Future-Proofing Warehouses: Adaptable Design-Build Strategies
Partner & CSO at Fulfillment IQ, Harshida Acharya leads supply chain digital transformation for enterprise brands and Fortune 500 companies.
While physical structures like warehouses are usually built to be long-lasting, the uses and demands placed on the buildings will change over time. This means newly built and retrofitted warehouses need to be adaptable and future-proofed to continue to meet the needs of their tenants. When designing a warehouse, the challenge is not just building the space for what’s needed today. It’s also creating a flexible and adaptable structure to accommodate the requirements at any point in the lifespan of the building.
According to a January 2023 Logistics Managers’ Index (LMI) report, available warehouse space had been contracting for the previous two and a half years, indicating that the demand for new and modern capacity will not be abating anytime soon. Companies looking to build additional warehousing for themselves should be very interested in creating a future-proof space.
The challenge is more complex than just planning for racks to accommodate pallets of a specific size and loading dock height—or even advanced technology like robotics and AGVs. The reality is that robots are already here—and according to McKinsey research, more are coming; robot shipments are expected to increase 50% a year through 2030. The infrastructure these new robots need to operate within the space that warehouses should be preparing for is a prime example of what planners must think about today.
Future-proofing a warehouse requires adapting to other macro trends and new business cycles driven by the marketplace. The most advanced warehouses will face new demands, including the return of nearshoring, unplanned-for regulation, customer demand for shorter lead times, a preference for smaller order quantities, the maturation of 3D printing technology and continued growth of e-commerce and direct-to-consumer shipping patterns.
Simply put, while warehouses need to meet present needs, they need to be flexible to deliver on what’s to come. Here are three ways that warehouses can prepare.
Through Modular And Flexible Design
The ways warehouse space is used can quickly change and, for most companies, will undoubtedly evolve. This can include how products are stored and materials flow, how people and robots work within it and how technology is used throughout.
Flexible design, including the use of modular components, enables warehouses to adapt to these types of changing needs. Modular design means additional or existing space can be reconfigured to expand or adapt to new processes as well as handling and storage guideline changes. This can include new temperature-controlled requirements, food safety restrictions and other new expectations placed on the warehouse.
These adaptations are more easily implemented and efficient in a modular, future-proof warehouse designed to accommodate such new requirements.
With Scalable Technological Infrastructure
It’s known that technology in the warehouse provides many benefits to the operator such as time savings and accuracy improvements. Often forgotten, however, is how quickly technology changes and advances—and how complicated it can be to add or integrate new tech into the existing infrastructure. Upgrading to a new transportation management system (TMS) or parcel shipping software and ensuring they’ll work seamlessly with the existing warehouse management system (WMS) or ERP is rarely a simple process.
A future-proof warehouse anticipates the eventual need to accommodate and integrate new technology and ensure system interconnectivity through a flexible IT infrastructure. This includes pre-wiring for future tech upgrades, space for the aforementioned new robotics and automation and adaptable software systems that can keep up with next-generation technologies (all with a plan to prevent data from becoming siloed).
Technology is constantly changing and improving. An efficient warehouse must remain on the leading edge of that innovation.
Accounting For Sustainability And Energy Efficiency
Sustainability is a growing priority for companies. Like technology, the tools and opportunities to be more sustainable constantly improve. For example, LEED is considered a valuable certification and validation of sustainability, and its requirements are always evolving. Governments also have expectations regarding sustainability that factor into new warehouse construction.
The benefits of being “green” include not just doing the right thing but also energy savings and potentially lower costs. Using recycled or used equipment (e.g., pallet racks) and sustainably manufactured products (e.g., flooring and furniture made from reclaimed wood) are all appropriate choices.
The short-term aside, future-proof warehouses are built assuming that all related regulations and market expectations surrounding sustainability will change.
Creating A Future-Proof Warehouse
Building or retrofitting a warehouse comes with a significant capital investment that companies need to optimize correctly for the sake of their bottom line. Focusing on future-proofing strategies that allow a facility to evolve in response to future innovations and a changing business landscape must be a priority from the outset. It is not something that is ever actually finished, however. The process is a continuum, and there is never a bad time to invest in future-proofing your warehouse.
It’s understood that progress will constantly be made with better warehouse technology and that business rules will change over the long lifetime of a facility. Although there is always future uncertainty, companies can best plan for the unknown and unexpected by being ready and flexible for what’s to come regarding changes to technology, business needs, market preferences and regulations.
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