Purpose-build your warehouse, than just building it a holistic Approach:

Yes, I want to build a warehouse & I know how to do it This may be a general impression of most of the people who have taken a decision to build a warehouse to support current businesses & expand them as per the business strategy. Its a fact that most of us know how to build a warehouse to suit ones business requirements. This knowledge comes from their business intelligence, IQ, analytical skills, visits to other operations & observations made during these visits. With this understanding, many warehouses are built as per local trends & practices prevailing in those specific regions & areas. Some are built using conversions & modifications to existing/sick units. But does such warehouse support their current business needs? Are these capable to handle future needs? These are some of the questions to be asked. But building a purpose-built warehouse is not as simple as it looks. There are many factors which have to be considered to suit specific purposes. For the fact that building a warehouse involves huge investments, it is important that we understand what a purpose-built warehouse is. Building such a warehouse is an important aspect and every business must give due considerations to these aspects while taking such a decision. Let us discuss & understand this concept a little more which is a combination of two aspects Purpose Why to build & Warehouse What & How to build. A. Purpose understanding the purpose through questions: a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) Why am I building? Of course to support my business. What business am I in? Many answers you know your business better than anyone. What sector do I serve? choose your sector. Which customer do I serve? List all customers that you serve or intend to serve. Understand them, their businesses & business needs. What services do I offer? List down all services that are offered/planned to be offered to each of above listed customers. What value added & associated services are required? This can include repacking, banding, kitting etc. Which products do I handle? Make a list of all products that you handle. This is the first step towards creation of Item Master. What are the product characteristics that I handle? .Update above nascent stage Item Master by including more specific information for each product which is called SKU (Stock Keeping Unit an item whose stock is maintained in the warehouse). This will generally include SKU size, weight, packaging types, inner/outer case types, storage condition requirements such as temperature/humidity, hazard types, stacking norms, handling norms, inventory norms, shelf lifeetc. What are my KPIs (Key Performance Index or Indicator) to satisfy my customer? KPI in simple terms means those criteria against which performance is measured & which are critical for customers business performance..make a list & categorise these KPI list into List-A, B & C as per their importance to your client. What volumes am I supposed to handle? today, tomorrow & probably in future. This volume is measured in terms of throughput, inventory, metric tonnes (MT), number of cases etc.

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k) Understand the type of your warehouse operation? Is it going to be 100% Manual, semiautomatic, fully automatic? Am I going to use WMS and other automation systems? l) How the operation is likely to change over a period of time? Will it move from manual to semi-auto & to fully auto? m) Is selection of location in my control? If not, which is the assigned location & what are its key characteristics? This generally includes size, dimensions, plot profile, terrain conditions, vicinity conditions, area, directions (North-South & East-West), strata conditions, adjacent industries/land use, nearness to markets/residential & commercial zones, nearness to hospital/fire station/bank/hotels/restaurants, climatic conditions, wind directions, rainfall & flooding history, presence of major trees/power & communication poles, availability of power, water, drainage, communication systems, availability of public transport facilities etc. Collect & tabulate all the above information. All this is required while defining what & how to build. n) Government & local body rules that regulate building construction and other compliance requirements should be taken into consideration. o) What is the timeline available to bring the warehouse into operations? Understand customers requirements & define the timelines. This will help in Planning of the project. Answer all these above questions in a structured manner. Interact with all stakeholders concerned & get their key inputs. Let us call this as our Purpose Document. Once Purpose Document is ready, major part of job is accomplished. Lets look at other aspects - the What & How part. B. Warehouse understand What & How to build? A warehouse consists of three basic elements viz. building, floor & docks and many of the warehouses are built considering only these basic elements. But in reality, apart from these, there are other finer points that need considerations for the warehouse to fulfil its intended purpose. And all these finer points get defined or validated by our Purpose Document. Once taken care of, the warehouse is in a better position to fulfil those purposes & satisfy the customer. Now let us discuss more on these finer points: a) Building components: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Walls impermeable, smooth finished, plane surfaces. Wall material - as per required storage conditions inside the warehouse. Floor designed to take proposed loads of stocks, storage systems, material handling equipments moving loads & any other imposed loads. Floor material preferably concrete. Floor type Smoothness & flatness as per MHE & storage system requirements. An uneven & rough floor can badly impact MHE operations, safety of stock & employees and cost of MHE maintenance. Roof impermeable & solid. Roof material compatible with stocks. Use of asbestos is not recommended by majority of users. Roof slope as gentle as possible which will effectively drain off all rain waters. Gentle slopes save on usable warehouse volumes & provide better maintenance platform over roofs.

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Skylights use of skylights will enhance visibility during day time. In an Indian tropical condition, a 4% of skylight area gives excellent results & save on lighting & power expenses. 10. Docks a critical component for efficient & safe dock operations. Number of docks is a most important design aspect that controls and drives volume throughputs. This height of docks is dependent upon the bed height of vehicles that are used to move stocks in & out of the warehouse and also the type of dock levellers that are planned. In Indian context, considering different vehicles types which are in use, decision of dock height should be taken with due diligence to these factors.

