24 位仓库专家揭示了设计和布置仓库时要考虑的重要方面
在设计仓库和布置平面图时，有很多事情需要考虑，从仓库货架到为叉车、步行和其他设备留出足够的空间，同时还要优化空间利用率。换句话说，这是一种微妙的平衡行为，需要您仔细考虑各种需求并找到能够提供最大利益的理想解决方案——从您的仓库员工到设备操作员，当然还有底线。
为了帮助您做出明智的设计和布局决策，我们联系了一个仓库专业人士小组，请他们回答以下问题：
“在设计和布局仓库时最重要的考虑因素是什么？”
认识我们的仓库专家小组：
|
|
|
请继续阅读，了解我们的专业人士对设计和布置仓库时要考虑的最重要方面的看法。
马克·阿塞尔斯廷
@MarkAselstine
大约十年前，马克·阿瑟斯汀 (Mark Aselstine) 创办了一家名为 Uncorked Ventures 的在线葡萄酒俱乐部，远在订阅业务如此受欢迎之前。由于葡萄酒受到如此严格的监管，他们从一开始就选择了自我实现。
“当我们设计我们的第一个仓库空间时，我们在后面有温度控制区域……”
在当时非常合理。
随着我们变得越来越忙，我们的葡萄酒交付量越来越大，这意味着我们得到的不是几箱，而是四分之一托盘，这些托盘要大得多。我们的问题是，要进入温度控制区，葡萄酒必须以 1-2 箱为增量进行运送。然后打包出来也是一样。
所以真的，这是我的建议。尝试和思考不仅是短期的，而且是长期的。如果您的业务增长会怎样？您的目标设计仍然可行吗？
汤姆·威尔克森
@ForkLiftCertify
Tom Wilkerson 是 ForkliftCertification.com 的首席执行官，该网站是在线、符合 OSHA 的叉车认证的全国领导者。 Tom 和他的员工已经帮助数千家公司发现了一种在内部对叉车操作员进行自我认证的简便方法。
“在设计和布置仓库时要考虑的最重要的方面之一是……”
过道宽度，因为它会影响人员和机器在整个空间中的机动方式。决定过道宽度的最佳方法是根据您手头的叉车和叉车类型。如果您的设备不适合，则更改仓库过道的宽度是不切实际的。如果您正在购买新设备或有多种设备选项，那么您对如何安排仓库和选择的过道宽度有更多的通用性。
道格·奥尔洛夫
Doug Orlove 是 Amify 的运营副总裁。作为 VPO，他负责监督运营和物流并管理我们的办公室仓库。他在 Pepsico 和 Dole 以及现在的 Amify 拥有近 20 年的仓库管理和运营经验。
“最重要的初始决定之一是位置……”
网络分析可用于根据平衡库存投资与入站和出站运输成本来确定最佳地理位置。仓库的大小和布局应根据预期的接收、存储和运输量、库存周转、工作流程和项目特性进行调整。例如，某些物品可能需要特殊的存储条件，例如温度控制。物品应安排在仓库中，以方便工作流程。将快速、中速和低速商品划分到不同的区域有助于提高订单履行效率。
罗伯·梅里克
@mericleinc
Robert K. Mericle 担任 Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, Inc. 的总裁兼首席执行官，专门从事商业和工业经纪业务。他在商业地产服务方面拥有超过 30 年的经验，是一名持牌总承包商，在商业地产开发、建设、经纪和金融方面拥有广泛的背景。 Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services 是宾夕法尼亚州最大的商业/工业开发商之一，经营着该地区最大、最具竞争力的商业经纪公司之一。
“除了选择一个……”
提供快速访问靠近人口中心的州际系统，2018 年仓库空间的开发商需要提供至少 35 英尺的天花板净高、至少 7 英寸的钢筋混凝土地板、50 英尺 x 50 英尺的柱间距和 60 ' 在装载区、节能 LED 照明、ESFR 防火、提供高达 4,000 安培的电力，以及为拖车和员工车辆提供的充足现场停车位。
米奇·隆戈
@TotalHomeSupply
Mickey Luongo 是 Total Home Supply 的副总裁。 Mickey 从事 HVAC 行业已有 14 年，曾帮助许多公司设计适用于各种应用的供暖和制冷解决方案。
“布置仓库时要考虑的最重要的事情之一是……”
空间的加热和冷却。员工的舒适度对生产力很重要，根据存储的内容，它对产品也很重要。每个仓库都应该加热。有多种方法可以做到这一点，例如燃气单元加热器、电加热器和辐射加热器。这些取暖器的放置方式应使它们专注于仓库的占用部分，以使人们保持温暖。在装载区域，可以使用风幕将冷空气拒之门外，让加热器更有效地工作。在夏天，大多数人选择不给仓库降温，但可以使用风扇来帮助保持空气流通。 HVLS（高速、低速）风扇通常用于通过单个风扇移动大量空气。这些风扇产生感知冷却效果，让人们在保持凉爽的同时降低成本。夏天也可以使用空气幕来帮助保持热量。完美的 HVAC 设置可以使仓库整体效率更高，生产力更高，员工更快乐。
克里蒂阿加瓦尔
@Orderhive
Kriti Agarwal 是 Orderhive 的内容作家。
“仓库是任何企业最大的资产之一……”
就投资及其在供应链中的重要性而言，它通常被忽视。仓库位于整个供应链流程的中心，接收和分发产品以保持业务正常运转。因此，仓库布局的设计对于供应链运作的顺利进行至关重要。
设计仓库时要考虑的一些因素：
1. 流动
流动是仓库空间内货物的轻松轮换和流通。它涉及产品经历的所有动作，包括发货、接收和订单准备。它还与材料所在位置以及处理设备和介质的知识有关。
2. 可访问性
它使仓库操作员可以快速轻松地访问仓库内的每个托盘。仓库空间的组织方式必须便于获取和识别物品。
3.空间
物品的尺寸和空间分配在决定仓库布局方面起着至关重要的作用。这会影响货架的设计、设备容量的计算以及仓库内的货物分配。
4. 吞吐量
