A Guide To Creating New Areas In A Warehouse
Demand for good quality warehouse space in the UK is surging, and in 2021 was at an all time high. There’s a similar situation in other developed countries too, with the production of goods is starting to outstrip the ability to find logical places to store them. The continued growth of e-commerce in recent years has also added to the demand for warehouses, logistics hubs and similar types of commercial space.
In the UK, changes to supply chain strategies to handle events such as the recent pandemic and Britain’s exit from the EU, have further contributed to the significant growth in the need for warehousing, to enable companies to produce, store, manage and ship goods.
With such strong competition for warehouse space, it’s vital that businesses are able to use facilities as efficiently as possible. And whether moving into a new space, or developing an existing site, there is often a need to create new areas within a warehouse.
From designating space to store different types of goods, to creating areas for operational and administrative staff, there are a range of options and considerations involved in developing new areas within a warehouse including planning, purchasing and H&S factors.
Before we look at these factors in more detail, let’s first explore why warehouse development is such a hot topic.
Warehousing Is Impacted By Major Industry Changes
Pressures on fulfilment, logistics, transport and warehousing operations have increased dramatically in recent years. In fact, the whole supply chain concept has been impacted by global and national pushes and pulls.
These include not just a worldwide pandemic, but also Brexit and dramatic staffing shortfalls. Before all that, was the phenomenal rise of e-commerce and the way in which the big global retailers have commandeered a significant proportion of available warehouse space.
Automated warehouse technology has made this possible and improved how quickly non-retail companies can manage their inventory and finished goods too. However, this in itself has spurred a need to review the layout of warehouses, to make automation practical and efficient.
Other business developments that have made warehouse redevelopment and revision necessary include the number of companies who are diversifying and seeking logical ways to store new materials, stock or finished goods, to support innovation and market outreach worldwide.
Even organisations in highly traditional sectors have been forced to reconsider their warehousing layout and systems to keep their competitive advantage. That’s because there is now a B2B expectation of swift turnaround from ordering to delivery. As well as a shift to more direct-to-consumer supply contracts.
Why Not Just Build New Warehouses?
One of the biggest obstacles to creating new warehouse space – and to some degree expanding an existing structure – is finding the ideal location to keep up with customer demands. Especially as good access to the road network is vital.
If this is a new build project, the costs can be considerable, including a large time investment to negotiate to buy land and get planning permission for warehousing. No easy task when the development will increase HGV and LGV traffic.
This often makes expanding an existing warehouse – or reconfiguring it – a more practical and affordable solution.
What Are The Primary Aims For New Areas Within A Warehouse?
The fundamentals when creating new, expanded or revised warehouses are creating improved capacity and making operations more streamlined, responsive and productive.
The requirement to add new areas to an existing warehouse can be due to a number of factors, including a desire to create office space, the need for differentiated storage areas, requirements for clean rooms or other specialist process spaces, or simply to improve overall efficiency of the facility.
This rests on initial research such as:
- Finding sufficient space for expansion.
- Modelling strategically beneficial footprints for warehouses and supply hubs.
- The need for specialist storage areas, such as to house temperature-controlled goods.
- Expansion synergic with existing buildings, to support logical goods receipt, use, storage, pick and pack and delivery systems.
- Developing better security for high-value goods held in warehouses.
- Maintaining a safe working environment that minimises risks internally and externally.
- Energy efficiency, air quality and noise management.
- Supporting sustainable working practises.
- Safe movement of staff through and around the warehouse
These areas of consideration may also answer the sort of questions your customers, clients and partners are increasingly asking. Partially to manage their own costs and productivity levels, but also as their customers may be demanding a more transparently safe, reliable, environmentally responsible and ethical supply chain.
