What you need to know about warehouses

Many companies offering goods do not have the room in-house to store their products. It would not be time efficient to produce product based on each purchase. The answer to storage issues has been in finding warehousing. The warehouse works as a middleman between the place of production and the consumer with the main company acting as the main satellite. It is much easier and faster for a business to have their products readily available for shipping from the warehouse to be transferred to the consumer.

Prior engineering of warehouses has put some businesses at a disadvantage. In today's market, there is a greater need for operating business with alacrity. A smooth transition and flow of product from place of production to warehouse to consumer is a desirable process demanded by businesses in their respective competitive industries.

Warehouses keeping with the cutting edge of technology and inventory management serve as an invaluable asset to their related businesses. In the past, it was logical to assume that effective warehousing meant taking the greatest advantage of storage space. This is no longer true. Warehouses designed to maximize storage capacity are not conducive to facilitating a smooth flow of product.

We will briefly paint a picture of the 'old' enterprise of warehousing to make a suggestion in going with a 'newer' style:

- All of the product is neatly packed into a tight square

- The limited number of dock doors warranted the need of lift trucks to load for delivery

- Dock doors not having a form of umbrage incurred extra work and expense because the area needed to be clean of debris and extreme weather conditions affected workers ('bundling up' restricts worker movement and extreme heat facilitates fatigue)

- Money put in to heat and cooling systems were wasted due to the open doors

- Racks were designed to maximize capacity by taking advantage of how high product could be stacked forcing truck operators to make long runs parallel to the doors and to maneuver around entities in the prep area

- Warehouses were stocked to the limits, so lift trucks had to spend more time getting around merchandise not yet stacked or not pulling what was immediately needed until everything was stacked. This allowed for slower retrieval time and possible damage to incoming and outgoing merchandise

- To relieve congestion, an additional warehouse could be erected nearby, but since the expansion was not based on sales, the additional cost of building and staffing offered companies no additional benefit


- The prep areas became less useful as the number of inventory increased. This caused the number of pick ups to decrease and for the efficiency of preparation for shipping to decrease also

- Due to the lack of space and surplus of product many items were shipped erroneously or in damaged condition causing returns (multiple deliveries and manpower for the same sale) and loss of sales

- The inefficient shipping caused more men to be hired for a job that really required less manpower

- A lack in updating software caused additional storage and location problems warranting more men to do the work that could be done by less men


The following describes scenarios that take place in a revolutionized warehouse:

- The number of square feet is less but the ceilings are twice as high

- Racks are designed to complement the height giving the warehouse more linear shelf space

- Racks open up to the doors affording lift trucks less travel, the pick team to pick more items in less time, and more time for assembly and prep

- The shipping and prep area is increased manifold allowing proper inspection before shipping and less returns (and mistakes)

- Efficient shipping allows for less men (in many areas of the warehouse) to do the same job


- Updated computer systems cut the need for men doing the job of product number maintenance, locating, and retrieval

- The new building has six dock level doors and two floor level doors

- Less trucks have to be running at once due to the software efficiency

- Using state of the art material handling technology allows the workers to handle an enormous growth in product while only needing to increase staffing minimally

Running an effective warehouse can be doing more with less if the engineering is done efficiently and the warehouse is ran in the same manner. The Internet has created a huge sense of competition, so companies need to focus on doing the most with their time and doing things in the most efficient manner. Building a new warehouse or reconstructing a current one to run more effectively should be a move sponsored by any company looking to compete in their industry.