If you’re planning on starting a business or expanding what you already have, it may be time to look into finding your own warehouse. Warehouses are used to manufacture, store and ship out your products to consumers, so the more your business grows, the more essential having one actually becomes.
Here’s a bit more helpful information.
Starting up
Warehouses come in at all different costs, the most average starting around $10,000 and working its way up to $50,000, depending on the size, the location of it, and how you set it up.
The best place to start looking is online because you can fish through all different warehouses within the area that you desire and compare prices.
It’s also a good idea to look just outside of the city as you will see a drastic difference in price, and they may be more open about any issues they face and what to try and avoid, along with a lesson or two in how the basic machinery works.
Sticking to the regulations
Depending on what you manufacture will determine the way you go about making your products. If it consists of dealing with food, for example, you will need to ensure you stick to all the food safety and hygiene regulations. This means that you will need the right kind of disinfectant that is above a certain level in strength. A clean running water supply, and an Amcraft industrial curtain wall to keep all the areas contained within themselves so no outside germs or bacteria can get in. You can also expect inspectors every so often that will surprise you with a quick visit to make sure you’re keeping everything up to standard.
The equipment
Before you start getting the equipment you need, you should always make sure whether you need a license for it, and if so, what kind. It’s best to know information like this before you continue, so it doesn’t risk slowing you down in the future when you’re all ready.
Then you’ll need to get looking for the specific equipment you need for your business, and this is a very important step as this is where you will have to invest most of your money, so make sure you get it right. This can be anything from storage units, shelving, crates, computers and forklifts. You may also need your own truck or vehicle of some sort for distribution, so bear this in mind.
The employees
If your business does offer its own distribution services, then be sure to hire employees with a logistics background. Logistics professionals can arrange all the shipping details, oversee all the items that enter the warehouse – which is important so you can ship out what arrived to you first – and track the goods right up to their final destination point.
You will also want someone with great organization skills that can be in charge of setting up specific locations within the warehouse to store away each item. They will most likely be stored in alphabetical order, but you can go by whatever rules you want as long as it makes it simple enough for you to find things. Then you will need some employees that are physically fit who can lift items and operate the machinery such as the forklifts and crates.
