Table of Contents
The warehouse layout is a critical part of the planning process. It can save your business time and money by maximizing space utilization, optimizing flow within its facility, streamlining operations for ease of use, and improving safety records. To help plan for an optimal warehouse floor layout, here are five steps to follow with examples from some industry leaders.
The architecture and design of any warehouse operation determine its efficiency. A good warehouse floor layout can help you save expenses and increase efficiency across the board, from production and assembly through order fulfillment and delivery.
Consider your requirements before beginning the warehouse design and layout process, from space usage to storage alternatives and production equipment to aisle layout and production area operations. Also, bear in mind your company’s inventory management systems, since your layout will affect your ability to successfully manage inventories.
Here’s how to handle the phases of warehouse layout planning:
1. Make a warehouse diagram.
Regardless of the size of your warehouse, a successful plan begins with a precise 2D depiction. Physical paper schematics or digital Software for Design may be used to do this.
A blank schematic, such as this one, is the greatest place to start when planning a warehouse layout.
A finished warehouse design layout was done using Inkscape, a free graphic design application featuring a grid backdrop option.
- Physical Diagrams
- Software for Design
A copy of your warehouse plan is the simplest approach to building a physical design (especially if your space is large or an atypical shape). If you rent, your landlord may be able to offer you a blueprint.
If you don’t have access to a blueprint, you may easily create your own warehouse schematic using grid paper. Plan as though one square on the grid paper represents one square foot in your warehouse when drafting your layout. The spatial connections on your layout will then correspond to your real space.
If you’re using a paper schematic, tape it to a piece of poster board or foam core to provide a stable base for your layout. Then place a piece of tracing paper on top of your original to draw and experiment with alternative shelf and equipment layouts without damaging it.
Alternatively, you may represent equipment using paper cutouts and move them around to evaluate alternative configurations.
Layout software is a digital tool that allows you to quickly build and test your warehouse floor plan schematic.
SmartDraw, for example, is a specialized online planning tool that has unique warehouse design capabilities. The application enables you to simply experiment with alternative layout methods by dragging and dropping components about your map. Plans start at $5.95 per month.
SmartDraw is a robust warehouse design application.
Whether you use grid paper or an online planning tool to plan your warehouse layout, it’s critical to make sure the warehouse dimensions you’re using are precise.
Every inch must be considered in spatial planning (which we’ll explore in the following section). Failure to do so might spell catastrophe once you start buying shelving and warehouse equipment, which may or may not fit if your warehouse specifications are off.
Pull out a distance tape measure or a rolling tape measure to take exact measures from the start so you don’t have to make last-minute warehouse layout adjustments that might have been avoided with adequate planning.
Note any immovable elements such as columns or supports, office area build-outs, sloping floors, stairways, installed equipment, and overhead doors once you have a printed or online schematic with dimensions drawn to scale. Because these locations will impose limits on your warehouse floor plan, you’ll want to make sure they’re noted appropriately on your layout schematic.
These types of stationary supports must be incorporated into your warehouse layout plan. (Picture courtesy of Pixabay)
Office space is made aside in many warehouse operations. All you need is a crude block-out, but keep track of when office doors open into the warehouse. You may mistakenly obstruct door access if you overlook this point.
On the layout in the example below, an office area as well as receiving and shipping pickup doors have been mentioned. If your warehouse needs particular entrances and exits for receiving and transporting merchandise, be sure to incorporate these in your architectural schematic.
You’re ready to start arranging your warehouse layout after you’ve identified important elements on your warehouse design schematic.
2. Make the Most of Your Space
Begin by considering how you want to utilize your warehouse in order to build an effective floor layout.
You may be planning a layout for manufacturing or light product assembly, as well as product storage and delivery facility (a common warehouse design for eCommerce businesses). How you allot space and organize your warehouse architecture will be determined by your specific company demands.
Plan for Equipment & Surrounding Workspace
Identifying your core units is the first step in developing your warehouse layout. These are the items that occupy the majority of your area and/or serve as the focal point of your production zones.
Racks for Pallets and metal shelving, for example, are crucial elements if you own an online firm that inventories and transports items. In the picture below, you can see how this layout appears.
The essential warehousing units of a company, such as manufacturing equipment or workstations, will differ depending on the facility’s principal aims. Whatever your critical units are, you must first identify them and arrange them on your plan.
If you run a manufacturing company, planning your space around equipment and nearby production areas is a top priority.
