Most warehouses fail to maximize their potential Return on Investment (ROI).
As consultants, we get to see dozens of warehouses every year. Some of these make us feel like crying! We see so many missed opportunities – where poor design has permanently undermined ROI - handicapping operational productivity, limiting flexibility and reducing storage capacity by anything up to 20%.
What has gone wrong?
Most often, it is that the sponsor of the warehouse has not understood what it takes to design and build a warehouse that will maximize their ROI. After all, “it is only a big box – how hard can that be to design?”
And they are partly correct. It isn’t necessarily that hard to design a quality warehouse…………, as long as you know what you are doing!
Science
Good warehouse design is about data – which is a science. You need to know how the components of a warehouse fit together, what it can store, what it can process and how well it will cope with changes in storage and throughput profiles.
And Art
But there is more to it than that. If you are building a quality warehouse, you will also have to juggle with most of the following:
- Aesthetics
- Build cost
- Build timing
- Capacity maximization
- Corporate culture
- Corporate image
- Culture & religion
- Customer appeal
- Damage prevention
- Driver movement control
- Durability
- Feng Shui
- Fire protection
- Floor flatness
- Floor strength
- Future use flexibility
- Goods vehicle access
- Goods vehicle parking
- Government regulations
- Health & Safety
- Hygiene
- Integration of handling equipment
- Maintenance & upkeep
- Natural lighting
- Peak handling
- Piling
- Plot coverage
- Pillar positions
- Plot shape & size
- Power locations
- Power usage
- Prevailing weather
- Process flows
- Product flows
- Product protection
- Productivity management
- Security
- Signage
- Staff movement control
- Staff vehicle access
- Staff parking
- Staff welfare
- Temperature regulation
- Ventilation
- Visitor movement control
- Workplace ambience
- ……and lots more
This is where the ‘Art’ applies. There are just too many considerations for a formulaic or purely scientific approach to work. A good designer will have a ‘feel’ for how to bring all of the above together in a way that works.
Many of the best designers come from the Third Party Logistics (3PL), as that sector erects more warehouses than any other – and relies heavily on getting them right.
Some years ago, the author’s employer (a 3PL) was competing hard to win a big warehousing tender put out by one of the FMCG majors.
The prospective client flew their top logistics specialist out from the US to conclude the selection process, and he was scheduled to spend 2 hours doing site visits with each of the 3 short-listed competitors. We were the last to be visited.
We put a lot of effort into our warehouse designs and, fortunately, we had a brand new example to show him. In the event, he arrived on the site, walked 10 metres into the warehouse, then turned on his heel and walked out, saying, “This is how our product should be handled - these guys get the job!.”
Commissioning an ‘Artist’
A really good designer is still hard to find in Asia………, but it is worth the search as he will contribute:
- An eye for the trade-off:
In every facility, trade-offs must inevitably be made, and a good designer will have the instinct for where these can be achieved with minimum impact on the overall integrity of the design. This is the art of delivering “Maximum Bang for your Bucks”. - An eye for the future:
The best designers will simultaneously ensure that the design has the flexibility to cater for changes in product, storage and throughput profiles. Such changes will inevitably come, frequently even before the warehouse has been commissioned. - An eye for synergy:
The design process is usually iterative, involving multiple parties.
The designer will be dovetailing with the architect, but maybe also the sponsor,
the current operators, the structural engineers and the equipment suppliers to weave together each of their inputs in seeking the optimal solution.
The designer and value
A good designer should add absolutely minimal cost to the build process, while delivering substantial value – both in minimizing build cost and maximizing utilization of the site.
Design is not time consuming – and thus not expensive. A good designer, brought in at the start of the process, will rapidly be able to provide a directional blueprint for the detailed workings of architects and structural engineers, permitting them to work more productively.
In conclusion
- Good warehouse design is not rocket science, but it does require a certain mastery in the art of juggling a multitude of ‘considerations’
- The right design will significantly improve your warehouse’s ROI
- Good designers are still scarce – and almost always come with operational experience
- The best designers will very quickly deliver the basic design blueprint – ensuring that your architects and structural engineers can work more effectively towards the right solution
- Get the designer in early – and definitely don’t build without one!
LCA has an excellent track record of helping our clients in the area of Warehouse Design, if you would like to know more please contact us.