Introduction
Warehouses are storage facilities established by companies involved in offering transport for their clients. Such companies are usually involved in long-distance transport of goods and other services for their clients. Through the process of transporting the products, the companies require a lot of facilities, especially the transport facilities such as vehicles, planes, and ships. In addition, they require a very fundamental and important facility that determines the success of the company. This is the warehouse of the company.
A warehouse is a large storage facility that is used for the storage of goods and services either as they await loading onto a vehicle or as they await collection by the client. In most cases, logistics companies usually do not have enough space and hence they are not able to handle all goods for potential customers. This forces the companies to fall below expectations. There is therefore a need for companies to seek ways of inventing warehouse designs that fit their available space and also ensure they can meet with growing demands for logistics and warehouse application (Drickhamer, 2006).
This study seeks to identify the different design issues related to the building g of warehouses. It also aims at identifying the designs involved in the building of modern warehouses which give a provision for growth and expansion with the growing need for more storage space and organization.
Major Design Issues
Different factors should be considered in designing a warehouse to ensure it serves its purpose as much as possible. Proper warehouse designs allow for increased storage space due to the following of an orderly storage pattern which results in to flow of goods into and out of the warehouse. It also increases a company’s effectiveness and efficiency prevents damage to stored goods, reduces the risk of injuries or any other form of hazard. Also, such a design would ensure that the company saves on its spending due to the decreased need for more labor force. In modern-day warehouses, there is also a need for the companies to ensure they adopt a warehouse design that is flexible and allows for an easy expansion of the company (Chua, 2007).
Different issues must be considered in designing a warehouse, especially with a focus on future logistics trends. First, in designing a warehouse, one needs to consider the positions and heights of columns. The racks that are made should allow for a wide range of designs of goods stored to ensure that any future changes in the design of products do not result in a major restructuring of the warehouse. Hence, proper use of rack positions and design ensures that the company can properly utilize the warehouse space and hence accommodate more goods and services. On the other side, the company can adhere to the requirements of everyone since independence hence the information may have resulted in to use of or full view of what we see to increase the participation rates (Chua, 2007).
Another factor to be considered in the design of warehouse structure is the physical location of the warehouse. The warehouse used should always be interconnected to increase the benefits gained from the use of a wall in designing the warehouse. The warehouses should also be easily accessible both for storage and by the clients in the storage of goods. This would help reduce congestion within the warehouse, reduce costs of labor and also reduce the risks of fires or any other hazards hence ensuring only minimum losses are encountered during moments of emergencies or dangers.
Importance of the Location of the Warehouse
A warehouse needs to adopt a design that focuses on the location of the warehouse to a great extent. This is because the location of the warehouse has various effects on the warehouse itself and the company at large.
First, the location of the warehouse determines the accessibility of the products being transported. There is a need for all the goods to be easily and efficiently accessed to carry out their transport more quickly and reliably. Since every client wishes for quicker transport services from the company, a good location and proper accessibility would result in increased customer satisfaction as well as the attraction of new clients. This would especially be so in the cases where the clients collect their luggage from the warehouses (Trebilcock, 2008).
On the other side, the location of a warehouse would determine the availability of space for the warehouse. In some locations, there is readily available space for the establishment and expansion of a warehouse unlike in other locations. There is a need for every warehouse design to take into consideration the location of the warehouse and ensure that the location chosen contains adequate space for the warehouse as required. This way, the warehouse may be flexible and may easily adapt to the future trends of logistics operations and requirements.
Changes Implemented by Kroger
Many grocery companies have utilized different designs in the past, especially for storage and sorting of products received for distribution to different locations. Previously, these companies have utilized traditional methods of operations within the warehouses. This included the integration of intensive labor inputs as well as the use of warehouse management systems, labor-management systems as well as wireless bar code scanners, and voice recognition technology in the operation of a warehouse. However, though such applications helped in ensuring the warehouses were properly designed to maximize the use of space, there was a problem with the collection and offloading of luggage from the warehouses resulting in delays and inconveniences.
Kroger is a company that has invented a new way of integrating technological advancements and creativity in designing warehouses and their operations to increase the effectiveness and reliability of its services. The company which is a market leader in the grocery sector has adopted sophisticated systems and implemented a lot of changes to its systems to ensure that it offers the best services possible. This way, the company has been able to successfully utilize some of the best and most effective designs in its operations. With a sorting and storage system that operates automatically with almost no human intervention, the company can receive, sort, and store large amounts of products packed in pallets compared to the past (Trebilcock, 2009).
The company has been able to increase its productivity tremendously in this way hence its distribution systems have been compatible with the design layouts that attempt to optimize technological convergence. These systems have hence ensured convergence of technology through the utilization of a combination of different technological applications into one cycle of operation to carry out an activity, especially in the building of aisle-aligned pallets.
The use of technology for the operations at the warehouse has ensured that there is quicker, accurate, and effective material flow within the company’s distribution system and throughout the warehouse. This has ensured that reception, sorting, storage, and sending out of goods has been carried out at an increased rate within the company. This has been consistent with the requirements of the design layout (Trebilcock, 2009).
Finally, the changes involving automation of the operations within the warehouses resulted in operations that have minimum human intervention, and in most cases, absolutely no human intervention has been consistent with the design layout since such a layout was focused on increased utilization and application of technology. The changes implemented were hence compatible with the design layout and have resulted in increased effectiveness and reliability of the company helping it maintain its position as a market leader in the grocery sector.
References
Chua, S. (2007). Warehousing: It’s All in the Design. Sydney: MM.
Drickhamer, D. (2006). Changing Venue, Material Handling Management. New York: ACM.
Trebilcock, B. (2008). The Multi-Modal Warehouse, Modern Materials Handling (Warehousing Management Ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Trebilcock, B. (2009). Kroger Changes the Game, Modern Materials Handling (Warehousing Management Ed.). Upper Saddle River: Pearson.