Storage areas, although vital, are secondary in your design since their placement is determined by where you place your equipment.
Most eCommerce firms’ warehouses are dedicated to receiving, storing, selecting, packaging, and delivering merchandise. Stock storage facilities are the essential equipment in these situations (as shown below). Shelves or bins are commonly used storage units, however, the size, form, and weight of these units varies widely.
Other tasks that affect the entire warehouse floor layout for eCommerce firms include order packaging and shipping, as well as receiving goods. It’s critical to provide enough space around your numerous work centers so that staff may efficiently do these jobs.
Allow enough room for any equipment needed, from hand trucks to forklifts, to efficiently travel the warehouse aisles.
Assembly stations or light manufacturing equipment are likely to be a major emphasis if you undertake light assembly with some shipping. Following that, you’ll need to think about components and completed products storage, as well as suitable packaging, packing, and shipping rooms.
Before beginning any warehouse floor design process, it’s critical to do a complete analysis of your requirements. Failure to evaluate the entire breadth of your requirements might result in a warehouse design that is unsuccessful.
Create Warehouse Production Zones & Workflow Areas
Following core pieces such as equipment, stock storage, and assembly stations, consider how people, materials, and commodities flow in and around your essential elements. You must also evaluate the amount of space required for your manufacturing process to be done securely.
In all warehouses, safety must be a top priority—though it may be more complicated in manufacturing, where movement happens near the equipment. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has a number of documents that you should go through while putting out a warehouse safety plan.
Safe workflows apply to all sorts of activities, thus every warehouse layout design should incorporate suitable production zones and workflow regions.
Workbenches, containers, tools, and safety stations must all be allocated space in the manufacturing process. Additionally, you must set aside sufficient production zones surrounding equipment for employees to transport materials and make things securely.
There is no one-size-fits-all criterion for what constitutes enough space when it comes to manufacturing equipment and operations. Pay special attention to the manufacturer’s instructions for safe use, since each piece of equipment will come with detailed instructions.
One of the most important work areas in a stock and ship operation is the aisle space between shelving units, as seen below. You or your staff will require enough room to store received products and chose things for orders. Employees will require room to move items into, around, and out of the production zones, which include your packaging, shipping, and receiving spaces.
Assembly operations often combine the spatial needs of manufacturing and stock & ship.
Assembly stations and accompanying equipment are the core of your production zone in these circumstances. Workbenches or specialized stations, as well as bins for components and completed things, are examples of these. You’ll need a lot of production space surrounding these regions, just as in manufacturing. Then, much like stock and ship, you’ll need to set aside a room to wrap completed items effectively.
Create storage areas in the warehouse.
Another important consideration in your design is storage. In reality, for pack and ship (and certain assembly) processes, a well-organized storage room is likely to be your top priority.
To figure out how much storage space you’ll need and what kind of storage containers you’ll need, think about what you’ll be keeping.
Your warehouse storage requirements might take a variety of forms, including:
- Bins on light-duty shelves hold small assembly materials.
- Pallets containing machine components
- Pick, pack, and transport boxed items
- Items that are out of stock
- Manufacturing raw materials
The sort of storage you need in your layout, as well as the space you need to reserve in and around storage spaces—like aisle widths between shelves and clearance zones for moving things in and out of storage—is determined by what you’re storing.
Aisle spacing is determined by how you transport supplies and/or commodities around your warehouse. You’ll need plenty of room between shelves and around other units if you employ a pallet jack or forklift to transport pallets or equipment in your storage facilities. To traverse between shelves, pallet jacks need a minimum aisle width of 4′ to 5′.
Forklifts need a considerably larger open aisle. If you want to employ a forklift in your warehouse, you’ll need an aisle width of 11′ to 13′, depending on the sort of forklift you’ll be utilizing.
Make sure you properly research all manufacturer guidelines for the equipment you purchase before employing forklifts in your warehouse. Distinct machines have different needs when it comes to using. Additionally, acquaint yourself with OSHA’s forklift standards and fulfill all required forklift training requirements before driving a forklift.
Forklifts need a lot of room to maneuver around storage facilities.
Hand-held bins or rolling carts are all you need to stock and retrieve stored products if your warehouse plans include hand-stocking tiny boxes for assembly or pack-and-ship. Your shelving aisles will most likely need to be between 3.6′ and 4′ wide in these circumstances.
