Top 12 Warehouse & Production Skills to Put on Your Resume

Warehouse and production move fast. Hiring managers move faster. A sharp resume that spotlights practical, verifiable skills helps you leap from the pile and onto the shortlist. Below, the core capabilities that carry real weight on modern floors and in busy distribution centers—what they are, why they matter, and how to sharpen them.

Warehouse & Production Skills

1. Inventory Management
2. Forklift Operation
3. SAP ERP
4. Quality Control
5. Lean Manufacturing
6. Six Sigma
7. Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)
8. Continuous Improvement
9. Safety Compliance
10. RF Scanning
11. Pallet Jack
12. Microsoft Dynamics NAV

1. Inventory Management

Inventory management in warehouse and production means controlling what comes in, what’s stored, and what ships out—components, WIP, and finished goods—so you hit demand without drowning in stock or chasing backorders.

Why It's Important

The right stock, in the right place, at the right time. Less waste, fewer surprises, better fulfillment. It keeps cash flowing and customers happy.

How to Improve Inventory Management Skills

1. Deploy a real-time system: Use software that tracks receipts, movements, and shipments instantly, not “end of day.”
2. Lean inventory rules: Tighten min/max, use ABC classification, adopt cycle counting, and trim dead stock.
3. Cycle counts and physicals: Frequent counts beat big annual shocks. Spot issues early and fix root causes.
4. Smarter forecasting: Blend history, seasonality, promotions, and lead times. Align buying with real demand.
5. Slotting and layout: Put fast movers where hands and forklifts reach first. Short travel, quick picks.
6. Supplier performance: Track OTIF, quality, and lead-time reliability. Dual-source where risk bites.
7. Laser-focused KPIs: Monitor fill rate, inventory turns, DIO, shrink, and order accuracy. Adjust relentlessly.

Dial these in and your inventory stops being a guessing game and becomes a quiet engine for throughput and profit.

How to Display Inventory Management Skills on Your Resume

2. Forklift Operation

Operating powered industrial trucks to move, lift, stage, and stack goods quickly and safely across receiving, storage, and shipping.

Why It's Important

Heavy loads don’t move themselves. Good operators slash handling time, reduce damage, and keep people safe.

How to Improve Forklift Operation Skills

1. Train to standard: Certify operators per current OSHA 1910.178 requirements and refresh often.
2. Pre-shift checks: Brakes, forks, chains, horns, alarms—inspect, document, act on defects.
3. Preventive maintenance: Scheduled service prevents costly downtime and sketchy breakdowns.
4. Tidy, flowing aisles: Clear lines, marked lanes, smart traffic rules, mirrors, and lighting.
5. Telematics and monitoring: Track impacts, speed, battery health, and usage to coach and improve.
6. Feedback loops: Ride-alongs, skills checklists, and quick coaching keep standards sharp.

Safe, smooth, predictable moves—productivity rises and incident rates fall.

How to Display Forklift Operation Skills on Your Resume

3. SAP ERP

SAP ERP ties inventory, production, procurement, and logistics together. Think fewer silos, cleaner data, smoother planning. Many organizations now run SAP S/4HANA with embedded EWM for warehouse processes and connect to SAP IBP for modern planning and forecasting.

Why It's Important

Unified processes, fewer manual touches, and real-time visibility. That’s lower cost, better capacity use, and faster decisions.

How to Improve SAP ERP Skills

1. Modernize planning: Move from legacy APO to SAP IBP for demand, supply, and inventory planning.
2. Use embedded EWM: Leverage advanced putaway, slotting, wave planning, and labor management.
3. Connect the shop floor: Tie machines and lines into SAP Digital Manufacturing for real-time execution and quality.
4. Strengthen master data: Govern materials, BOMs, routings, and locations—accuracy fuels everything.
5. Mobilize work: Handheld, voice, and task apps for receiving, picking, counting, and maintenance.
6. Analytics that matter: Build role-based dashboards for OTIF, plan adherence, and inventory health.
7. Train and standardize: Clear SOPs, role-based training, and change management keep adoption high.
8. Iterate: Quarterly reviews to prune customizations and adopt new standard features.

Get the foundations right—data, process, training—and SAP becomes a force multiplier.

