by Brian McKay
If you run an office with a warehouse for your business or you are planning to open up a warehouse to ship products at the end of the year, there are a lot of things to think about which go beyond whether you have shelving or not. A warehouse is more than just a storage area, it is a world of work and runs like a well oiled machine. Whether you already found the ideal warehouse for your business or are still looking for it, you need to consider different aspects before making a decision. The location of the warehouse is a crucial aspect to consider. For instance, looking for industrial warehouse space is an excellent idea to start narrowing down your options. To make your warehouse ready for work, here are some of the things you need to bring into it.
A receiving area
The first area you will want to bring into the warehouse is receiving and this should go at the doors where your deliveries come and go. The receiving area is where you will account for stock which has been delivered on sustainable plastic pallets and process it before finding a home for the stock in your warehouse. You will need enough space to count items and check their quality and a small office area with a computer to log all deliveries.
A packing area
On the other end of the scale, you will want to have a packing area which should be sitarist somewhere near the doors to allow for easy transport and delivery out to customers. The packing area will need computers and printers to create labels and there needs to be a big enough space for each worker to pack up boxes carefully and make sure that the items won’t become damaged in transit.
Well arranged steels
The steels are what we most associate with the warehouse and they are large metal shelving units which hold pallets upon pallets of items and keeps everything safe and secure. Make sure you map out your steels with numbers and letters and come up with an easy system to know where each item is in the warehouse. This will speed up picking and packing times significantly as people won’t be spending ages trying to find their items.
Pallet aids
When it comes to transporting pallets and filling up your vans for delivery of items, things can be a lot slower when it comes to using your hands to loads everything manually. To save this from being an issue you can use a pallet handling conveyor to move pallets across the space and a lift to bring them to the van without having to disassemble and reassemble at the other end. It will make the process much more efficient and save a lot of time and injury.
A forklift station
Forklift trucks are the main piece of equipment used in a warehouse alongside pump trucks, and to ensure the safety of everyone in the warehouse you need to make sure you have a specific parking space for these pieces of equipment in the warehouse so they aren’t just dumped anywhere after being used. A small charging station near the doors is the best place for these and it will keep people safe as they walk around the warehouse.