Remember to include overhead areas in your warehouse floor layout. Small warehouses can readily accept shelving up to 8 feet in height, whereas bigger facilities can support shelving up to 12 feet tall.
High shelves are a wonderful method to save warehouse floor space for manufacturing operations if you require excess spaces for big stock purchases or materials storage.
3. Select the Right Warehouse Equipment
Most small company warehouse operations need storage and workspace equipment, such as assembly tables or packing stations, whether they are manufacturing, assembly, pick-pack-and-ship, or a mix of the three.
The size and kind of storage, shelving and workplace equipment all play a role in warehouse layout design. Racks for Pallets, heavy- and Shelving for Heavy-Duty Use, Racks with Cantilever Supports, and various bin types are all standard warehouse solutions.
Warehouse Storage & Shelving Options
A professional vendor in your region can help you get the warehouse storage equipment you need. Purchasing used equipment is a popular and affordable option to buying new hardware; just make sure the condition and kind of equipment meet your facility’s requirements.
Other choices include purchasing warehouse equipment through importers such as Alibaba, which often gives great savings on warehouse equipment. Standard equipment may also be found from Amazon, Home Depot, and Lowes—especially in modest quantities.
Here’s when each of these common equipment alternatives should be used:
Racks for Pallets
Racks for Pallets are designed to store pallets of goods, but they’re also used for stocking all sorts of products and materials, large and small. Racks for Pallets are best for midweight to heavyweight storage needs like boxed stock, work materials, and finished goods.
Racks for Pallets are available in various sizes—most commonly in sections 4’ deep x 8’ long and 8’-12’ in height. Costs of equipping your warehouse with Racks for Pallets vary depending on how much racking you intend to use. Expect to pay between $120-$350 per set for new, heavy-duty warehouse racking. You can sometimes save by contacting pre-owned warehouse equipment merchants to find deals on used Racks for Pallets and other storage items.
Pallet racking is made up of uprights (end units), rails (adjustable crossbars), and decks (heavy-duty particleboard or metal wire grid shelves). Each unit might have a large number of shelves or just a few.
Racks for Pallets can be freestanding, though they’re designed to interconnect for long shelving runs. When used this way, it’s the most cost-effective shelving solution for large warehouse storage areas. If you have storage space of 1,000 square feet (around 20 x 50 feet) or more, two long rows of pallet racks can provide ample storage at a reasonable cost.
Shelving for Heavy-Duty Use
(Photo credit: Alibaba)
Heavy-duty (HD) shelving is the pallet rack’s baby brother. The name is a bit deceiving, as Racks for Pallets generally hold more weight than HD shelving, but HD shelving is a cost-effective solution in many warehouse designs.
Shelving for Heavy-Duty use is best for light to midweight storage in smaller warehouses, storage units, and garages. These types of shelving units come in various sizes—usually from 3’-8’ long and 6’-8’ high. Pay attention to the weight ratings on the shelves you purchase; for safety reasons, it’s important to adhere to weight stipulations assigned by the shelving unit’s manufacturer.
A new HD shelving unit will cost between $75 and $200. If you just need a few shelves, you can get them at Home Depot, Amazon, and Lowe’s, among other places that sell shelf hardware.
Shelving for Heavy-Duty Use
(Photo credit: Alibaba)
Light-duty (LD) shelving is typically found in garages, small retail storerooms, and domestic storage facilities such as utility or craft rooms, although it may also be utilized in warehouses. For small warehouses and storage facilities, light-duty storage is a cost-effective option. Sizes vary, but most are 18″ to 2′ deep by 4′ long.
You won’t be able to optimize the height of your warehouse for additional storage space using LD shelving since these units are typically just 6′ to 7′ high.
A notable advantage of LD shelving is that most units come with five or six adjustable shelves, which gives you useful versatility if you’re storing various items of different dimensions. Shelving for Heavy-Duty Use also works well with stacked parts bins (discussed below) for stocking small items and assembly parts.
You can buy Shelving for Heavy-Duty Use anywhere shelves are sold, including Home Depot, Lowes, and your local hardware store; expect to pay between $40 and $100 per shelving unit.
When installing Shelving for Heavy-Duty Use units, be sure to secure the shelving as directed. In most cases, LD shelves are to be secured up against a wall or another unit for stability and safety reasons.
Racks with Cantilever Supports
(Image courtesy of BicroSelect)
Racks with Cantilever Supports can handle your pipe, lumber, panels, and oversize material storage needs.