b) Equipments used in the warehouse: 1. Dock leveller a mechanical/hydraulic or even air bag device used to bridge height gap between warehouse floor & vehicle bed. Proper selection of type & model of dock leveller thus become important. Another point to be considered here is the MHE that is selected & its gradeability under maximum load conditions. Other dock equipment components these include leveller lip, dock light, dock shelter (in case of refrigerated staging areas), vehicle bumpers, wheel chocks, vehicle restraints, tail gate arrangements, air curtains, strip curtains etc. Proper selection process has to be followed for best results at optimum total cost. Material Handling Equipments (MHE) Selection of MHE is probably one of the early decisions to be taken before advancing to detailed warehouse design. Selection of MHE drives many other decisions such as door sizes & their heights, storage system design, aisle widths, dock leveller type, battery charging station designs, pallet types & sizes etc. And selection of MHE depends upon unit loads (pallet loads), SKU & case details, storage/stacking norms, stacked pallet heights, MHE operators skill levels, throughput data & calculations, warehouse size, storage system designs etc. Hence such a critical decision has to be taken after giving full consideration to all operational aspects. Types of MHE most of the warehouses use Hydraulic Pallet Trucks (HPT) which is a very basic MHE used for horizontal movements. When the size of the warehouse increases substantially, manual movements using HPT become less efficient & here we have to move to more atomized options such as Battery Operated Pallet Trucks (BOPT). BOPT is used for fast & heavy horizontal unit load movements & requires charging of batteries at regular intervals. In fact battery changing is required for all battery operated MHE. Once the storage system changes from ground stacked to multi-level one, we require other type of MHEs which can move unit load in third direction i.e. vertical. For this stackers, forklifts, reach truck, VNA & similar types of MHEs may be used. MHE is a highly capital intensive item and more so when we move from basic equipments to more advanced ones. Hence such operationally critical & high capital value item must be selected after proper analysis & selection process. In India, there are many local & imported ranges of MHEs available including low cost Chinese versions. Storage Systems used to increase cube utilization of a warehouse space. By using different types of storage systems, vertical space in the warehouse is utilized by resorting to racking & shelving systems. Racks & shelves are mainly assembled steel components designed & manufactured to suit specific storage combinations. Most common & widely used system is selective pallet rack (SPR) where 100% selectivity is possible. Systems such as double deep, live (flow) pallet, drive-in, drive-through, mobile rack, satellite (shuttle) are available & are offered by many manufacturers. Other equipments & systems include doors, windows, signage, Public Address (PA) & Building Management Systems (BMS), Value Added Services (VAS) area, other small

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equipments for product handling, weigh scales, pallets, cartons, packaging equipments etc. c) Utilities & services required in a warehouse include electrical, air conditioning, ventilation, refrigeration (in case of cold storage), communications & connectivity, warehouse management system, water supply, drainage, fire protection, access control etc. It is necessary to design these systems for their correct & intended use and optimized operations. d) Other aspects worth mentioning here while finalizing warehouse design include master planning of the entire plot area, vehicle/truck flow, people flow, safety & security of people/employees/stocks, gate operations, vehicle/truck parking area, drivers facility, pathways, cafeteria, change rooms, lockers, toilets & wash rooms etc. e) Location aspects master plan components, wind & rain direction, entry & exit gate locations, storm water, road widths, landscaping spaces. f) Sizing of warehouse how much to build is a million dollar question. If more is built, it adds on capital & operating costs & if less then it affects operations. So optimum size is what one must always look for. Some factors that impact warehouse size are throughput, inventory levels, SKU profiles, ordering profile & order cycles, types of storage system & material handling system. A warehouse could be absolutely flat which will cover more footprint for a given volumes. On the other hand, it can be slender as well for handling the same volumes. Land cost, investment on construction & operating costs then vary according to this flatness & slenderness of the warehouse. An optimum mix of this flat & slender profile giving maximum operational efficiencies & effectiveness is something one should be always looking for. This can be achieved through rigorous calculations, simulation & statistical modelling. Proper selection of above items will create our Design Document. C. We have seen Why, What & How aspects in the previous 2 sections. But a purpose built warehouse is not ready unless we properly put these jigsaw pieces together to form a complete picture. It is not ready unless & until all aspects of our Purpose Document are addressed by corresponding Design Documents. Following table shows relationship between purpose & design drivers: Purpose Component Sector served Customers & services Value added services Products handled Product characteristics SKU details Impacted Design Component Size, storage system, storage conditions, security systems Entire warehouse design components VAS area of the warehouse Entire warehouse design components Storage & handling systems, VAS area, pallet types & size, refrigeration (for cold storages), ventilation & air-conditioning systems Product characteristics inventory Size of warehouse, storage system, MHE norms, throughput KPIs mainly associated with Most warehouse design aspects with special attention to dock, productivity, efficiency, accuracy & storage systems, MHE, aisle widths, signage, common

scheduling of operations Volumes to be handled

facilities, utility services etc. Space (not area) requirements, storage systems, MHE, number of docks Warehouse operation automation, use General layout, automation systems, storage system, MHE, of WMS signage General location characteristics Major warehouse design components Location compliance requirements Major warehouse design components Safety, security & compliance Safety systems fire protection, access controls, security, signage, door & gate positions & control Timeline Schedule & managing project execution For fulfilment of every purpose, there is a corresponding design component that has to be addressed. A warehouse thus designed & built as per its intended purpose is bound to impact on operational efficiency, throughput, cube utilization and eventually investments. And a well-managed warehouse fulfils customers KPIs & keeps him satisfied. Instead of wasting investments on land & warehouse buildings which are not built to purpose, it is always advisable to define its purposes, design it to suit those purposes & build it as per these designs. Build to purpose & continue operating safely, efficiently and optimally.