TriFactor's New White Paper: Seven Critical Steps to Planning Your Warehouse or Distribution Center

LAKELAND, Fla., Oct. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- More than ever, the "measure twice, cut once" rule applies, since having to tack on additional capital outlays five, six, seven years down the road is costly. The projection of inventory and how it is to be stored and moved are the driving factors, as a 20% deviation on a 200,000 square foot storage area can result in a 40,000 square foot shortfall or surplus.

In the final design phase, picking and storage will rule the day; yet they have opposing agendas. Large storage areas increase travel distances and reduce the picking efficiency.  On the other hand, the ideal picking operation requires relatively small amounts of product stored in dedicated locations, relatively close to one another, which works counter to a facility's storage efficiency. When considering the design and layout of a new distribution center, it's important to first consider which of the four scenarios most closely resembles your operation:

• Low Activity/Low Storage Requirements.
• Low Activity/High Storage Requirements
• High Activity/Low Storage Requirements
• High Activity/High Storage Requirements

Gaining this understanding is not as simple as it reads.  It requires a detailed analysis of the SKU order line item history over a prolonged period of time as well as a SKU inventory list complete with dimensions and weights. Other factors that can affect the activity and storage needs for a new distribution center might also include the expected growth rates (for number of SKUs, storage requirements and sales velocity of each SKU) over time, customer service level requirements such as 24-hour shipment after order placement, or consideration of new value-added services such as special giftwrapping or adding promotional materials to packaging prior to manifesting and shipping. Once the activity and storage requirements are understood, the planning process can be off and running.

To view the full white paper, please visit http://www.trifactor.com/Material-Handling-White-Papers/Seven-Critical-Steps-to-Planning-Your-Warehouse-or-DC

TriFactor Solutions is a material handling systems integrator that specializes in the design and implementation of conveyor systems as well as order picking and shipping systems for warehouses and distribution centers.  For more information, visit TriFactor.com or 888-247-2417.

Contact:
Anne Cochran
1-863-577-2220
acochran@trifactor.com

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SOURCE TriFactor