In a recent report of current industrial and logistics trends released by the CBRE, the prevailing theme among U.S. Tenants and Landlords is that of shrinking available space. While this should come as no surprise to those within the logistics community, the rate at which warehouse vacancy is dwindling is far outpacing the increase in new construction (new supply trails leasing demand by 1.5 to 1). This puts 3PLs in a predicament, but also provides opportunities for those who can maximize their available footprint.

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As a business grows, usually storage demands also increase, leaving you facing choices like storing goods off-site, relocating to larger facilities, or turning to a third party for warehousing or distribution – choices that increase overhead costs year over year. What if you could avoid those choices and increase available space in your existing storage by removing the aisles between the rows of racking and shelving?

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Facility layout is a complex and sometimes maddening process. You are often limited by budget, space, time, or schedule beyond your control. What factors should you consider when you allocate space, either in a new facility or a redesigned one?

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All too often, companies struggle because the size of their warehouse is considered in the planning stage, but not the efficient use of that space.

A facility is purchased or leased with the desired set of characteristics, and then work begins. There are significant opportunities in many operations to size up the business mix, order trends, product slotting and facility layout in a way that helps improve everything from storage density to pick rates to error rates to labor costs. But first we must know the total storage potential of the facility, and work backwards from there.

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It’s not easy to understand when facility layout is causing significant problems for an operation.

The way the warehouse is planned and laid out can affect everything in a warehouse or distribution facility. You may be suffering from over-forecasted demand for product and under-forecasted need for square footage. Executives may not fully understand what it takes to receive, store and ship orders. What are some of the more common problems when it comes to facility layout?

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Forklift aisle widths are typically set when pallet racking is installed. In many cases, such as narrow aisle projects, these spaces are critically important. Typically, warehouse managers don’t attempt to lay out these types of storage facilities. But for reach truck, selective rack applications, these aisle sizes are often “eye balled,” or given a 12′ width no matter what type of forklift is using the aisles. If you are laying out a facility, what criteria should you use for rack aisle width?

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There isn’t much value in a worker walking across a facility; value is realized at work areas, not in transit between them. In many operations, order pickers can walk as many as 12 miles a day. This level of walking makes workers tired and more prone to error, injuries, and declines in productivity. While some degree of walking is unavoidable, much of this is simply commuting time to retrieve supplies, or inefficient design that makes the job harder and less efficient than it should be.

How can you reduce time walking, and increase the time people spend getting things done?

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There is nothing inexpensive about a new facility.

The cost of real estate (or lease costs), new equipment, people, regulatory compliance, and potential downtime add up very quickly, even for a relatively small operation. But reconfiguring your current operation has its own challenges. You have to deal with operating in a construction/renovation environment, the potential that the redesign won’t serve your needs through future growth, new equipment, and more. It’s a difficult choice.

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Storage systems are designed for different goals, but space efficiency is always important for growing and evolving warehouses and manufacturing facilities. Which storage equipment suits you, your application, product and needs?

Above: a visual comparison of space utilization featuring various methods. The vertical carousel provides the same amount of storage space as several rows of shelving or modular drawer storage. In this instance, the carousel saves over 1,400 square feet of floor space compared to shelving. Flow racks also compare favorably to shelving in terms of space utilization.

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Next time you’re standing there wondering where you’re going to put an inbound shipment while your dock is stacked with empty pallets, look at those doors (or at the void above them)  —  the copious space between the top of the doors and the ceiling is unused. Multiply each door by that amount of space, and in many operations, we’re talking serious amounts of unused square footage.

The easy solution: find a use for it with over-dock-door storage. You can’t really rack heavy stuff up there without some significant structure. The best thing to consider is empty pallets, which take up a ton of room and are relatively lightweight. And usually, they’re all over the floor and always in your way. Empty pallets clutter up the shipping & receiving docks or can take up positions in your racks that would be better suited to full pallets of finished goods or incoming shipments.

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