The Nuts & Bolts Of Warehouse Development
If you’re planning to redevelop an existing space then you should already have a good idea of the size and shape that you’re dealing with. Or if the project is to align a new space with the way your business operates, then it’s necessary to get detailed information about the size, layout and entry/exit points. Once you have the location and basic footprint of your warehouse, you can start to plan how to use the available space. Including whether goods can enter and leave the loading bay in your altered warehouse layout in a well-managed way.
Reviewing Flow Of Goods
For some companies, time, space and motion studies of an existing warehouse environment can help set a development blueprint.
Having a physical or virtual ‘empty room’ to play around with using CAD technology is definitely a bonus when deciding the best layout for a new warehouse or for reconfiguring your existing structures. When deciding how best to get goods flowing in and out of your site, and optimising your warehouse capacity and capabilities, don’t overlook the opportunity to vary the levels of the racking floor space.
Increasing Floor Space Within A Warehouse
Adding a mezzanine floor can expand a warehouse upwards and when properly installed provides safe use of the often under-utilised top half of your building.
Warehouse mezzanine levels can be added to meet a number of objectives such as creating additional storage space, providing areas for specialist item storage or automated systems, or to create new office space.
In fact, the use of mezzanine flooring is one of the most popular, efficient and cost effective ways to increase the usable space within a warehouse, whether used to create areas for new purposes or to increase capacity for existing activities.
Agile Zoning & Partitioning Of Warehouse Space
Whether it’s a warehouse extension or warehouse ‘shuffle round’ you are planning, the next consideration is likely to be demarcation and goods location layouts, including internal structures that can zone your warehouse effectively.
The latest resin flooring solutions provide a safe hard wearing surface that is ideal for demarcation required in a warehouse, including aspects relevant to HSE legislation which include; pedestrians and vehicles being able to use safe traffic routes without danger to people working near it; creating separate roads and footpaths, where possible; creating routes for vehicles that are a safe distance from doors or gates used by pedestrians, or pedestrian routes that lead onto them.
It is rare that organisations can establish a fixed in place warehouse layout, with everything always located in the same spot. Responding to new opportunities and threats can mean needing to make regular subtle or even wide-sweeping changes to the way materials, stock and finished goods are managed.
Effective resin floor demarcation therefore enables not only important health and safety requirements to be met, but also enables clear positioning of storage and racking systems, machinery and equipment, forklift routes and traffic areas, and pedestrian walkways and crossing areas.
So, your warehouse expansion layout may need to include a mixture of permanent and semi-permanent warehouse walls, as well as moveable partitions. These can help you to manage sound and heat transmission, as well as helping to create new, flexible areas in your building that can be quickly and easily adapted as requirements change.
Your warehouse layout may already include partitions, decking and anti-collapse systems. As you expand outwards, upwards or simply want to reconfigure, investing in the right partitioning system is a wise step to avoid fragmented and piecemeal fittings and fixtures.
The latest steel partitioning solutions allow a warehouse to be divided efficiently and economically, and offer a range of options to suit a variety of applications. They can also be reconfigured should the need arise, without the requirement to demolish and rebuild permanent structures.
Along with solid partitions, mesh partitioning is a convenient solution for demarcation requirements, as it allows safe and secure routes and areas to be created, without impacting visibility through the warehouse.
Warehouse partitioning offers cost-effective and efficient ways to physically separate warehouse areas by using single or double skinned partitions and installing specialist HVAC or clean room technology, for example. Keep in mind that steel partitioning can be an inexpensive way to create new offices, staff areas or welfare facilities in a warehouse development project too.
Colour And Alphanumeric Coding
Logical warehouse layouts rely on using a consistent and clear system of colour, letters and numbers in software systems and physical signs and labels. This is often reinforced by using different coloured racking or floor markings, for a quick visual reference.
At the very least, your alphanumeric or barcode labelling and signage must be created to be logical for your current operations, but also easy to update and scalable as your business develops. As well as being delivered as unmissable aisle, racking, shelf, pallet and box labels.
It’s recommended that even if you use the latest scanning technology in your warehouse, it’s supported by traditional signage in your new areas, to give your staff additional ways to place, locate and pick goods in an error-free way.
