It may be seen that warehouse design is some kind of ‘dark art’ that only the likes of our solution designers are capable of, but not so, We do not claim to be any kind of sole proprietors to all the tools that are needed to design a great warehouse…but what we do have is the knowledge to apply a well tried and tested approach to the process, and we are happy to share it.
We follow a clear five-stage process to design a new warehouse solution:
The first stage of the process is to understand your business, and how your products and customers behave. You do this by reviewing and analysing your product data to establish what those product-critical behaviours are in terms of throughput and consistency of demand. You then overlay your inventory policies onto that. Once that is all set, you can then apply your growth objectives onto your current data to get a view of what you will need in future. Remember, you don’t open a new warehouse for tomorrow, or next year…you are often looking a decade or more into the future.
In the next stage comes the element where you review your physical, managerial and system processes and controls that you apply to your operations. This tells you why you do what you do how. It is always important to understand the context of an existing warehouse solution. Warehouse operations often build up over a number of years based upon experience and knowledge of that business’ specific needs. Blank canvas approaches are great, but the best way to test them is by measuring then against the obstacles and challenges currently presented within your operation.
The combination of the planning of your volumes and forecast data sets alongside your system and control processes creates a clear picture of the range of challenges that need to be encapsulated within the design process.
Stage three is the first stage of the actual design solution. This is where the expertise of the solution designer starts to kick in. Evaluating which type of solution meets the most pressing needs of the business is a primary skill that is required to deliver the right solution. You usually start with a range of different options, and these options are subsequently rationalised down to a set of operating principles that enable the designer to come up with a draft solution proposition.
That solution proposition is then worked up in more detail in the fourth stage, which is the final solution definition stage. The detailed solution evaluation must take into account all of the major as well as minor solution factors including the nature of the IT system proposed, the physical space requirements to house the proposed solution, the storage media solution for different types of product category and handling requirements, racking layouts where these are required, designs for space to deliver other value added services and packing as well as quality control and inspection. These factors all have to be designed with the optimal flow of materials in mind.
Once the selected proposed solution is agreed, the fifth and final stage of the process is to work out the detailed implementation plan and capital budget. Whilst outline plans should be included as part of this solution evaluation stage, in order to move forward with confidence to implement your warehouse design, a detailed and robust set of costs and timescales should be put together to enable your business to make informed decisions about implementing new solution designs.
The implementation planning phase should capture all the necessary resources required to enable the delivery of the new warehouse operation. It has to consider any transitional phase from an existing or replaced solution, the people impacts in relation to both retention and recruitment of staff as well as training programmes and other operational factors, and the impact of external influences such as the need for planning consent, finding the right land or building to develop, and the likely time frame for lead times for equipment and services needed to bring your solution to life.
The above stages are not necessarily complex to get your head around. By following the above process, you can get to a warehouse design, but that still does not mean that it is the right warehouse design for your organisation.
The key to delivering your solution successfully is making sure that you apply the right logic and expertise at each stage of the process. That is where the value of the team at ASCALi brings maximum benefit to solution design and evaluation projects. If you are planning to design a new warehouse extension, relocation or new-build, please reach out to ASCALi today.