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We’re here to help you bring efficiency through improved warehouse design and layout
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.
How our warehouse design consultants can help your business design and deliver the changes you need
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.
Areas where our warehouse consultants can assist include:
Warehouse Layout Design
New Facility Sizing
Warehouse Equipment Selection
Standard Operation Procedures
Implementation Management
Warehouse Layout Design
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:
- Current and future space requirements (with full consideration to customer forecasts);
- Detailed CAD drawings of layout configurations and elevations;
- Bill of equipment (racking, packing benches, trollies, MHE etc.);
- Phasing in of equipment/space (in line with sales forecasts)
- Labour requirements, labour utilisation and workflows;
- WMS specification requirements;
- Budget operating and capital costs;
- Implementation timing.
New Facility Sizing
In this step the unconstrained demand forecast is developed and agreed. This is where the long-term sales forecast is updated, including baseline growth or contraction, new product impacts, market promotions and extrinsic trends. For a truly effective S&OP process this demand plan should focus on a mid-to-long term horizon, usually at least a rolling 18 months at an aggregate level i.e. product families.
The longer the planning horizon, the better it is for the supply chain. New assets such as warehouses and production facilities can have a long commissioning lead time: A S&OP process looking at just 6 months is of little use if it takes 12 months to commission new assets.
Warehouse Equipment Selection
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.
Standard Operation Procedures
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.
Implementation Management
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:
- Equipment tendering (with consultant recommended suppliers and/or approved client suppliers);
- Equipment installation and testing;
- CAD schematics for ancillary areas (offices, toilets, canteen facilities etc.);
- General site-works (flooring, ventilation, windows, external, signage, line painting etc.);
- Lighting and heating configuration;
- Contract arrangements (security, waste, cleaning etc.);
- IT requirements (hardware purchase, software provision);
- IT installation (ADSL, access points, power-point locations, CCTV cabling, fire systems);
- Operational set-up (H&S compliance, SOP packs, recruitment and staff transfer planning).
We’re here to help you drive efficiency into your warehouse operations
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 +256752267150/ +256 773 920816 or use our contact form: