Warehouse layout

Giving a man space is like giving a dog a computer: the chances are he will not use it wisely.
(Bette-Jane Raphael)

The areas to concentrate while selecting a layout:

● Gather as much data as possible and analyze it.
● Try to imagine the business in 5–10 years’ time and build in flexibility.
● Concentrate on the cubic capacity of the building.
● Put the health and safety of staff at the forefront of the design. – In order
to retain a conscientious and motivated workforce ensure that the facility
has sufficient lighting and ventilation. – Provide ergonomic equipment.
● Reduce the amount of movement required within the warehouse.
● Try to standardize the packaging both for movement and storage.
● Understand the local building regulations and floor loading requirements.
● Don’t forget the outside of the building.
 Warehouse layout examples
• The most popular warehouse layout tends to be the U-flow shape.
• Figure 1.1 shows how receiving and dispatch are on the same side of the building thus ensuring high dock
utilization and facilitating cross docking. The fastest-moving items are closest to the dispatch bay, thus ensuring
minimum travel and the opportunity to combine put-away and retrieval

The U-flow design enables greater utilization of the loading bays but can result in
congestion if both areas are busy at the same time. It also makes security easier
and access is via one side of the warehouse
 certain operations lend themselves to specific layouts.
For example, parcel and pallet sortation center's tend to favor the through-flow warehouse as
depicted in Figure 9.5.

With a through-flow warehouse there are no issues with congestion but travel
distances are increased and having doors on both sides of the warehouse requires
increased security and access either via two separate external gates or a perimeter
road around the outside of the warehouse.
• An efficient warehouse layout should reduce
the amount of travel and labour touch points
• It needs to avoid bottlenecks and cross traffic
• where feasible and ensure that movements
take place in a logical sequence.
• The whole cube of the building should be
utilized and not just the floor space.