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SPACE YOU CAN COUNT ON
Maximizing Warehouse Efficiency
By Joe Schwartz 
The newly reconfigured warehouse space in suburban Virginia looked terrific on paper to Amy Stowall of BoxCart mobile storage. It was convenient to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, had easy access to main arteries, and had plenty of space.
“Everything looked good on paper,” says Stowall, vice president of the Chantilly, Va.-based mobile storage company. “Then, when we started to chalk-line the layout on the floor, we saw that [support] columns would be in the way.” The columns did not take up much space compared to the overall footprint on the warehouse floor, but such support structures could obstruct aisles and significantly reduce the number of containers that could be stored in the space—which would also reduce the company’s bottom line.
Warehouse space serves as the hub of a mobile storage business. Its capacity is a major component of that business’ earnings. Yet even the largest warehouse in a prime real estate location doesn’t automatically spell success because a warehouse must not only be well sited and of adequate size, it must be efficient in both design and operation.
More Than The Footprint
The efficiency of a self storage operation’s warehouse has many facets, such as how containers are arranged, how high they are stacked, where the facility is located in relation to major highways, and the building’s internal dimensions.
Chuck Helms, president of Hickory, N.C.-based Kontane, a self storage container manufacturer, says when operators begin planning a warehouse, their first step should be to determine the overhead clearance, which determines how high containers can be stacked. “If someone is going to look for a building, the most critical thing is the ceiling height,” Helms says. “While most people look at length and width, many forget to consider the overhead space.”
Helms and other industry experts have observed that mobile self storage operators typically stack containers three high—and manufacturers are responding by building containers that can take the weight of two other containers on top of it. “Just about everyone [who is] building mobile storage containers are designing them to stack three high,” he says. Mobile self storage containers typically are between seven and eight feet in height, Helms explains, therefore, look for a clear ceiling height of at least 24 feet to clear a stack of three containers.
Michael C. Born, vice president and co-founder of MI-BOX Moving & Mobile Storage, agrees that ceiling clearance must accommodate containers stacked three high. MI-BOX has three locations in and around the Chicago metro area—in Joliet, Waukegan, and Melrose Park, Ill.
Born advocates “overbuilding” his mobile storage warehouses by providing additional clearance on ceilings, aisles, and corners to make the movement of forklifts quicker, easier, and ultimately, more time-efficient. In addition, having extra ceiling clearance minimizes the chances of a container hitting warehouse lighting, trusses, or other overhead structural components of the building. MI-BOX containers are eight feet tall and Born recommends 30-foot ceilings for that application to build in plenty of clearance.
He also concurs with Stowall that the presence of columns is an added challenge for an operator wanting to maximize warehouse space: “No columns is best, few columns is better,” he says.
Newer warehouses get by with fewer columns—or sometimes none— thanks to new materials and truss designs. But not every operator has access to a brand-new facility and sometimes they must cope with and design around columns.
Two or three rows of columns in an empty warehouse may not look like much of an obstacle to your final design, but when the rows are laid out, the impact of the columns on the ultimate capacity of the warehouse will become apparent. “If you have two or three rows of columns, you will fit less,” says Born. “Sometimes, it is better going with a smaller space with no columns.”
Born also applies his “overbuilding” philosophy to entry doors. Larger entry doors allow bigger vehicles to enter and minimize the chance that a delivery vehicle or a forklift will hit the doorframe. “We recommend a 20-foot by 20-foot drive-in door,” he explains. “There is not much difference in cost between the larger 20-foot by 20-foot and a more standard 13-foot by 16-foot door, but he larger door affords “ample clearance to back in and out.” In addition, the mast height for two-stage forklifts usually is 13 feet, six inches high, which will easily pass under a 20-foot-tall opening.
Ultimately, the size of doors, placement of aisles, width of aisles, and overhead clearance all combine to determine the efficiency of a mobile-storage operation. “The ideal scenario: 30-foot clear ceilings, no columns, two 20-foot by 20-foot drive-in doors,” Born says.
