Cold Storage Warehouse Best Practices: Warehouse Layout Optimization
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The document outlines best practices for optimizing warehouse layout in cold storage facilities to enhance productivity and efficiency. It emphasizes the importance of dividing the warehouse into functional zones based on historical and projected inventory data to improve space utilization, order fulfillment, and inventory management. Regular evaluations of warehouse layout and operations are recommended to adapt to changing business needs and maximize operational effectiveness.
Cold Storage Warehouse Best Practices: Warehouse Layout Optimization
- 2. Warehouse Layout Impacting Productivity • Many labor hours are wasted traveling through warehouse facilities with inefficient layouts and/or insufficiently designated and marked areas. • Warehouse layout and design can have significant impact on the productivity and efficiency of your refrigerated warehouse staff. • The goal of warehouse layout design is to improve cold storage warehousing processes and achieve maximum space utilization. Performing frequent evaluations on space utilization and warehouse layout is a commonly overlooked cold storage industry best practice.
- 3. Cold Storage Warehouse Zone Designation • Industry leading cold storage facilities are frequently divided into functional areas. Each functional zone serves to support an everyday operational process. Typical cold storage zones include: – Storage – Picking – Cross docking (if applicable) – Shipping – Receiving – Assembly/VAS – Quality/Inspection • Necessary areas are designed using analytics on past activity and anticipated future needs.
- 4. Inventory Forecasting and Reporting • Determining the location and size of each zone should be done using historical and projected volume data. This information can be gathered using inventory management tools or WMS where inventory data is centrally stored. • Using this data, cold storage warehouse operators can more effectively project future space requirements. Let’s take a closer look at what factors you should take into consideration when planning varying warehouse zones…
- 5. Top 4 Functional Warehouse Zones PickingYard/DockStorage VAS/Kitting
- 6. Refrigerated Warehouse Inventory Storage • An analysis of existing and projected inventory levels on a SKUbasis will help you determine where and how large your storage space should be. • Using data such as expiration, temperature requirements, product dimension, fulfillment rules and more will allow you to separate SKUs into groups based on inventory storage rules. This will help users quickly identify where and how product can be stored. • Next, identify the flow through rate of all inventory items. Items that move more quickly should be placed closer to dock areas for optimal order fulfillment rates.
- 7. Refrigerated Warehouse Inventory Storage • With complete information on refrigerated inventory groupings, flow through rates and forecasted demand the size of both pick locations and reserve storage areas can be more accurately determined. • Having an optimal combination of both pick and storage locations will help your staff to improve inventory handling efficiency and reduce labor hours needed to perform regular inventory management tasks.
- 8. Refrigerated Warehouse Yard & Dock Doors • When determining the optimal size of your equipment yard and the number of dock doors, it is necessary to consider the average number of trucks received each day. It is important to take into consideration any traffic fluctuations that may occur due to seasonality. • If your facility has too few dock doors a bottleneck effect will be created, slowing down the rest of your operations. • Too little staging space in front of dock doors can also hinder your refrigerated warehouse operation. When planning staging areas consider typical trailer load size and any additional square footage needed for additional quality assurance and/or value added services.
- 9. Refrigerated Warehouse Picking & Shipping • The top issue to consider when planning picking zones iswhether your facility will implement batch picking or order picking. • Batch picking, frequently done with the assistance of material handling equipment, requires more space on the dock for sortation into designated orders and shipments. • Order picking requires less space on the dock for shipment staging as orders are picked directly to the pallet, but is more efficient when top picking zones are identified and placed in easier to accessareas. • Shipping space, like dock doors, can become a bottleneck if the appropriate square footage is not designated in your refrigerated warehouse.
- 10. Refrigerated Warehouse VAS/Kitting • Many cold storage 3PLs perform a variety of value added servicesfor their customers. • When designating valuable square footage to this operational zone warehouse operators should consider the types of VASs they provide now and may add in the future. • Individual services may require dedicated space while others can share. Effectively planning space utilization for value added services will help to improve VAS labor productivity and the inventory flow through of this zone.
- 11. Conclusion • Creating a balance within your cold storage facility will helpyour team to run at peak efficiency. • Leaders in the refrigerated and frozen supply chain industry regularly evaluate warehouse space utilization within their facilities to ensure the best proportions are maintained as their business evolves. • Implement these space utilization industry best practices to allow your cold storage operation to grow and adapt with changing customer needs. Source: http://www.scdigest.com/assets/NewsViews/06-09-21-4.cfm?cid=791
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