How to Display SAP ERP Skills on Your Resume

4. Quality Control

QC verifies products meet specs at key points—receiving, in-process, before ship. Measure, inspect, test, and document. Then act.

Why It's Important

Fewer defects, less scrap, happier customers. Quality pays for itself by preventing rework and returns.

How to Improve Quality Control Skills

1. Rock-solid SOPs: Standardize check methods, sampling plans, and defect responses.
2. Lean + 5S: Clean, organized stations reduce variation and mistakes.
3. QMS discipline: ISO 9001-style systems, document control, and formal CAPA.
4. Train with intent: Certify inspectors, calibrate tools, refresh on specs and tolerances.
5. Audit rhythm: Layered process audits and incoming inspections to catch drift early.
6. SPC and visual control: Control charts, andon, and clear defect maps steer action fast.
7. Poka‑yoke and automation: Error-proof where you can; sensors beat memory.

Build quality into the process, not just at the end of the line.

How to Display Quality Control Skills on Your Resume

5. Lean Manufacturing

Lean strips out waste and amplifies value. Flow, pull, quality at the source—repeat and refine.

Why It's Important

Lower cost, quicker lead times, fewer headaches. Customers feel it. So does your margin.

How to Improve Lean Manufacturing Skills

1. Value Stream Mapping: See the whole flow; reveal bottlenecks and delay traps.
2. 5S everywhere: Sort, set in order, shine, standardize, sustain—then sustain again.
3. Kaizen mindset: Small daily improvements beat rare, giant overhauls.
4. Pull systems and Kanban: Make what’s needed, when it’s needed. Trim WIP.
5. SMED: Crush changeover time to unlock capacity and flexibility.
6. Poka‑yoke: Design processes to make errors hard to create, easy to spot.
7. Visual management: Simple boards and signals that anyone can read at a glance.

Lean isn’t a project. It’s a habit that compounds.

How to Display Lean Manufacturing Skills on Your Resume

6. Six Sigma

Six Sigma hunts variation with data and discipline. Fewer defects, tighter processes, steadier results.

Why It's Important

It lifts quality and reliability while trimming cost. In warehouses and plants, that means accuracy up, waste down.

How to Improve Six Sigma Skills

1. Define: Clarify the problem and customer impact. Map SIPOC to frame scope.
2. Measure: Baseline critical metrics—pick accuracy, damages, dock-to-stock, cycle time.
3. Analyze: Use root-cause tools and statistics to pinpoint what’s truly driving defects.
4. Improve: Pilot fixes—5S, error-proofing, layout tweaks, parameter changes—measure the lift.
5. Control: Standard work, control charts, audits, and response plans to hold the gain.
6. Upskill the team: Green/Black Belt training and coaching to spread know-how.

DMAIC turns guesswork into repeatable wins.

How to Display Six Sigma Skills on Your Resume

7. Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)

A WMS orchestrates inbound, storage, picking, packing, and shipping. The right setup makes every move count.

Why It's Important

Accurate inventory, faster fulfillment, fewer touch points. Operational clarity when the pace heats up.

How to Improve Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Skills

1. Integrate deeply: Connect WMS with ERP, OMS, TMS, and carriers for end-to-end visibility.
2. Automate wisely: Voice picking, pick-to-light, AMRs, and smart batching to cut footsteps and errors.
3. Optimize slotting: Rank SKUs by velocity and affinity; redesign locations accordingly.
4. Analytics and alerts: Dashboards for backlog, productivity, and aged orders with real-time triggers.
5. User-first design: Simple screens, short scans, and clear prompts speed training and reduce mistakes.
6. Scalability and testing: Load test, sandbox changes, and plan capacity for peak season surges.
7. Data hygiene: Standardize units, barcodes, pack sizes, and location naming. Garbage in, chaos out.

A tuned WMS turns chaos into cadence.

How to Display Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Skills on Your Resume

8. Continuous Improvement

The never-ending pursuit of better processes, safer work, and smoother flow. Small wins, stacked tall.

Why It's Important

Markets shift. Costs creep. CI keeps you nimble—fewer delays, less waste, stronger quality, happier teams.