Cutting Corners
Obviously, it is important to squeeze as many containers into a warehouse as is practical, but creating very narrow aisles to accomplish that goal is a mistake. Narrow aisles make it difficult—even potentially dangerous—for forklifts to back up, turn, load, or unload containers. And every extra corner a forklift must navigate costs time and efficiency; it not only slows the process of stacking containers, it adds to the time of retrieval for waiting customers.
Helms strongly recommend that aisles line up directly with the drive-in doors and that they are wide enough for forklifts to easily turn around at any point. “Assuming an eight-foot by five-foot container, you’ll need a minimum 15-foot wide aisle to allow the fork lift to turn. Have the aisles line up with doors to minimize corners to turn,” Helms says.
At some warehouses, office space competes for storage space. “You don’t need that large of an office,” says Born. The office should be as small as possible and it should be located near the drive-in door where drivers or any visiting customers can easily access management.
Most mobile storage facility customers never see where their belongings are stored. But in some cases, particularly in situations where a container will be stored for a long time, the customer will want to access his or her box one or more times over the duration of the lease. Ideally, the mobile self storage warehouse should have an area where the customer can drive in and access the container. That area should be a secure area at the perimeter of the warehouse to enable the operator to retrieve and drop off the container and for the customer to easily access it. This customer access area can be outdoors in some climates, but it must be both secure and accessible for the customer and warehouse personnel.
How Long On The Shelf?
Nearly every mobile self storage operator has stories to tell about the customer who shows up and demands access to his or her container and that container is at the bottom of a stack, against a wall. Such scenarios are inevitable, but interviewing the customers about their needs and tracking the containers with good computer software can help to avoid such mishaps. This aspect of warehouse efficiency has less to do with square footage and more to do with thinking and communication; but it is an essential element to a smoothly run, efficient mobile self storage warehouse.
At BoxCart in the Washington, D.C. metro area, containers are rented on monthly contracts and on three-month, six-month, and one-year contracts. “That allows us to figure out how long the customer will be with us,” says Stowall. “We also interview the customer to find out how often they will access their belongings.”
The containers of customers who want frequent access are then stored toward the front of the warehouse, on the top row. Those with long-term contracts have their containers stored toward the back, often on the bottom or middle of a vertical stack.
Efficiency in the warehouse goes well beyond the concept of storing more material in one location. It also has a lot to do with competition and your business’ ultimate bottom line.
“This is a new industry that is growing,” observes Stowall. Therefore, customers often view different mobile self storage companies as delivering the same product. For an industry that is perceived as delivering the same product, the issue of not only price but also customer service becomes important. And good customer service is impossible in an inefficient warehouse operation.
“So the level of customer service is what is going to differentiate the [mobile self storage] companies. Show up on time, have good communication with the customer, be accessible,” Stowall adds. That means being able to pick up and deliver containers when scheduled.
In gridlock-prone areas such as those in Virginia surrounding Washington, D.C., the efficiency of a self storage business has a lot to do with traffic. “In the D.C. area, there are so many pockets where people live; it is not the typical [central] city in the middle surrounded by suburbs. So, when you site a warehouse, it must be near a highway.”
The daily ebb and flow of traffic also should be a key element in where your warehouse is sited. “Keep in mind the traffic flow as to where your warehouse is located, which direction rush hour traffic is flowing, and how that will affect how you can deliver containers. The space we currently use, we lease from UPS. Well, if it works for UPS, then it works for us.”
If your warehouse is efficiently run and well-sited, your trucks can show up on time to pick up or deliver the customer’s belongings on time, as expected. When designing, leasing, buying, or renovating a warehouse, think about overhead clearance, the width of aisles, and how they relate to the exterior loading areas where your building is in relation to major roads and population centers as well as how well you communicate with your customers. All of those elements stack up to create the level of efficiency in your mobile storage warehouse.
Joe Schwartz is a freelance writer based in Ithaca, New York, and a frequent contributor to the Mini Storage Messenger.
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