Warehouse design is a critical element within the field of logistics management. Warehouses and distribution centres are a major expenses for any business and inefficiency in their design can lead to lower service levels and higher operating costs. Our team are here to deliver design efficiency into your warehouse.
New build designs require significant capital investment and even reconfiguration of existing facilities may require large investment in storage media and material handling changes. Considering these costs, coupled with return on investment requirements which demand that a facility is future-proof, it is critical to get warehouses and distribution centres professionally designed.
Of course, the physical warehouse layout is only one aspect of an optimised design. Within a warehouse every process also needs to be reviewed to ensure that its cycle time is minimised and that touch points across the whole operation are reduced. Our warehouse design consultants are experienced in every technical and operational aspect of warehousing, making sure that our clients warehouses operate at the lowest cost and to the service levels required.
Our warehouse design consultants have significant experience in both new build design and space optimisation of existing warehouse facilities; from the design and implementation of 650,000 sq ft distribution centres through to optimising space and throughput in 10,000 sq ft stores, our consultants know how to design efficiency into all types of warehouse facilities.
Warehouse size, configuration, handling equipment and operating processes all impact both the cost and service performance of any logistics operation. Ensuring efficiency within these areas is of paramount importance to ensuring the overall ability of a company to service it’s customers at the lowest cost-to-market.
Our warehouse consultants can produce detailed CAD schematics for the optimal layout configuration of a warehouse or distribution centre. There are many elements that can be considered within the design, including material throughput rates, SKU profiles, storage level requirements and order-picking velocity.
Our team will build a detailed profile of the full business requirement, including all constraints, and design an optimised warehouse layout with consideration for the best rack configuration, material handling equipment, pick routes and marshalling areas. Varying options can also be designed around utilisation of different levels of automation, or alternative picking methodologies.
The warehouse layout design will include:
If you are considering transferring to a new facility our consultants can help you determine the most suitable size. The team will consider the business’s forecasts and growth projections along with storage and order picking requirements, and calculate the most suitable facility size.
In addition to facility sizing, there are many other considerations for new facilities that our consultants can also advise you on including location, location costs, proximity to parcel hubs, local employment levels and impact to transport costs.
Equipment selection is a key element of efficient warehouse design. There are a plethora of storage and material handling equipment options in the market and they need to be selected with consideration to capital investment, operating cost, service efficiency and safety.
As part of undertaking a layout design, our warehouse consultants will consider all possible storage and handling equipment options, within budget constraints, and determine the best combination along with any benefits that automation may bring. Through experience in the market, and our network of contacts, our consultants are also able to identify the best equipment suppliers and assemble the most competitive quotes.
The efficiency of a warehouse layout needs to be matched by the efficiency of the operating processes followed by personnel. Our warehouse consultants are able to generate full and detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for any warehouse operation.
The SOPs our consultants can produce will cover all warehouse activities including putaway, replenishment, pick-face control, order picking, damaged goods control, returns, marshalling and perpetual inventory checks. The SOPs will be set out in an Operations Process Manual and will include proformas for periodic auditing of process adherence and effectiveness.
There is a significant benefit to having the same consultant who designed a warehouse layout also implement the new design.
Our consultants can be available to undertake full implementation project management, from agreeing project governance through to being fully operational.
Implementation programmes undertaken by our consultants can typically include:
If you have concerns over the efficiency of your warehouse or want to know how to meet higher throughput, contact our experts today. We’re here to help. You can call us on +256703673864 or use our contact form:
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