要计算吞吐率，您需要跟踪特定时间段内货物在仓库中的移动。将通过仓库移动的物品数量除以消耗的工时数。这是每个项目的吞吐量时间。从本质上讲，这是处理特性、尺寸和任何其他会影响产品在流程中移动的因素，例如危险、体积、易碎性、安全要求以及与其他产品的兼容性。
5. 人员
仓库的工作人员数量是设计仓库布局的决定性因素。人数、培训水平和工作班次有助于定义仓库的设计。如果您有自动化系统或仓库管理软件，您需要确保员工知道如何操作它。员工的安全卫生标准和工作条件可以帮助决定仓库的布局。
6. 地点和预算
需要设置仓库的地点是一个重要的考虑因素。无论是位于装运码头附近、供应商所在地还是商店附近。货物的连通性和配送便利性将有助于粉刷布局。
决定仓库布局的最重要因素是预算。仓库的整体运作及其运营将取决于企业能够支付多少钱来维持仓库功能。预算将包括租金、维护成本、库存成本、产品存储设施等等。
结论
设计仓库是一项复杂的任务。有必要获得有关位置、预算、要存储的库存数量和所需人数的准确信息。由于仓库对任何企业来说都是一笔巨额投资，因此布局必须非常清晰。
杰夫尼尔
@PennCoatInc
Jeff Neal 是 PennCoat, Inc. 的项目经理/估算师，该公司是一家商业涂装和环氧地坪承包商。他们经常在仓库里，提供油漆和环氧地坪服务。
“仓库的一个关键特征是……”
人行道，这是引导人流量的绝佳方式，使叉车操作员更容易预测人们可能在整个仓库中行走的位置。这些功能可以减少伤害并提高每个仓库的安全性。
约翰·安东
@DesignAShirt
John Anton 是 Anton Sport、DesignAShirt.com 和 Anton Uniforms 的创始人。他是一位连续创业者，专门从事定制服装、促销产品和零售校服。
“首先是选择正确的建筑师和土木工程师，然后……”
确保他们不会指定会让你超出预算的事情。你正在建造一个仓库，而不是一座豪宅。这是简单的事情，比如让灭火器挂在墙上，而不是装在一个有玻璃门的盒子里。每个位置的差价可能是 350 美元。
布局和流程是接下来要考虑的事情。对于我们刚刚完成的仓库，我们制作了一个比例图，其中一平方等于一英尺。然后，我们测量了设备、架子、桌子、叉车等，并对每种尺寸进行了裁剪，以便准确地代表它们将占用的空间。通过将这些放在一张硬纸板上，我们能够调整建筑物的布局，了解不同空间中的不同物品将如何影响工作流程、交通流量、照明，甚至是来自冷却系统的气流。
进入仓库是我们花费大量时间的事情。卡车将如何交付，以及一旦交付，我们希望产品如何流经我们的空间。
我知道这听起来可能很疯狂，但我们最好的学习体验之一就是让我们的仓库变得更好，那就是去亚马逊物流中心看看他们是如何进行布局、流程和访问的。幸运的是，因为我们距离其中一个不到 30 英里，所以一旦我们能够获得门票，这并不是一次艰难的旅行。我们有 10 个人去了，然后我们去吃午饭，并记下我们所看到和学到的所有东西，我们喜欢和不喜欢的东西。
底线：在设计仓库时，最大和最好的事情就是在前端规划、思考和修补布局上花费数小时。在前端花费的时间将节省数千人的时间，因为他们没有更改订单、解决方法和高度的挫败感。
杰西·卡班
@SafeAndSoundCA
Jesse Karban 在安全行业的销售和营销方面拥有多年的工作经验。他自 2017 年以来一直在 Safe and Sound Security 工作，并成长为营销经理一职。
“许多仓库所有者和管理者现在正在转向……”
用于防止盗窃、事故并能够对责任索赔提出异议的安全系统。由于重型机械在人周围移动、高架子、来自上方的潜在危险，仓库中经常存在许多潜在威胁，当然，任何时候您存放贵重物品都有被盗的机会。
在考虑仓库安全性时，首先要考虑的是建筑物中的空间量以及建筑物本身的材料。 Most warehouses cannot support wireless systems that rely on radio, Wi-Fi, and cellular signals to communicate with each other. This means that the systems that will work reliably in a warehouse are hard wired systems.
The first and most obvious solution is security cameras. When thinking about the layout of the warehouse security cameras and wire placement should be considered to maximize the field of view and make sure that every area is covered in case of theft or incident. Often times warehouse owners or managers opt to use pan tilt zoom (PTZ) cameras to be able to move the field of view or zoom in on things happening in real time. There will be a wire, often a CaT 5 cable, running from the camera back to the NVR (the recording device). When considering the layout of the warehouse, it should be noted that the wire runs should be thought of as well as the area where the NVR is housed.
