5 Steps to Planning and Creating a Warehouse or Distribution Hub

May 10, 2012 by smsadmin · Leave a Comment
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In today’s economy, planning before any big business expenditure is a key concept in risk management. If the expenditure happens to be a new warehousing and distribution center in particular, you should certainly have a detailed plan laid out before any serious building begins. Here we’ve outlined five steps to consider following when creating such an important addition to your business:

- Goals and Objectives: The first step is defining your various goals and objectives within the new facility. Specifically, you should probably focus on minimizing operating costs, maximizing picking productivity, and providing the best possible customer service. Depending on your merchandise and business model, your goals and objectives may vary, but regardless, it’s important to take all of them into consideration in the very beginning of your planning process.

Also, looking into the latest in warehousing technologies, specifically in the recent widespread implementation of automated SKU robot units by many companies, can be another huge help in staying abreast with the competition.

- Inside Communication: Conduct interviews with existing employees within all major areas of the warehousing and distribution process. Discussing potential areas of improvement in respect to a job’s functionality and employee productivity can lead to some great, innovative ideas for the new facility. It can also make both you and your employees lives easier, and lead to greater employee contentment.

- Design Information Collection: Gather any and all data regarding the design of the new facility. It’s important that you make sure that all information includes accurate drawings of locations, column sizes, dock and personnel door locations, height restrictions, and girder/joint construction.

Although these probably aren’t areas within your expertise, looking them over before beginning serious construction could potentially save you tons of money on careless design errors. It also ensures that you’re getting exactly the type of warehouse design you’re after.

- Plan Creation: Once you have gathered all pertinent info, including goals/objectives, design and layout plans, number of allotted stock keeping units (SKUs), etc. it’s time to create a detailed plan for the building process. This plan should include start and end dates for any and all tasks, the availability of resources, and the specific resources that will be used to complete the tasks. Once it is completed, the plan should be reviewed with contractors or builders to be sure timelines and goals are realistic and attainable.

- Implementation: During the building, or, implementation phase, your conceptual idea becomes a reality. Thus, it’s important that you monitor this process as closely as possible to make sure that all resources are being allocated in the timely and functional manner conferred upon and that all goals are being met.

While the overall process, from creating goals and objectives to the actual implementation phase, can take well over a year in some cases, it’s important that you document any and all changes made to the original plan throughout this time. Especially in the implementation phase, documenting these changes so that the expectations for all stakeholders can be managed properly is hugely important.

Regardless how large of a warehouse or distribution center you’re planning for your company, taking the time to think, and then re-think all aspects of construction is largely important. By taking the time to consider your goals, options, new trends, and design plans, you can ensure smart allocation of funds and limit unnecessary costs.

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