A method organised around practical checks.
Each step gathers the facts to establish before moving to the next.
A warehouse procedure fits on one page. If it runs to ten, it will not be read; if it does not exist, different people will invent it every day.
This guide sets out the eight documents that cover the essentials of an operation, with a template and the questions each one must answer. It requires no quality methodology, software or budget — only a few hours with the people who do the work.
Why write things down when everyone already knows
Three reasons, in order of their real value.
Onboarding. A new starter takes weeks to become independent, not because the work is difficult, but because they learn by immersion. A written procedure cuts that time.
Consistency across teams. Two teams that did not learn from the same person do not work in the same way. These differences produce variances that are then blamed on individual errors.
Configuring a future system. This is the reason people discover late: an IT project consists precisely of formalising rules. If they are written nowhere, they will be decided in a rush by people who do not have the authority to do so.
Writing rules
One page. One side only. If the content overflows, there are two procedures.
Use action verbs. ‘The warehouse operator checks’, not ‘the check should be carried out’.
Written by the person who does the work, reviewed by the person who manages it. Reversing the order produces documents that are correct but impossible to apply.
The standard case first, exceptions afterwards. A procedure describes what happens ninety times out of a hundred, then refers special cases to the end of the document.
Dated and signed. Without a date, no one knows whether it is current. Without a name, no one knows whom to ask.
Displayed where the work takes place. A procedure kept in a binder in the office does not exist.
The eight documents
1. Welcoming carriers and assigning a dock
Answers: who welcomes them, where the driver waits, which documents are requested, how the order of passage is decided, and what to do with an unannounced carrier.
A frequently forgotten point: the priority rule between receiving and shipping when only one dock is free. Without a rule, the most insistent person goes first.
2. Receiving
Answers: how the delivery is matched to the order, what is checked (every quantity or a sample, condition, documents), which variances justify rejection, who decides to reject, and how a reservation is recorded.
A frequently forgotten point: what do you do with a delivery that has the correct quantity but arrives without documents? And with an unordered delivery?
Suggested template:
PURPOSE · Receiving goods
WHO · Receiving operator, under the team leader’s responsibility
WHEN · Whenever goods arrive
STEPS
Check that a corresponding order exists
Check the number of units announced / received
Check the external condition of the units
Check [applicable quality criteria]
Record the receipt
If there is a variance: [action], inform [role], record the reservation on [document]
REJECTION · A delivery is rejected if: [list]
DECISION · Rejection is decided by [role]
EXCEPTIONS · [special cases]
Written by... on... — Approved by...
3. Putaway
Answers: who decides the location, according to which rules (turnover, weight, compatibility, temperature), within what time after receipt, how the movement is recorded, and what to do when the planned location is occupied.
A frequently forgotten point: the maximum time between receipt and putaway. Without a written deadline, the receiving area becomes a storage area.
4. Order picking
Answers: how orders are released and in what sequence, whether they are picked individually or in batches, which route the picker follows, what happens when an item is missing, and what happens to an incomplete order.
A frequently forgotten point: what to do when stock is missing. This is the most common and least codified situation: the picker makes a commercial decision alone — serve partially, substitute or raise an alert — without a mandate.
5. Checking and packing
Answers: what is checked and on what proportion of orders, who checks (never the person who picked, if possible), which packaging is used according to which criterion, what information appears on the label, and how the check is recorded.
A frequently forgotten point: customer-specific requirements — special labelling, documents to include and palletising method. They live in one person’s memory and disappear when that person is on leave.
6. Shipping
Answers: how the load is matched against the shipping list, which documents travel with the goods, who signs what, how shipment is confirmed in the system, and what to do if the carrier refuses to sign a reservation.
A frequently forgotten point: checking the number of units actually loaded against the announced number. This is the last moment when a variance can be detected at no cost.
7. Stocktaking and variance handling
Answers: who counts and on what rotation, how the count is performed (blind), what happens to an identified variance, who is authorised to adjust, how a reason is recorded, and who reviews the reasons and how often.
A frequently forgotten point: the definition of a ‘significant’ variance that triggers an investigation. Without a written threshold, everyone applies their own.
8. Returns and non-conformities
Answers: where a return waits for a decision, who decides its outcome (put back into stock, downgrade or destroy), within what time, how it is linked to the original order, and who issues the credit note and on what evidence.
A frequently forgotten point: the maximum decision time. Without a deadline, the returns area grows indefinitely — one of the most visible symptoms of an operation without procedures.
How to produce them in three sessions
Session 1 — Two hours with the team leaders. List the eight processes and record what actually happens in each one. Not what should happen: what does happen. Someone takes notes.
Between sessions. One person puts the notes into the template. One page per process, no more.
Session 2 — Two hours. Collective review. This is where differences between teams emerge — the most useful moment in the exercise. Decide, arbitrate and note the points that require a management decision.
Session 3 — One hour with management. Approve the trade-offs that go beyond the warehouse: rejection policy, variance thresholds, decision times for returns and adjustment permissions.
Three calendar weeks are enough, with only those five hours devoted to the task.
Keeping them alive
An unmaintained procedure becomes wrong, and a wrong procedure is worse than none: it discredits the entire set.
Two simple mechanisms are enough:
Annual review. One date in the calendar, one hour and the eight documents. Tick what has not changed and correct the rest.
Triggered updates. Any decision that changes a practice is accompanied by an update to the corresponding document within the week. A named person must own this rule — otherwise it will not be applied.
What these documents will save you immediately
Even before any system is introduced: shorter onboarding time, fewer differences between teams and a factual basis for discussion when something goes wrong — people look at the procedure instead of looking for someone to blame.
And when you launch a system project, you will already have done the hardest work. What the vendor calls a ‘scoping workshop’ consists, for the most part, of reading these eight pages with you.
