W

hen you are planning to open a warehouse, the selection of its location, its design and management depend heavily on your business'€™ core objectives and activities. The following are the three things to consider when buying a warehouse:

The nature and characteristics of materials to be stored in the warehouse, whether it is food or non-food items. When you are planning the type, design and location of your warehouse, you should to take into account the following characteristics:

'€¢ The volume of the things to be stored in your warehouse, is it measured in tonnage or cubic meters?

'€¢ The frequency of shipments to and from the warehouse.

'€¢ The condition of the building and its surrounding areas. These two things are very important to make sure that the things stored inside the warehouse are not damaged or able to deteriorate.

'€¢ The temperature sensitivity of the things stored inside the warehouse '€“ do they need a certain level of temperature required for storing?

'€¢ Are the things to be stored inside the warehouse hazardous or contain hazardous materials?

The number of things to be stored inside the warehouse. This is important in order to determine the amount of space needed for the warehouse. Among the things to be considered are:

'€¢ The measure and weight of the things to be stored.

'€¢ Materials of the packaging.

'€¢ Whether you need a special spot designed to install new packaging, attach labels or other purposes.

The average amount of time required for storage.

Rules and regulations

When you are about to establish a warehouse, you need to pay close attention and consideration to legislation and regulations that apply in a particular area. A warehouse manager needs to make sure that the operations are in line with regional regulations, namely on labor, health, safety, hazardous materials and drugs storage, as well as building policies.

Location and sanitation

Location is a very important factor in establishing a warehouse. It depends on your storage needs, but a warehouse should ideally be located in proximity to a port, a factory or a shop.

It is also worthwhile to consider the total amount of time taken to transport products from the warehouse to its final destination.

The condition of the building used for the warehouse is also crucial. The building has to have a solid construction with proper ventilation and no leakage.

The walls inside the warehouse have to be clean and it is advisable that the walls be painted white. You should make sure that none of the windows are broken and the doors are in proper condition.

The location of the warehouse needs to be free of flooding. As for the transportation needs, the warehouse should be accessible by big trucks.

Next are the safety aspects. Indeed, safety is an extremely important feature of a warehouse. You need to make sure that there are sufficient security facilities to guard the whole warehouse compound.

You also need to make sure that the building'€™s structure enables protection from natural disasters, especially earthquakes, of which Indonesia is very prone.

Some sanitation aspects also need to be taken care of, especially if you are setting up a warehouse to store food and beverage products. You need to spray the whole building with disinfectant and fumigate it before you start using it.

You also need to guard the building carefully against pest attacks. Before you ever decide to use a particular building as a warehouse, you need to inspect it carefully for signs of the presence of pests, be it holes in the walls, or in the floor.

Design

After you find an ideal location for your warehouse, the next step is to design it carefully.

First of all, you need to study the building'€™s width, height and shape to make sure that it has the capacity to accommodate all the things that you are going to store there.

It is better to choose a bigger space than a smaller one in order to make room for additional stuff.

The width of the floor has to be evenly distributed. The floor also needs to be made of a stable material; if possible, use concrete, because the floor has to be strong enough to withstand things stored inside and vehicles that possibly move in and out of the building to pick up or drop things off.

Facilities

Last, but not least, make sure that all the facilities you need '€“ water, electricity and a phone connection, among others '€“ are available within the warehouse before you eventually start using it.