When laying out doors within a warehouse, people often opt to allow or restrict access to important doors with access control systems. These access control systems have a reader for a credential (like a pin code, or a card swipe) that runs back to the main access control panel. When planning the layout, the locations of readers and the location of the main panel should be considered.
Finally, when thinking about alarm systems for warehouses, placement of sensors should be taken into consideration. There are many different types of sensors including motion detection, glass break detectors, and door break sensors. Just like the other two systems, all of these sensors will need to be wired back to a main panel and the wire runs should be thought about in detail prior to installation.
Planning security system during the layout stage of moving into a new warehouse or constructing a new warehouse will save companies tens of thousands of dollars when installing a comprehensive security system.
Arthur Smith
@LEDwatcher
Arthur Smith is the lead editor of LEDwatcher.com, a blog that focuses on solar and LED lighting. With years of experience working in both solar and lighting industries, Arthur knows the ins and outs of them and has now turned to blogging to help others learn more about them as well.
“When it comes to the design and layout of a warehouse…”
Lighting, in my opinion, is one of the most important aspects to consider. But sadly, not many warehouse owners think about lighting since often storage solutions and warehouse management systems are the main things they are concerned with.
There are a couple of reasons why you should invest in proper warehouse lighting, the first being that good lighting will simply make your employees more productive. Because without good, bright lighting your staff will not only have a hard time seeing what they are doing, but it can also increase the risk of accidents. And who wants injured, unproductive workers if instead, you can get a healthy, hard-working staff that get things done quickly and efficiently?
The second reason for investing in good warehouse lighting is that this way you can actually save a lot of money on energy. The older your lighting is, the more watts it chews up and the more you have to pay for electricity each month. So consider installing newer, more energy-efficient lamps in your warehouse and you will see your energy bill decreasing.