How to Improve Continuous Improvement Skills

1. Daily huddles and Gemba: Talk issues where the work happens; solve one thing every day.
2. Clear KPIs: Visual boards for throughput, first-pass yield, lines down, and on-time ship.
3. A3 problem solving: Structure thinking; document cause, countermeasures, and follow-up.
4. Suggestion engine: Simple capture, quick tests, fast recognition. Momentum matters.
5. Standard work: Lock in what works, then raise the bar. Revise often.
6. Skill building: Cross-train and rotate; versatility crushes bottlenecks.

CI isn’t a program. It’s your operating system.

How to Display Continuous Improvement Skills on Your Resume

9. Safety Compliance

Following health and safety rules, training people well, and designing work to prevent injuries. Culture over checklists.

Why It's Important

People go home safe, equipment lasts longer, and operations avoid costly interruptions and penalties.

How to Improve Safety Compliance Skills

1. Routine training: Role-based, scenario-driven, and refreshed regularly. Keep it real, not rote.
2. Risk assessments: Job hazard analyses, near-miss reporting, and swift corrective actions.
3. Solid systems: A documented safety management system aligned to standards like ISO 45001.
4. Equipment and PPE: Right gear, inspected often, with strict lockout/tagout and vehicle rules.
5. Ergonomics: Reduce strain with better tools, lift aids, and smart task design.
6. Emergency readiness: Drills, clear signage, updated plans—practice beats panic.

Make the safe way the easy way.

How to Display Safety Compliance Skills on Your Resume

10. RF Scanning

Using handhelds to capture barcodes or RFID tags, pushing live data into your systems as goods move. Real-time truth at your fingertips.

Why It's Important

Faster picks, fewer mis-ships, accurate counts. The heartbeat of traceable inventory.

How to Improve RF Scanning Skills

1. Modern devices: Reliable scanners from proven makers (e.g., Zebra, Honeywell) with hot-swappable batteries.
2. Rock-solid Wi‑Fi: Site surveys, proper channel plans, and full coverage in racks and docks.
3. WMS alignment: Tight integration so scans drive moves, holds, and validations instantly.
4. MDM for control: Centralize updates, lock down settings, and monitor device health.
5. Label quality: High-contrast, durable labels placed where scanners can see them fast.
6. Operator training: Teach scan patterns, exception handling, and device care.

Clean scans, clean data, clean operations.

How to Display RF Scanning Skills on Your Resume

11. Pallet Jack

Manual or powered jacks for moving palletized loads across short distances without a forklift.

Why It's Important

Quick, simple movement with minimal footprint. A workhorse for tight aisles and short hops.

How to Improve Pallet Jack Skills

1. Ergonomic touchpoints: Comfortable handles and brakes reduce strain and mishaps.
2. Right wheels, right floor: Poly or nylon wheels matched to load and surface protect floors and wrists.
3. Maintenance cadence: Grease, check forks, test hydraulics; fix before failure.
4. Operator training: Safe slopes, proper load balance, clear sightlines, controlled speed.
5. Capacity fit: Choose jacks that match load weight and pallet type.
6. Built-in scales (when useful): Weigh as you move to shave steps.
7. Narrow forks option: For tight rack spacing and specialty pallets.

Handled well, pallet jacks are fast, quiet, and dependable.

How to Display Pallet Jack Skills on Your Resume

12. Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Microsoft Dynamics NAV—now Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central—gives small and midsize operations an integrated grip on inventory, production, purchasing, and finance.

Why It's Important

It coordinates planning, materials, and orders so work flows with fewer errors and less manual chasing.

How to Improve Microsoft Dynamics NAV Skills

1. Automated data capture: Barcodes and RFID to speed receiving, picking, and counts.
2. Smart warehouse setup: Zones, bins, and directed putaway/pick to cut travel time.
3. Sharper planning: Tune MRP parameters (reorder points, safety stock, lead times) and forecasting models.
4. MES connectivity: Link to shop-floor data for live production status and quality signals.
5. Dashboards and BI: Power BI visuals for throughput, capacity, costs, and variances.
6. Supply chain collaboration: EDI, vendor scorecards, and order acknowledgments for fewer surprises.
7. Training and governance: Role-based permissions, clean master data, and continuous user coaching.

With lean setups and disciplined data, Business Central/NAV becomes a quiet backbone for execution.

How to Display Microsoft Dynamics NAV Skills on Your Resume