For most warehouses, relocation is inevitable. Unfortunately, whether you’re upsizing, downsizing, need more storage space or looking to buy, warehouse relocation can be a costly endeavour.
There are many things to consider when relocating your warehouse like choosing the right location, connecting utilities, setting up offices and computers and more. But one of the most important things is setting up your product storage and warehouse processes to get the business back up and running as quickly as possible.
Whether that means disassembling your pallet racking and reassembling it at your new location or designing a brand new pallet racking system, MACRACK can help. With over 30 years of experience in the warehousing and pallet racking industry at your disposal, choose MACRACK to make sure your warehouse relocation is as seamless as possible.
In the meantime, here are some tips to keep your warehouse relocation on track and in budget.
Choose The Right Space
The first step to making sure your warehouse relocation goes off without a hitch is to choose the right warehouse space. Ideally, your warehouse should be big enough to absorb the planned growth of your business for the next five to ten years both in volume and product range.
When choosing your new location you will also need to make sure that there are enough docks and doors to meet your outbound shipping and inbound receiving requirements. You should also consider how your existing racking system will fit into your new space or whether or not there is a different pallet racking system that is better suited to the space and operations.
Plan, Plan, Plan
Once you have chosen the right space for your business, the next thing to do to help your warehouse relocation go as smoothly as possible is to thoroughly plan the whole operation from start to finish. This means organising everything from your employees shift changes to disconnecting and reconnecting utilities. The better you plan the move, the less room there is for unexpected problems.
Before the move begins you should make sure that you are aware of any permits or inspections that are required at the new facility. This step is particularly important as unexpected permit requirements or inspections will delay moving times and can even mean having to rearrange your planned storage system layout.
Set Realistic Deadlines
Relocating an entire warehouse can be a daunting task, however, if you’re not sure what needs to happen, and when, it can lead to costly complications. That is why it is important to set deadlines for the moving process and stick to them as much as possible.
Of course, the unexpected does happen, and it is unlikely that everything will go to plan from start to finish. But, not setting deadlines or at least rough time frames, can lead to confusion. You don’t want to have the removal trucks turn up with nothing ready to be moved. For a smooth relocation ensure that everyone knows what’s happening, and when, and avoid unnecessary downtime for your business that will disrupt productivity, and ultimately cost you money.
Update Your Address
One of the main reasons for moving warehouses is because the business is growing or to allow for future growth. However, that’s not going to happen if your customers and suppliers don’t know where to find you. It is important to let your suppliers know of your move as soon as you receive confirmation of your new address. After all, a delivery of stock to the wrong warehouse could lead to thousands of dollars in lost revenue.
Additionally, you should let your customers know about the move as soon as you can, and if/how that might affect them. It is also important to update your website, business cards, email signatures, answer machine messages and any other mention of your address to avoid confusion and unhappy customers turning up to the wrong location.
Optimise Warehouse Operations
Relocating warehouses provides a great opportunity to evaluate your existing storage systems and operations and identify any opportunities to improve them. This could mean anything from reconfiguring your existing pallet racking system to improve product flow and reduce travel time to building a whole new pallet racking system.
The pallet racking system that worked in your last space may not be practical for the layout of your new warehouse. Or maybe, to cater for the projected growth of your business, you need to transition to a higher density storage system.
Whatever the situation, MACRACK have a team of experienced pallet racking experts to advise you on optimising your storage space and boosting productivity in your warehouse. In fact, we offer a free warehouse design service where we will come out and measure your warehouse and design a personalised warehouse storage plan for your space.
Claim your free warehouse design plan today. Call 1800 048 821 to book a consultation with one of our racking specialists.
Minimise Loss
One big cost when it comes to relocating your warehouse is the interruption to your business and loss of revenue. Relocating your entire product range also creates a greater opportunity for theft, both within the business and externally. Luckily, there are a few things that you can do to minimise the downtime of your business during the move and reduce your loss.
One thing you can do to reduce the downtime for your business during the move is to shift your receiving to the new warehouse while keeping the shipping operating from your original location. This will allow you to continue operating the business during the move, while slowly building inventory at the new facility. Your existing stock should be moved to the new warehouse once both shipping and receiving are conducted from the new location.
It’s important to minimise the chance of product loss and theft during the move. This can be achieved by shrink wrapping your inventory before it is transported where possible. Using sequential scanning when transferring stock will also minimise the chance of lost or misplaced products. This can be done by sequentially scanning each product out of its original location, into the dock, into the delivery truck, into the new dock, and then into its final location at the new warehouse.
It is also important to ensure that this process is completed as quickly as possible, especially when loading and unloading the stock from the delivery truck. Inventory should not be left unattended at either dock as this is where there is the highest opportunity for theft.
To make sure your next warehouse relocation runs as smoothly as possible, call MACRACK today on 1800 048 821.
