The Pests Affecting Your Manufacturing Facility

There’s a damaged door sweep under the side door of your loading dock, and now cockroaches have slid their way into your shipments, been loaded on a truck, and are headed straight for a storage warehouse. These pests — and others like them — can contaminate and damage the shipments in your facility and transfer their nuisance to other points of the supply chain.

Cockroaches are just one kind of pest that could be creeping into your shipments. They’re attracted to your facility by the things they need for survival. From standing water inside and outside your facility to food debris in your garbage bins and available shelter in hard-to-reach areas, your facility is a haven in the eyes of a pest.

The first step to controlling a potential infestation of any kind is to identify which pests are a direct threat. For the full list of pests wreaking havoc in manufacturing facilities, download Your Guide to Supply Chain Pest Management for Non-Food Manufacturing. In the meantime, here are a few of the most common pests you could see:

• Rodents – Mice and rats can be a threat year-round, but activity indoors often increases when temperatures cool down. Once inside, they can reproduce rapidly, consume up to 30 grams of food each day and spread harmful diseases throughout your operation.

• Ants – They outnumber humans 14,000 to 1, so even if you haven’t seen them inside your facility, they’re likely in the area. These social insects can be some of the toughest to control and can travel long distances in search of food inside your facility.

• Flies – Flies, one of the filthiest pests, can carry and transit diseases as they move from one rotting, pathogen-laden surface to the next. These pests are fast-moving and can fly under the radar if you don’t act quickly to stop them at your facility.

Despite your best efforts, you can’t keep every pest out of your facility forever. But with a little due diligence and pest control knowledge, you’ll be on your way to being pest-free. To learn more about the pests that could pose the biggest threats to your supply chain and other helpful tips to keep you prepared during any leg of the supply chain, download Your Guide to Supply Chain Pest Management for Non-Food Manufacturing.