Kelly Bedrich
@shopelectricity
Kelly Bedrich is the Co-founder of ElectricityPlans.com and President of Cypress Capital Ventures. He is an IT entrepreneur focused on acquiring, marketing, and improving e-commerce sites. His current emphasis is on taking ideas from startup to maturity with sustainable business benefits.
“One frequently overlooked aspect of warehouse layout and design is…”
Energy efficiency. Lack of insulation, poor airflow, outdated lighting, or inadequate heating/cooling can lead to higher-than-expected energy bills which can cut into your company’s margin. By simply designing a warehouse layout to promote better airflow and using ultra-efficient HVAC systems, a company can significantly reduce their long-term energy expenses and increase comfort by avoiding hot spots in the warehouse.
Tim Trampedach
@torqued_io
Tim Trampedach is the president of Torqued, the premier retailer of motorsports and auto racing parts. They believe in 100% accurate stock, fast shipping from an efficient warehouse, great customer service and a no BS return policy.
“We recently went through an extensive warehouse layout and design process, which taught us a few lessons…”
But thankfully, not through mistakes.
Laws and regulations:Make sure to check with local code, state law and fire code before you begin. A good rack installer should also be able to help with most of these. Our experience was that we wanted to maximize our 20’ ceilings, but thankfully the reputable installer we went with told us there’s as 15’ limit in California. There’s also a mandatory 5’ spacing between racks.
Fire code and sprinklers:We were considering using our 20’ ceilings to create two levels of racks. Most systems would require additional sprinklers with two levels, which significantly upped the cost.
Drawing for a landlord (and yourself!):At the time it felt like excess paperwork, but we drew a layout of where racks are being installed, documented the method in which they’re fixed together, and stated the licensed vendor we used to do it. Not only is this important for potential liability, but also once we vacate the property, it’s clear where the anchors in the concrete and walls are.
Rack height &flexibility:Our products are not at all in uniform shapes, ranging from little bags to boxes for car seats. We took an educated guess at what kinds of rack heights we might need. So far, so good, but the beauty of boltless racks is that it would be easy to change rack heights or add additional shelving. As long as that’s being tracked and updated in the Warehouse Management System, having this flexibility is key.
Think quick access vs storage and ergonomics:We ended up creating fairly low rack heights from waist to slightly above head height for easy access. Above head height is for parts which we don’t plan to access daily and below waist is for larger items.
Buy some carts and a rolling ladder:Don’t carry the stuff around. Get some rolling cars and perhaps a rolling ladder for accessing the storage up high. Protect your health and that of your team.
Don’t build it all in advance:We looked at setting up racks in the entire warehouse vs just the section we need for the next 6 months. At least for us, there was no additional cost in building out capacity as we need. This allowed us to deploy cash towards other opportunities for now and also allowed us to learn a little bit with the racks we do have right now.
Be organized:We’re extremely pedantic about labeling and have a clear row, section, rack + location system. For example, when something is in “A-3-5-1”, it means row A, the third section, fifth shelf from the bottom, first thing on the shelf.
Overall, we are very happy with the outcome and wouldn’t do it any different. Soon we’ll be building out phase two!
Ed Klimek
@KSSArchitects
Ed Klimek, AIA, NCARB, Partner at KSS Architects, has 30+ years of experience. Ed’s passion is the Architecture of Commerce. With clients like Coca-Cola, Mercedes-Benz, McKesson as well as nationally-recognized developers like Prologis, Forsgate, and Innovo Property Group, Klimek is a frequent contributor to NAIOP, has lectured at MIT, and has been a consultant to the USGBC.
“A few important considerations in designing and laying out a warehouse are…”
- Limit clear height:Typically, these facilities only require between 18-24’ clear.
- Organize site development to amortize ramp infrastructure over more than one building.
- Organize ramps to in relationship to ground traffic circulation, minimizing turns.
- Take advantage of excess pile capacity by considering pile types.
- Limit structural loading:A typical terminal facility only requires a floor loading of 250 pounds per square foot for palletized storage as opposed to racked buildings that may require 500 to 750 pounds per square foot floor loading.