Cantilever rack sizes and pricing vary by necessity and kind of material housed, so request an estimate for your warehouse from a secondhand warehouse dealer or internet sellers like Alibaba or Shelving.com.
Boxes, Hoppers, and Barrels of Warehouse Quality
(Photo credit: Alibaba)
Manufacturing and assembly activities often use metal and heavy-weight plastic storage boxes, hoppers, and barrels. They are containers for storing, transporting, and dumping commodities.
Many firms use pallet jacks to move them, however other bins and hoppers are wheeled. These are available in a variety of sizes and materials, and they can handle even hefty goods. For the quality of the box seen above, expect to spend between $100 and $200.
Bins for small parts and assembly
(Photo credit: Alibaba)
These stackable bins are great for keeping tiny objects for a variety of purposes, including manufacturing supplies, assembly pieces, and small products to pack and ship. Furthermore, their easy-access shape gives them a cost-effective alternative to putting tiny items in locked boxes, and they can be color-coded simply.
Bins for small parts and assembly usually cost $1 to $10 each.
If your storage demands are too large for standard shelves or racks, you may need a custom size or a wall-mounted option. Contact a used warehouse shelving vendor; most provide a diverse range of storage options, and some can even custom-cut shelving to meet particular requirements.
Equipment for the Workplace
In addition to storage containers, your warehouse may need work-area equipment. Here are several possibilities:
A packing station at a warehouse, which is often used in eCommerce operations (Source: Cisco-Eagle)
You may not need all of the items mentioned in the above chart, but think about the numerous workstations you’ll need in your warehouse and what sorts of tables or equipment would be necessary for those stations to function well.
Options for Material Handling Equipment
You must also consider how you will move goods and commodities throughout your warehouse and obtain the required transportation equipment.
Among the most popular choices are:
A manual forklift scale weighs and transports heavy loads. (Photo credit: Alibaba)
4. Make Use of Efficient Traffic Flow Techniques
Now that you know what kind of equipment and storage solutions you’ll need for your warehouse and how everything will fit into your plan, it’s time to start drawing out your thorough schematic. The purpose of a warehouse schematic is to organize all of the elements in such a way that traffic flow is efficient and productive.
Consider the following warehouse utilization requirements as you consider your operation:
- Think about how much time you and your staff will spend in different parts of the warehouse.
- Determine where the majority of the work will be centered—manufacturing equipment, storage rooms, or work tables.
- Examine the numerous requirements you and your staff will have for warehouse mobility, how goods will be retrieved from various warehouse locations, and what products will be needed to perform daily activities.
You will be able to simply organize work zones and estimate traffic patterns inside your warehouse as you specify what work will be done, who will be performing it, and the techniques they will utilize.
Remember that every firm has individual demands, so although you may learn from other warehouse designs, you must prioritize your own.
The following is how each of the functional parts of a well-designed floor plan works:
Notice where the product storage aisles (A) are located in the eCommerce pick-pack-and-ship warehouse layout below.
You can see how numerous aspects were included in the warehouse floor layout to make this warehouse model more efficient. The packing section, which is the busiest manufacturing zone, is centrally placed between stock shelves, with two aisles feeding directly into it.
Staff may rapidly reach or “choose” merchandise on either side of the packaging tables using this warehouse arrangement. Furthermore, each employee is given a distinct sector to choose and manage, which prevents them from colliding. All of this adds up to a smooth and efficient traffic flow.
A 12′-tall pallet rack is used to enhance stock storage spaces by allowing adequate overstock space on top shelves, which is out of the way of everyday processes. Restocking and order picking chores are performed amid the shelves using hand-carried bins and small trolleys.
Aisle widths of four feet are ideal for transporting boxes and carts in this warehouse. Because the warehouse receives and transports palletized freight, enough room is allowed along the central lanes for pallet movement.
Against the end walls, shelving is not utilized. Instead, for smaller things, this warehouse uses 2′ deep shelves around the perimeter. This allows pickers to walk from aisle to aisle without having to backtrack and select minor things as required.
This sample eCommerce operation’s major purpose is packing and shipping, thus plenty of room is set aside for these activities.
The warehouse plan incorporates a combination of 8′ and 6′ utility tables in the central packing area (B) that may be moved and changed as packing requirements demand. This enables warehouse workers to pack everyday parcels with plenty of space, easily meet holiday quantities, and pack pallets for huge freight orders.