Configuring Warehouse Storage Systems
With your layout sorted, you can then source the equipment needed for logical and efficient warehouse development. We look at compliance and H&S in warehouses later, but other things that influence warehouse equipment buying include:
- Amount and size range of loose goods, pallets and boxes to be stored.
- Will you need wide aisle configurations and expansive or heavy-duty racking for handling large items?
- Are there logical places for narrow aisle racking systems, to store smaller items without taking up too much space?
- How can you install racking and storage systems – or reconfigure existing warehouse equipment – to maintain enough floor space for off-road vehicles, autonomous technology and personnel to use?
- Places to safely install double deep racking equipment, if you have the necessary capability to place and remove items using a last in first out (LIFO) system.
- Locations for multi-layered drive in and drive through racking that can be accessed easily using a forklift truck to optimise your warehouse space.
Modern Moveable And Modular Warehouse Racking
Just as operational systems need to be agile, so do physical storage systems in many contemporary warehouse operations. Fortunately, there are a range of modular racking solutions that can be moved and repositioned to respond relatively swiftly to changes.
That includes options such as push back racking, on wheeled carriers passing along guide channels. Or you could find ways to use Shuttle Racking, which is self-powered or Flow Racking that incorporates inclined gravity rollers.
Health & Safety Factors When Reconfiguring A Warehouse
When creating new areas in a warehouse, health and safety issues will likely underpin the planning phases of your project, however the bulk of the work is often in installing the right safety products in the new warehouse layout.
The statistics for workplace accidents in the UK are still shockingly high – including 142 deaths, and 51,211 injuries under the HSE’s Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) in 2020/21. The biggest source of workplace accidents remains trips, slips and falls, including items from shelving toppling onto employees working below.
Also, according to figures released by the UK Material Handling Association, over the last three years 65% of forklift-related injuries were not experienced by drivers, but pedestrians. This includes co-workers and warehouse delivery personnel.
Even the smallest amendment to your warehouse layout can have a knock-on effect on your duty of care to employees and site visitors. Making regular risk assessments and staff training updates vital, as well as adequate site safety signage.
When you expand or reconfigure a warehouse, it’s important to consider:
- Pedestrian and off-road vehicle segregation using walkways and barriers.
- Other traffic management installations and floor markings.
- Handrails for walkways and staircases.
- Anti-slip flooring materials especially on stairs and other high-risk locations.
Naturally, you want to stay compliant and maintain a good safety record in your workplace, but minimising damage to structures and warehouse machinery is also important. Not simply to avoid repair costs, but also business interruption that eats into your productivity.
This requires such measures as:
- Column, post and loading bay entrance guards, that are impact absorbent.
- Forklift truck skirts for vulnerable structures.
- Flexible posts and barriers that are non-crush.
Is Your Warehouse Secure?
Finally, when planning and executing a warehouse development project, keep a careful eye on any security issues. This is not simply intrusion prevention, detection and alarms systems. Consider ways to segregate and protect high-value items, such as using mesh security cages in warehouses.
When requirements for new areas within a warehouse include the safe and secure storage of goods or high value items, mesh partitioning is often specified as it enables secure areas to be created that remain visible to security personnel or surveillance systems, while enabling control over entry and exit to the space.
Mesh partitions, along with mesh cages, are commonly used to create secure areas within a warehouse, enabling high value items to be stored within specific zones of the facility.
Create The Warehouse You Need
When creating new areas within a warehouse there are a wide range of options and solutions available. The most suitable of course will depend on the specific requirements and objectives of your business.
If you are planning a warehouse development project whether to create new areas, increase capacity or improve efficiency, contact Avanta to discuss how we can help.
With over 20 years experience in helping businesses of all sizes achieve workspaces that meet their needs, we offer a comprehensive turnkey service that includes assessing your requirements, designing tailored solutions and installing everything you need to meet your objectives.