Rack Labeling

Creating and maintaining an efficient warehouse can be difficult. When you have a large amount of inventory on rows and rows of shelves, it takes substantial planning to achieve successful inventory management so you know what materials you have on site at all times. Items may end up sitting for a long time, and this idleness leads to overproduction, limited space, waste, and decreased value. Luckily, rack labeling is a cost-effective and simple way to control inventory. Rack labeling facilitates the flow of items and ensures that they can be found quickly and easily. Creating a guiding system for your warehouse is one of the most important things businesses can do to maximize efficiency.

Racks are the shelving units that are used to store inventory in a warehouse. Depending on the nature of the facility or the inventory itself, a rack can be a single, long unit that goes from one side of an aisle to another. Or, a rack can be split up into smaller sections known as bins. Bins are often chosen when the products have major variations in quality and size, or there are a large amount of stock keeping units (SKUs).

A common tool for rack labeling systems are barcode industrial labels, which are one-of-a-kind, scannable codes that convey information about the particular item. As a worker scans a barcode, they can see important information such as how much inventory there is, where it is located within the warehouse, and how long it’s been there. This way, locating the aisle number and rack number for an item takes a matter of seconds. Not only do barcodes prevent items from idling on shelves, they also allow workers to complete their jobs more efficiently.

It takes some time to develop a comprehensive and successful rack labeling system. However, understanding the basics, best practices, and your labeling options is a great start to reducing waste and making your warehouse easier to navigate.

Benefits to Rack Labeling

There are a number of reasons to consider implementing a rack labeling system, including:

Rack Labeling Best Practices

While there are no universal requirements or standards to rack labeling, there are a few rules of thumb that will make implementing a rack labeling system easier and ensure that your labels are adapted to your unique needs. If the racks have been split up into smaller sections or bins, remember to designate labeling for each section, not just the entire racking unit itself.

Best practices of rack labeling include:

Barcode Features to Keep in Mind

Barcodes are an integral aspect to a successful rack labeling system. Any multi-level rack system requires a set of barcode labels that can be scanned and coded with graphics and colors, which workers can understand in a single glance. Color coding is commonly used in rack labeling, to either help workers quickly identify a label or product (for example, blue labels correspond to finished goods) or to highlight important information such as the aisle number.

Three important elements of barcodes to consider for rack labeling are:

There are one-dimensional barcodes and two-dimensional barcodes. 1D barcodes have vertical lines and spaces, while 2D barcodes are square and look like television static. Warehouses typically will use 1D barcodes; 2D barcodes are more common for instances where people may use their cellphone to scan tickets or make a purchase.

 

Other Rack Labeling Materials

In addition to barcodes made with traditional vinyl, there are other kinds of supplies that help you organize your racks, such as:

Rack Labeling for Success

Rack labeling has a large impact on warehouse operations. It is an integral aspect to successful organizing, and organization is one of the foundations of Lean manufacturing. Having a rack labeling plan is often the key to achieving a Lean facility and reducing waste, no matter how large or small your business is. Once you develop a labeling system for your warehouse, try to implement your plans with the intention to sustain your system for the long term so your facility can experience success and efficiency indefinitely.