This eCommerce warehouse, which is a pack-and-ship business, keeps shipping boxes and packaging supplies within easy reach of the packing tables. The items are swiftly transported to the adjoining shipping station table for weighing, sealing, and labeling once they have been packed. If you intend on shipping often, setting aside space for a dedicated shipping station will save you a lot of time.
Order fulfillment and delivery might be challenging. If you’re new to in-house fulfillment, check at other companies’ operations to see how they handle fulfillment and shipping. This sort of assignment may help you save money as well as hours of stress.
Because of the huge overhead doors, this type has plenty of capacity for shipping and receiving (C). This firm gets several freight and parcel stock shipments every day as a pack-and-ship eCommerce operation.
Allowing space for incoming merchandise to be stored prior to unpacking is critical. Additionally, keeping receivables distinct from daily outgoing deliveries helps to avoid misunderstanding and carrier pick-up errors.
To properly store and retrieve vast quantities of lightweight overstock boxes from its 12′ shelves, this warehouse has two rolling stairs.
If you want to utilize high shelves in your warehouse, be sure you have a safe means to reach products that are above you. In this instance, rolling stairs are quite acceptable. Heavier equipment, such as forklifts, is required in other warehouses to transfer and reach products stacked above.
The storage of rolling staircases must be included in the warehouse architecture since they take up warehouse floor space. The mobile staircases are stored in the locations marked (D) near the receiving and shipping facilities.
When designing your warehouse layout, bear in mind items like rolling ladders, moving conveyors, and pallet jacks. If you don’t presently utilize them but believe you will in the future, set aside warehouse space for them now. You don’t want to relocate your heavy equipment or rows of shelves after they’re in place to make room for pallet jacks or other huge things you hadn’t planned.
5. Put your warehouse traffic flow plan to the test.
The next step before beginning to install equipment, shelving, and tables is to walk through your completed layout. To do so, measure the area and use masking tape to outline the placement of your primary units—whether they’re equipment, tables, or shelves—on the floor. You don’t have to do this for every component, but it’s a good idea to model design essential workflow and production zones.
Then stroll about the warehouse as though you’re truly doing the following tasks:
- Carry boxes, tools, or supplies to practice performing job activities while testing your warehouse design. Make sure you have enough space in every direction. Roll carts or pallet jacks through the warehouse layout to ensure that products flow smoothly along the designated pathways, even when they are fully laden.
- Workers may help you test your floor plan: If you have employees, have them play out work procedures. If you don’t have any staff yet, seek the aid of some relatives or friends to role-play important warehouse tasks. Make sure your employees have enough space to complete the duties they’ll be doing.
- Check aspects of the layout that are difficult to modify many times: If your warehouse plan has enormous sections that will contain heavy equipment or massive shelving units, test them many times. It’s far easier to make traffic flow modifications now (while changes are still easy to make) than it is to relocate heavy fixtures and equipment after they’ve been installed.
Make sure you give your planning and testing process a lot of care, and you’ll end up with a place that’s cost-effective, efficient, safe, and productive, no matter how big or little your company is.
Conclusion
Identification of your demands, including the operations to be done inside your warehouse and the equipment that will best support them, is the first step in effective warehouse design. When you put in the time and effort to design a functional warehouse plan, you’ll save time, money, and aggravation for years to come.
You may outsource your warehouse to a third-party fulfillment service with specialized infrastructure if having your own facility is too expensive. For many startups, small enterprises, and developing eCommerce operations, this alternative is more cost-effective.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you plan a warehouse layout?
The first thing to do is to find out how many warehouse workers will be needed. This can usually be done by taking into account the size of your business and estimating employee hours per week.
The next step would be finding a location within close proximity that has enough space for all employees, as well as nearby parking lots or loading docks that may not require additional construction costs.
From there you should create an efficient floor plan in order to make the best use of available storage areas and reduce travel time between locations during shifts.
What are the steps in designing a warehouse?
The process starts with a business plan, then the company will typically use an architect to design how they want their warehouse to look. Next, construction companies would be used to build it and finally, the finished product is opened up for business in order for employees and customers alike to enjoy what was created.
What are warehouse layout patterns examples?
There are several warehouse layout patterns depending on how the items are stored. The most common is a U shape with one end of the U in front and another at the back where they meet. Another popular pattern consists of numerous long parallel boxes, each separated by an aisle that leads to two doors.
