Peak season has never been easy to prepare for. Two objectives are critical to ensure the necessary responsiveness. The right technology and a stoic focus on your internal processes. Both help to raise profitability – even when it’s not peak season.  

The peak season may have passed this year, but external factors are still causing problems for warehouse logistics. Demand is challenging to predict at the best times. During the peak season, however, that difficulty multiplies thanks to fluctuating buying patterns and increased pressure. Meanwhile, inflation squeezes profit margins, and supply chain blockages cause delays and price hikes.

Unprepared for peak season

Warehouses need to be able to react to unpredictable demand patterns by building predictable internal processes. 1 in 5 respondents to a recent ProGlove survey stated that they weren’t prepared for the 2022 peak season. Furthermore, 39% of respondents felt they could not accurately predict trends and activities. So, it’s clear there is ongoing concern about predicting demand. Whilst the most volatile period may have passed, those concerns rumble on.

Warehousing professionals should adopt a stoic philosophy. You can only control what you can control. So, fretting over external factors gets you nowhere. Internal processes and operations are in the warehouse’s control and can insulate against external factors. Warehouse managers know the peak season will be unpredictable. Therefore, they must do everything possible to build adaptable and resilient processes. Resilience on the shopfloor comes from a well-equipped, highly motivated, and well-protected workforce.

Human-centered technology is instrumental

The key to building these processes is human-centered technology. It gives workers control by giving them the right tools to operate at the highest level during the peak season. Through easily digestible feedback, transparent processes can build trust in warehouse operations whilst unlocking previously hidden efficiencies. As a result, managers gain the vital bottom-up perspective of operations that they often lack. Meanwhile, floor workers feel less like expendable resources and more like critical cogs in the warehouse machine.

Unsurprisingly, it is difficult to predict what the 2023 peak season will look like. However, a lot can happen in the coming months. In that time, businesses can invest in solutions that will leave them in an ideal position to deal with whatever challenges may come.

To find out more about how you can prepare for the 2023 peak season, download ProGlove’s 2022 Peak Season Survey here.