public is not alone in its growing interest in supporting companies that practice sustainability. Last year, 70% of employees stated that businesses with sustainability initiatives were more appealing to work for. As competition rises for retaining skilled labor, eco-friendliness could become a more significant factor in employee retention.
To achieve these benefits of eco-friendly packing and shipping processes, businesses should first look into the materials they use. Replacing plastic and polystyrene with biodegradable and compostable materials, including anything that can be recycled or reused, can go a long way toward improving a business’s sustainability profile.
6. Optimize transportation logistics
Poorly optimized transportation logistics lead to manufacturing waste. If left unchecked, this waste can damage a business’s environmental profile and reputation. The costs associated with PR scandals and lapses in compliance can be avoided with a transportation process optimized for sustainability.
Manufacturing waste, including extra inventory, defective products, and scrap materials, can accumulate and become as costly as logistical waste, such as overstock, overproduction, and unnecessary transports. “Lean manufacturing” refers to a growing trend in reducing waste throughout every step of the fulfillment process, resulting in a more compliant as well as cost-effective workflow.
Consider these tips to optimize your business’s transportation process:
- More effective inventory management, including optimized inventory management software with real-time inventory counts, reordering schedules, and analytics, can reduce waste by cutting down on unneeded stock, optimizing warehouse space, and eliminating costly spoilage.
- Reusing resources by switching to recyclable and biodegradable construction and packing materials can improve your business’s environmental compliance while reducing waste.
- In addition to reusing materials, businesses should consider ways to reduce the overall components, packing materials, and other content they use while ensuring that the materials they retain are environmentally compliant.
- Preventative maintenance can save businesses time and money on costly repairs that interrupt production and increase fulfillment costs. Optimizing material usage for your business’s size may require automated management processes, but doing so can reduce the margin of error for aging equipment and infrastructure while preventing costly delays.
- Proper warehouse management, including space optimization, barcoding, and energy conservation, can save businesses labor costs, operating costs, and material costs.
7. Always reduce waste
The above solutions to environmental compliance can only be considered green warehousing if businesses take every opportunity to reduce waste. In addition to the strategies listed, consider these inventory logistics methods to further avoid the financial or legal complications of unchecked manufacturing waste:
- Proper labeling allows businesses to avoid costly spoilage, overstocks, incorrect shipments, and hazardous chemical incidents. Replace faded labels with legible ones to avoid these costly mistakes.
- Closed-loop manufacturing describes how some businesses have employed so many recyclable and reusable materials that their manufacturing process is self-sustaining. Consider how your business can “close the loop” with green chemistry processes.
- Reducing water use can make a significant change to a business’s sustainability. Using chemical drying or machine drying methods, companies can reduce their wastewater, which accounts for a lot of costly and risky environmental spillage for manufacturers.
Green warehousing has become a necessity in terms of legal compliance as well as public perception. However, many of its practices also save businesses money by reducing their energy use, refining their fulfillment process, and eliminating their manufacturing waste.
A versatile inventory management system can tailor these solutions to a business’s existing workflow, ensuring that green warehousing benefits the business as much as it benefits the world around it.
If you are interested in learning how Fishbowl’s flexible inventory management solution can help your business now, you can book a demo.