Best Practices for Labeling and Warehouse Identification

As all experienced warehouse managers know, it is essential to keep your warehouse organized. Disorganization leads to delays, confusion, and errors that most businesses can ill afford. Part of your warehouse organization system should involve labeling and identification measures to ensure that products and essential information are easy to access when you need them.

If you do not yet have a system for labeling and identifying areas of your warehouse, our team at Lean Material Handling online supply store can help. We have been in business since 2018 and have given hundreds of warehouses the information and supplies they need to operate efficiently and productively. 

Developing Labeling Systems

Creating and implementing a labeling system in your business or warehouse is more difficult than it seems. Your system must meet all of your information needs while remaining easy to use and intuitive for your employees and customers. There are some overall qualities that your system should inhabit to be successful. 

Consistency 

Creating consistent labels for your entire warehouse makes information easy to find and accessible. Though it may be a large undertaking to overhaul your current labeling system, it is worth it to create labels that are easy to identify and comprehend. Consistent labels create recognition and make your employees feel more confident when accessing product information.

If you have scannable labels, be sure to make the labels the same size and put them in the same position on the label. This makes them much easier to scan for inventory and bulk projects.

Ease of Use

Though you may have a lot of information on your labels, it is important to be as succinct as possible. Make the most important information easy to find, and omit anything that is not usually necessary for day-to-day operations. Put all information in the same spot on each card to support consistency and make key data easy to find. 

Long Term Use

Consider whether your labels will remain useful in the long run. When you put time and effort into developing a labeling system for your business, you want to make sure that it can be used for many years. If your products or inventory changes frequently, consider labels that are easy to update. If there is a lot of traffic in a certain area, be sure that your labels can withstand wear and tear. If the information is unlikely to change, opt for labels that are durable and relatively permanent to avoid upkeep. 

Identify Pain Points

If you are updating an existing labeling system, assess which areas cause the most issues for you and your team. Consider where mistakes often occur and areas of frequent confusion. Solving common issues should be the foundation of your new labeling system. 

If you are creating a labeling system from scratch, create a label system that minimizes the risk of key problems. Consider which mistakes would be most difficult to fix, and work from there. This kind of forethought helps to create a reliable system and can guide you to products that will help you create a reliable labeling process for your warehouse. 

Ask Your Team

Regardless of your industry, it can be incredibly insightful to get your team’s input when implementing a new system, even something as basic as labels. Managers and executives are not necessarily privy to the way that systems work in real-time, and employees do. Getting employee input can help you to create an effective and reliable labeling system that truly achieves your goals. 

Seeking employee input is especially important when you design the layout of your labels. If they need to access certain information frequently, it is important that you make that information easy to find and read. Similarly, if an item needs to be scannable, employees can input the best position for the barcode for streamlined use. 

Labeling Your Warehouse

Warehouse labeling is far more complicated than other types of organizational systems. There is often a significant amount of information that needs to be displayed on each label, both for employees and for your technological systems. Consider these key points as you browse for labeling options: 

• How large the label needs to be in order to accommodate employees, customers, and scanners.
• Whether the size of the labels or label display areas will change or remain constant.
• The frequency with which the information on the labels will need to be updated.
• The amount of wear and tear the label goes through.
• The angle at which employees and customers can best see the label information.
• Whether the labels will be displayed on a magnetic surface. 

You know and understand the needs of your warehouse and staff. However, these considerations may help you to make effective solutions for your labeling and identification systems. 

Types of Labels 

At Lean Material Handling, we provide a large catalog of labeling and warehouse identification products that can help you to organize your space. Understanding the benefits of each type of label allows you to choose the best option for your situation. 

Self-Adhesive Ticket Holders

Self-adhesive ticket holders are versatile display pouches that are easy to install, safe on a variety of surfaces, and protect your labels from everyday wear and tear. With size options in 25, 38, 54, 80, and 125 millimeters, respectfully, you can choose a size that works best for your labels. 125-millimeter labels have two points of adhesion to prevent them from falling off. 

Self-adhesive ticket holders and other self-adhesive labels are easy to install: 

Step 1: Find a sealed surface for the label holder. Non-sealed surfaces, such as raw wood, will not bind to the adhesive, resulting in an insecure label hold. 

Step 2: Remove the covering on the easy-peel adhesive to expose the sticky surface of the ticket holder.

Step 3: Press the ticket holder firmly to the sealed surface. Hold the ticket holder in place for a few seconds while the adhesive bonds to its spot. 

All sizes include a white card insert on which you can print or write the necessary information. These products can be found in our catalog on page 4. 

Magnetic Ticket Holders

Shelves and pallet racks are often made of metal, making magnetic ticket holders and displays a convenient option. These holders do not leave behind residue and are easy to move and replace whenever necessary. The mobility of these holders offers flexibility to accommodate non-flat beams that may otherwise be in the way. These labels also allow employees to scan barcodes without removing the informational insert from its holder, offering protection and convenience. 

