How To Design An Efficient Warehouse Floor Plan

If you're like most business owners, you're always looking for ways to make your warehouse more efficient. You may not have the time or resources to redesign your entire warehouse floor plan, but there are a few things you can do to make the most of the space you have. Here are a few tips on how to design an efficient warehouse floor plan.

Warehouse Floor Plan Basics

There are three most essential steps to basic floor planning:

Referencing The Blueprint

Before making any significant decisions, get a blueprint warehouse floor plan (if you're renting, your landlord should have one) and familiarize yourself with all the measurements and features.

‍

Creating A Warehouse Layout Schematic

Enlist the help of any architects on your team to produce a schematic. This can be done by hand, but there are several low-cost or free applications that will save you time and likely result in more precise measurements.

‍

Organizing Your Layout Schematic Into Zones

Warehouse layout experts suggest organizing the layout schematic into two zones:

‍

Equipment And Surrounding Workspace

Fundamental units are described as equipment and its surrounding workspaces. They are the products that serve as the backbone of your warehouse's infrastructure, such as automated storage and retrieval systems or pallet racks. You'll want to construct your warehouse around these goods because they're the most vital aspects.

‍

Production Zones And Workflow Areas

The routes your workers and vehicles will take to and from the fundamental units are production zones and workflow areas.

‍

Developing a Safe Warehouse Floor Plan

Here are the top 5 areas that should be regarded with safety in mind, according to OSHA:

Heavy machinery space: All aisles and loading docks must be broad enough for forklifts to pass through easily, especially when preparing/stacking loads. Create a layout that reduces traffic congestion. Make sure that the floors of regularly traveled areas aren't prone to becoming slick.

‍

Ventilation: Make the bare minimum of ventilation units necessary to ensure that all toxic output from machines is exhausted.

‍

Manual lifting/handling rigs: The purpose of OSHA in warehouses is to keep manual lifting to a bare minimum. Include specialized lifting rigs in your final design if manual lifting is a prevalent activity in your facility.

‍

Chemical storage: You must keep all chemicals from heavy machinery and transportation routes. Also, wherever the substances are stored, provide provision for a chemical spill kit.

‍

Emergency equipment and exits: Guarantee that your design includes emergency exits and enough room to house the emergency equipment.

‍

Automation

Adopting new technologies is proving to be helpful. Still, a necessity in increasing the efficiency of a warehouse floor plan automation is a crucial step in increasing the efficiency of a warehouse floor plan automation is an essential step in increasing the efficiency. A warehouse floor plan automation is an essential step in increasing the efficiency of a simple warehouse floor plan.

‍

However, this implies that the entire warehouse floor plan design must be adaptable enough to accommodate new technology and automation tools as they arrive.

‍

"Not only does expanding and redesigning a warehouse layout takes time, but it also costs a lot of money. "You can accommodate future expansion with no glitches if you prepare ahead."

‍

For example, add a fleet of autonomous robots to your warehouse, but you cannot do so for at least another 24 months since you don't have the funding. So although it may appear like you will achieve your objective in the far future, you should still plan for it. Include infrastructure adaptable enough to accept the gadgets and safely when brought into your environment.

‍

Conclusion

So, what are you waiting for? Start designing your perfect warehouse floor plan today! If you're looking for a little help getting started, don't forget to check out our warehousing software. We can help make the process a little bit easier for you. Contact us today to learn more.

‍