Still undecided as to whether the design of your warehouse should be altered?
Are you unsure if it will meet your needs in the coming two to five years and beyond? As the business grows, the demand for your warehouse increases; at some point, you need to either redesign or move. Rethinking warehouse storage requirements is an important part of your planning.
Given the intensifying competition and constant pursuit of cost reductions by businesses, it is natural to query the efficiency of your operations and your existing warehouse layout. Such thoughts pose the question, when should I alter or upgrade the layout of my warehouse? It is often a better solution than an entire relocation.
Most conventional warehouses have been fitted with a standard style of racking that limits the available space and often increases the number of stock movements required each day. Where racking systems are ten years or older, they are most likely fitted with a conventional design. The design causes a number of challenges you have become accustomed to juggling every day.
But what type of challenges make it unworkable? The following would be considered operation challenges that need to be addressed:
- Your company foresees an increase in activity and, as such, an increase in your need to store material.
- You are planning to expand to an off-site storage space to accommodate overflow.
- You experience stockout.
- There are stock changes with changes in the types of goods or a new line of goods to be stored at the facility.
- Your aisles are overcrowded with pallets that really should not be there.
- You are constantly at 90% or even 95% racking capacity.
- Your operational safety practices are not what they should be.
The human cost of stock movement is ever-increasing as you find workarounds for excessive stock. Listen to a discussion on the design innovations and automation that can assist you in through the process of rethinking warehouse storage design.