- Understand deflection:A floor can be designed as a good, hard, and even surface for fork lift traffic while still allowing for deflection. Deflections in a terminal building can be up to L/360 as opposed to racked buildings that would be limited to L/600 or even less.
- Keep the column bays reasonably tight:This is also a marketing factor that must be carefully considered. Spans that are closer to 40 to 50 feet are more economically delivered.
- Use readily available steel sizes:At smaller bay sizes with the greater allowable deflection, multistory terminal buildings can even utilize joists and joist-girders. Where this is not possible, however, special steel shapes should be avoided due to limited steel runs.
- Keep the building light! A greater factor in multistory buildings is the impact of building mass on seismic design. Also needing to be accounted for is the weight of product in the building. While utilizing pre-cast, tilt-up, or masonry construction can be considered for lower floors, consider the use of lighter materials such as metal panels for upper stories.
Andrew Rawson
@Traliant
Andrew Rawson is the Co-Founder and Chief Learning Officer at Traliant. He came to Traliant with more than 25 years of experience in strategy, operations, and marketing. Most recently, Andrew served as the Global Head of Compliance Learning (eLearning) at Thomson Reuters, an information, technology, and services company with more than 60,000 employees.
“One of the most important aspects to consider when designing and laying out a warehouse is…”
Logistics. First, you want to consider the flow of work that needs to be done in the warehouse. For instance, you want to make sure the warehouse is laid out in such a way that each sequence in whatever process you are carrying out is conveniently located to one another. Second, you want to make sure your warehouse design and layout is accessible for the product you are moving. Finally, make sure you have enough space in your warehouse design. If you do not have enough space for your product or processes then that particular design or layout will not work for your purposes.
Robert Lomax
@rsleducational
Robert Lomax is a director of RSL Educational, an educational publishing company.
“For smaller businesses which may not have the most advanced warehouse management technology…”
Reorganizing warehouse space can be extremely costly and time-consuming. Therefore, it’s important to form your initial layout with an eye to the longer term. An easy mistake is to prioritize access to goods which are currently in demand, relegating slower-moving stock to inaccessible areas of the building. This can create chaos as your business grows and patterns of demand change. Instead, ensure reasonably easy access to all stock, even if this means that your current best-sellers are a little less convenient to access than they might be. This will reduce the need for major reorganization in the medium- to long-term.
Dan Sabia
@BuiltWellSolar
Dan Sabia is the founder and CEO of Built Well Solar Corp., located on Long Island, New York, in the business of capturing the power of the sun since 2001. He has been featured as a true “solar pioneer” in various solar and other publications. With a background in facilities management and home improvement, he holds a B.S. in Architecture/Occupational Education from the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT). He is also retired Major in the U.S. Army National Guard, called back to serve as a first responder after the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11.
“Aside from laying out inventory in keeping basic common-sense logistics, access, and safety…”
Energy efficiency measures matter most and are often overlooked.
One great choice is LED lighting. This does not give off heat so, in addition to savings in labor and materials in not needing ongoing bulb replacement, it reduces air conditioning costs.
Probably the most cost-savings measure long term is to map out the roof to fit solar panels. This really should be included in any current design, because flat rooftops are just begging for them. The 30% federal tax credit for commercial solar drops to 10% in 2021, so timing right now is everything. Additionally, depreciation often applies.
Depending on the size of the roof area, solar photovoltaic systems can offset a tremendous percentage of a warehouse’s electricity costs using dollars that are tossed out the window to the local utility. The quickest payback ever possible today means free electricity in no time.
Arlinda Copani
@CAG_report
Arlinda Copani is the CEO of Copani Advisory Group.
“Your business competitiveness will be affected by its locations…”
It will also have an impact on costs such as transportation and labor. The location of the warehouse is also costly and time consuming to change. That makes the election of location of the warehouse a key decision.
One of the features is the efficiency with which the products will be transported to customers.
Also, handling of the product is the costly part in the warehouse. Do not try to use one warehouse process for all order types whatever size and service requirements they might have. Segmentation and integration of processes are key.
Khris Bhattan
@RTG_solutions
As the President of RTG Solutions Group, Khris K. Bhattan’s passion and success lies in leading teams that solve problems, eliminate waste, reduce costs and increase efficiencies. Khris is the impetus to change as he identifies, develops, trains and implements systems that ensure organizations’ success in a competitive marketplace.
