There are many reasons your business will need a warehouse. You’ll need a warehouse to store all of your business’s goods and keep them there ready to ship out. If you’re starting a business that sells any goods, chances are you will need a warehouse.
Bearing that in mind, what makes a good warehouse? Well, here are some things that every warehouse needs:
Staff
You can’t forget to employ staff to man the warehouse for you. Most business owners will lead busy lives, and you may spend a lot of the time in your office. This means you need people down in the warehouse taking care of things. You need staff to organize all the goods and keep track of stock. They will also have to prepare things for delivery and be ready to ship them out when needed. Working in a warehouse requires a lot of hard work, and doesn’t get as much credit as it should! Just make sure you hire people with experience, or you’ll end up having to run a warehouse by yourself while working in your office at the same time.
Space
The key to a warehouse is that it has enough space. The main purpose of one is to store things, so you’ve got to make sure there’s adequate room. When you’re viewing a warehouse, think about how much stuff you’re going to store down there. Try and mentally picture whether or not it can all fit. If you don’t have enough room, then one of two things can happen. You’re either going to end up with hardly any room to move in the warehouse, meaning it will cramped and terrible to work in. Or, you’ll have to cut your stock down so you can fit it all in without any fuss. To save you damaging the amount of stock you have to store, just find a warehouse that can fit it all in!
Equipment
You must consider all the equipment and things you need down there too. You’re definitely going to need some way of storing all your goods in the warehouse. Usually, this comes in the form of a pallet rack. These are basically massive shelves that you can store bulk items on and they stack up really high. They’re fairly common, and there’s probably a pallet rack distributor near you somewhere. Also, you have to consider lifting equipment too. You may need some type of forklift to move heavy boxes and crates around. There’re many things you might need here, so think it through before hand. It’s probably a good idea you get some ladders and lifts too, so you can reach stuff up high.
If your business needs a warehouse, then you have to consider these three things. Without all three, then it’s going to be hard to function out of it. In the best possible scenario, you’ll find a building with office space above and then a warehouse on the lower floors. But, if you can’t find the perfect building like this, then it’s fine to have a warehouse in a different location!
