5 Essential Packaging Supplies in a Warehouse
As a business owner, you can decide to rent space in a warehouse or build your own, depending on your storage needs.
A warehouse is used to store different sizes of products. These range from electronics, clothing, furniture, wood products, and food, among others. Warehouse facilities could be small, medium, or large storage spaces that can accommodate huge quantities of goods. Goods are kept at the warehouse awaiting transportation to various destinations.
The packaging of these products is intended to protect them while at the warehouse and in transit to other destinations. The packaging should be sturdy enough to shield the item from damage while being transported from the warehouse to various destinations.
As a general rule, there are a number of packaging supplies that every warehouse must have. Below are five of the most crucial supplies in a warehouse:
1. Stretch and Shrink Pallet Wrappers
Stretch wrappers are used to tightly pack items, either individually or as a unitized pallet. The wrapping process can either be manual or automatic. This packaging item is a must-have in every warehouse since it helps you organize the storage space by packaging and grouping items accordingly.
You can also use shrink film wrappers, which usually shrink to the size of the item, compacting them tightly for safe removal and transportation.
2. Cardboard Boxes
Cardboard boxes are a must-have in every warehouse. They come in different sizes and shapes and can be used to package various items before shipping them out. There are different types of boxes of varying sturdiness depending on the thickness of the board used to make them.
You’ll want to have a variety of small, medium, and large boxes in your warehouse to ensure you can ship all of your goods.
3. Jiffy Bubble Wrappers
To protect your items, you can use bubble wrap, which typically comes in large rolls. Bubble wrap is used to wrap items of varying widths and sizes to cushion your items from damage. Due to its superior protection of items in transit, bubble wrap is very popular as a packaging material. It’s also an inexpensive, yet effective, form of insurance against damage.
4. Heat Sealers
Once you have the item or items in one package, heat sealers can be used to seal up the package to prevent items from falling out. If you have items that need to be packaged in plastic bags, for example, heat sealers can be used to secure everything in the bag.
There are different types of heat sealers that can be used for a variety of purposes. These include semi-automatic heat sealers and impulse heat sealers, heavy-duty foot-operated and lightweight hand-held heat sealers, among others.
5. Packing Adhesive Tape
Packing tape is an essential item that has multiple uses in a warehouse. It can be used to seal up packages such as items packed in boxes. Packaging tape can be clear, brown, or any other color. It has to be sticky and strong enough to stick to a package without peeling off. Packing tape is easy to apply and can greatly reduce packaging time.
There are a number of other items that every warehouse should have. However, the type of packaging items in a warehouse largely depends on the items and preferred packaging methods. Nonetheless, the above five items are must-haves and should be able to solve most packaging situations in almost all warehouses.
This list is not exhaustive since other items such as resealable bags, glue guns, and trolleys may be invaluable in most warehouses as well. Determine your unique needs based on the items you need to store and ship, and choose the right packaging supplies that will enable your warehouse to run as efficiently as possible.