“The most important aspects when developing a layout for a warehouse include…”
The flow of material, inventory, or product into and out of the warehouse. A flow analysis should be developed to understand the most efficient method of moving material, inventory, or product through the various processes and staging areas. In addition, a capacity analysis should be done to ensure proper capacity requirements for inventory, equipment, and industrial requirements for the people who are working in the warehouse environment. Lastly, but certainly not least, is safety. In my experience, safety requirements sometimes fall to the bottom of the design requirements package listing. However, this should be built into the design, rather than added to the design after the warehouse is complete.
Jessica Thompson
@YOGOanywhere
Jessica Thompson is the CEO of YOGO.
“There are several important considerations in designing and laying out a warehouse…”
- What activities does the warehouse need to serve? If it is distribution, there might not be as many long pick and pack hours. Are you doing computer work here? You need a pleasant work area that is temperature controlled and has ample electricity, Wi-Fi, the ability for workers to sit or stand comfortably, and good lighting. If you are doing B2C distribution, you will need a large staging area/table and racks with tools, supplies, and stock within one or two steps from there. Plus, a snack area and possibly tunes! Happy warehouse workers =happy boss =happy customers!
- FIFO
- Cost per square foot versus the cost of putting things upwards:You can save on a lot of rent if you install large industrial racks and stack vertically. This is good for long term storage but involves a fair amount of labor to get it up there. The higher your rent, the more likely it makes sense to go vertical. This also makes FIFO rotations more expensive.
- Where is the work area? You want to reduce the number of movements and steps for daily routines. Try to locate all the daily items (and especially things you do several times a day!) in the desk or work area.
- Staging area and egress clear for pallets.
- Best shape/orientation of the pallets versus pallet jack and forklift entry. Puzzling pallets in allows for paying less rent, but it might take more labor to access them later.
- Make sure to store things so that you have access to all SKUs.
- It’s recommended to have a small stock of all SKUs at the pick and pack table if that is what you are doing.
- Plan out where things go BEFORE the inventory shows up.
- Security. There may be a need to reposition for security optimization (for example, if part of the area is visible to a camera).
Justin Riordan
@SpadeArcher
Justin Riordan is the Founder of Portland-based Spade and Archer Design Agency with offices in Portland, Seattle, and Palm Springs.
“When planning our space, our first concern was…”
That the largest, bulkiest items were closest to the door, and from there we worked our way back to the smallest items being furthest from the door.
Our second concern was for appropriate shelving systems being created from scratch in order to hold items in an efficient way. We custom built shelving 12’ apart and 8’ deep to hold our area rugs. Large arms extend out from the wall to hold bed frames. Triangle posts extend from wall to floor at an angel to prop up dining room table tops. Each time we custom build a shelving system, we find our efficiency has grown exponentially.
The last item we take great concern for is organizing our items by colors and neutrals. Neutrals are ordered from darkest to lightest (black, brown, grey, silver, tan, cream, white) and our colors are organized in rainbow order (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple). We do this because the items are selected by a team of designers whose work is highly concerned with each color going into each room. This helps them to organize their thoughts and design cohesive and thoughtful spaces.
Emna Everard
@kazidomi
Emna Everard is the CEO and founder of Kazidomi.
“There are a few important aspects to consider in designing and laying out a warehouse…”
1. Best sellers at hand reach size:You’ll sell them more so make sure there are easy to get.
2. Fragile and heavy stuff at the bottom to avoid breaking them.
3. Always make sure there is nothing that is actually on the floor (to make cleaning very fast and avoid damage in case you have flooding issues).
4. Think about the returns and keep a space for it, because you’ll not be able to manage them in real time and it takes up a massive amount of space quickly.
5. You should optimize both the way you put the products in the boxes (the best path for your pick and pack) and the best path to put the products on the shelves. That depends on whether you have many SKUs, but if you do and you are not following a chaos-type of allocation of your goods, you’ll most likely take quite a bit of time for each supplier unless you order products by supplier.
6. If you ship products once per day, make sure you have enough space to have all your orders ready to ship together and that the accumulation is not going to be an issue.
