How to Design a Warehouse: A Guide for Businesses

design a warehouse

Every multi-billion dollar business had humble beginnings.

Once they started growing, however, they faced the obstacle of how best to design a warehouse. An improperly designed warehouse can cost you lots of money without even knowing it.

The largest Amazon warehouse could accommodate 10,000 Olympic-size swimming pools or more than 700 Madison Square Gardens. So your warehouse might not need to be on that scale just yet!

Having said that, warehouses are an essential part of most businesses. Keep reading below and learn how to design your own warehouse.

Design a Warehouse: Inventory Tracking

You’ll need a way to keep track of your inventory once it has been received. However, manually tracking inventory can only help you achieve a certain amount. When your monthly orders grow and reach a certain ceiling, it will become expensive and ineffective to do things manually.

Real-time inventory tracking is a crucial component of the e-commerce supply chain and is essential for e-commerce firms that wish to grow.

Receiving and Stowing

A poorly designed warehouse can lead to stock control issues and higher expenses. Your staff should be ready to check every shipment once stock is received. Depending on the size of the shipping loads, heavy-duty machinery will be needed in your business warehouse.

Some machinery, like forklifts, needs a minimum size to operate effectively. You will ruin your entire process if your design doesn’t match.

Picking of Inventory

Your inventory procedures are greatly impacted by the warehouse layout you choose. The right warehouse setup and layout design are necessary for warehouse picking to be as quick, accurate, and efficient as feasible. As you evaluate different workflow design solutions, evaluate the following:

  • How will out-picking lists be distributed?
  • How will staff members find out where the item is?
  • How far will pickers have to walk to get their goods?
  • Will you choose more than one thing at once?

Shipping Process

Now the shipping procedure will start. You are in charge of loading trucks and making sure that each order is properly picked, packed, and shipped with the assistance of your team. When designing a warehouse, make sure it has adequate room to accommodate numerous orders at once.

Additionally, you have the choice of shipping by regional, domestic, and international air carriers as well as local package delivery services. Naturally, a lot relies on where your warehouse and clients are located. Once you’ve chosen which carriers to use, you can schedule pick-up times and bargain shipping prices.

Availability of ManPower

A necessity is having enough human resources. Local workers should be used for office work, picking, packing, loading, and unloading. The compensation budget increases as a result of their absence.

You may get a general notion of income, age, and educational background by looking at the region’s demographics. Additionally, most warehouses are transitioning to computerized management technologies; you will need IT technical help.

Make the Correct Decision

When you design a warehouse, it has got to have a flawless design and layout. But, with so much at risk, such a design should be left up to the professionals who do this type of design for a living!

Do you need help with the design of a warehouse? Look no further and visit our Projects Page to find out all you need to know!