Magnetic ticket holders are unique because they allow reliable adhesion for cold storage spaces, an environment that is generally inhospitable to glue and stick-on label options. 

Self-Adhesive Label Holders

Some labels remain constant for long periods of time, while others need to be updated frequently. For the latter, self-adhesive label holders give you permanence in the placement of the labels with flexibility in their content. Self-adhesive label holders have the strength to withstand frequent label updates without falling off or deteriorating. 

Multiple size options give you the freedom to create labels that suit your needs. The smaller inserts are appropriate for narrow shelving for small parts, documents, or employee storage areas. Large inserts can accommodate more information when needed.

Standard sizes include:

• 15mm x 80mm,
• 30mm x 80mm,
• 50mm x 80mm
• 15mm x 1M
• 30mm x 1M
• 50mm x 1M.
• Custom lengths are also available by contacting info@warehouseiq.com. 

Magnetic Label Holders

Glue adhesion is not always appropriate in situations where you need to frequently change labeling information. Magnetic label holders offer you the ability to change your label information, stability, and durability in the holder, with the added benefit of being able to move the label holder itself without any mess. If you make updates or changes to your warehouse, these labels can move easily to accommodate any new policies or operating systems. 

Magnetic label holders come in multiple sizes, ranging from 15-80mm in height and between 80-200mm in width. Custom sizes may be available as well. Additional information can be found in our catalog on page 10. 

Magnetic Label Holders - Long Lengths and Rolls

For wide shelving or other cold storage spaces, magnetic holders are available in long lengths and customizable rolls. This option is appropriate when an area requires many different labels, as the wide strip can hold several labels. This is a more customizable version of the above magnetic label holders, carrying similar benefits and additional sizing options.

Magnetic Easy Wipe Racking Strip

Some labels change so frequently that printing labels or writing information on paper ends up being more wasteful and time-consuming than helpful. For these scenarios, magnetic easy wipe racking strips allow you to write information directly on the magnet. With an easy-wipe surface, you and your employees can write down necessary information without added waste or time-consuming label-making. We recommend using a wet wipe pen to prevent accidental erasing. 

The roll of magnetic easy wipe racking strip comes in 10 meters and can be cut to accommodate any space you have. These strips come in 10mm, 20mm, 30mm, 50mm, 70mm, and 90mm options and several colors, including white, red, yellow, green, black, and blue. Use multiple colors if you need to categorize your areas without adding more writing to the label. 

Magnetic Easy Wipe Location Markers

Pre-made strips of magnetic markers offer you ready-to-use erasable labels for your warehouse. The material for these labels is flexible, allowing you to use them on curved surfaces that otherwise could not accommodate magnets or some adhesion options. These are easy to update with a wet-erase marker, and they are easy to see and read as well. They come in a variety of sizes and large packs for your convenience and can be found on page 14 of the catalog. 

Wire Shelving Clip Holders

Wire shelving presents a unique challenge for labeling. With clip holders, you can create labels that stay in place on these types of shelving units. A major benefit of these holders is the ability to position the clips to best display information no matter what shelf you are using. For instance, these labels can be angled down on high shelves so that employees do not have to reach or squint to see the information from the ground. Though these holders have a piece of plastic over the top, the information remains scannable. These holders can be found on page 15 of the catalog. 

Pallet Markers

Clear pallet marking is essential to warehouse operations. When employees need to find and identify stock, pallet labels make it easy to get to the right area quickly. Labeling pallets effectively is a common issue for warehouses, slowing down order fulfillment and operations. 

Our pallet markers are adjustable and resistant to water, oil, and grease. Made of flexible white PVC, these markers can accommodate label adhesion, or you can write directly on them. You can find our pallet markers on page 18 of our catalog and come in a standard size of 75mm x 470mm.

Pallet Toppers

When a pallet cannot accommodate additional weight, pallet toppers provide a clear indication that no other pallets should be stacked on top. This is key for transportation and shipping when a lack of clear information can lead to broken inventory and mistakes. Pallet toppers are pyramid shaped and make their message obvious with graphics. They can be wrapped in stretch or cling wrap while holding their shape. 

Pallet toppers are on page 18 of the catalog and come in a standard size of 170mm x 170mm x 150mm. 

Stock indicators

Stock sliders and wheels can help you and your staff assess inventory extremely easily. Wheels come in three colors, while sliders come in two to indicate high, medium, and low stock, or high and low stock, respectively. 

Self-Adhesive and Magnetic Numbers and Letters

If you want to create labels that are consistent and easy to read, pre-printed numbers and letters can help. These options come in a yellow background with black writing or a white background with black writing to give you options for your warehouse. 

Proper labeling can create a safer, more efficient warehouse for you and your employees. For more information, visit us online at store.warehouseiq.com, email us at ted@warehouseiq.com, or call 888-310-0008 x2.