7. Leave some empty spaces in your shelves to make easy changes in case it’s necessary.
8. Space between shelves:There is a trade-off because you can lose a massive amount of space there, but at the same time it needs to be easy to navigate. Most likely you’ll be using a cart or something similar, so make sure it easily fits in there.
9. Temperature and light, which depends on type of products (e.g., wine, medicals, food, colored goods, etc.), but some rooms may be exposed to it less or more and you should definitely think about that when you start allocating the different positions.
10. Automation:Make sure it’s easy to continuously improve your automation levels and think early on if you want to apply a more men to goods vs. goods to men model (see robots picking or AGVs from Amazon and Alibaba).
Darren Cottingham
@cottingham
Darren Cottingham is director of DT Driver Training, Australasia’s largest provider of online training for forklift operators and drivers of work vehicles.
“Safety-conscious design will minimize the risk of injury or death where pedestrians and vehicles intersect in work areas…”
Separating pedestrian traffic and vehicle traffic where possible is essential to minimize the risk of injuries. Pedestrians include workers working in the warehouse, site visitors, clients, contractors, and suppliers. Vehicles include lift trucks (forklifts, order pickers, etc.), elevated work platforms, delivery trucks, cleaning equipment, and more.
Forklift accidents can happen due to inattention by the driver, when the pedestrian is obscured by the load, if a pedestrian is walking where they shouldn’t be, or if they are standing too close to an operating forklift. Solutions for separating pedestrians from forklifts include:
- Signage at the site gate and the entry to any areas where forklifts are operating
- Painted walkways
- Bollards and rails (or cones for temporary workspaces)
- Designated crossing points with clear instructions
Solutions for improving the interaction between vehicles and pedestrians include:
- Convex mirrors at the ends of aisles or at other tight turning points
- Company policies on using warning lights and audible devices such as horns, especially where drivers are going from strong light to low light or visibility is compromised
- Mandatory exclusion zones around vehicles (e.g., three meters unless the vehicle is in neutral with the handbrake on)
- One-way traffic systems
- Mandatory high-visibility clothing when in vehicle zones
Anticipate which areas might be busy pedestrian areas, for example:
- Where do trucks deliver to or collect from your premises and where should the truck driver wait
- How are materials brought into the warehouse?
- What type of lift trucks are being used, (e.g., counterbalance, order pickers) and how much aisle space do they need?
- What areas can authorized site visitors access, for example, a prospective client who is being shown around the company?
- What areas are designated for maintenance of forklifts?
- Where are the emergency exits?
Safety around forklifts is critical. Provide health and safety training for people who work in the warehouse and develop solid health and safety policies for visitors.
Each forklift should have a designated parking space which is away from emergency exits and doesn’t block ramps or passageways. A separate space for storing forklift keys should be provided and all drivers and operators should know the correct method of storing the forklift.
Curt Doherty
Curt Doherty is the CEO at CNC Machines Network.
“It’s essential to have…”
ERP and other systems in place that help employees be efficient and minimize workflow interruptions and mistakes. However, one of the biggest issues we see is in training employees and operators.
Operating a warehouse isn’t very complicated when systems are in place with continuous training to help inventory and processes be completed on time with very little delay.
The key is making sure you have the right people and train them to be efficient and use technology systems to ensure smooth operation. Automation mixed with highly competent, trained employees is the competitive edge in the 21st century.
George Keliher
@LOCATEInv
George Keliher has been involved in the making and stocking of parts for over 30 years, both as an entrepreneur and as a small business consultant specializing in inventory management. George is having so much fun with LOCATE Inventory that his retirement plans have been put on hold. In addition to growing and expanding LOCATE, George keeps himself busy with a regimen that includes inline skating and standup paddleboarding.
“One of the most important aspects to consider is…”
Figuring out what your top moving parts are. You want to make sure those parts are in an easy-to-get-to location, since they will be picked upon the most. This will help speed up the picking process. Something else to consider is looking at the size of items you plan to store. Are they large and heavy? You’ll want to make sure to store big, bulky items in easy-to-get-to areas that are close to the ground, while keeping the smaller, lighter items at the top. This will go a long way toward helping to prevent injuries during the picking process.
工业技术