Warehouse Design, Layout Planning and Implementation Services

Your warehouse is the center of operations for all things material handling, serving as the backdrop for everything from inventory storage to order picking and shipping. With an efficient warehouse layout, you can minimize costs, boost productivity and ultimately streamline your workflows. However, a poorly designed facility can have the opposite effects, creating long-term challenges that can cost you. That's why it's important to partner with a knowledgeable and experienced warehouse design company to ensure the best possible layout for your needs.

At Siggins, we offer warehouse design and build services that reflect your company's most crucial objectives. We've provided material handling and storage equipment to local businesses across North America since 1946, making us the industry experts you can depend on.

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Common Warehouse and Storage Layout Challenges

Material handling organizations must organize, maintain and control all processes across their warehouses at all times. With so many materials and operations to manage, it's common for these companies to experience inefficiencies. What most businesses don't realize is that poor warehouse design and management often cause these challenges.

Our warehouse planning and design services aim to resolve your most pressing facility obstacles by optimizing your facility layout. 

Poor Inventory Management

Without an effective inventory management process, critical information like inventory locations, product availability and stock levels can easily become skewed, creating company-wide confusion and losses.

Examples of poor warehouse inventory management include:

  • Lost products: This issue occurs when workers can't find the products they're looking for in their expected locations, causing them to spend more time searching for inventory.
  • Overfilled storage space: Problems can occur when workers are forced to store inventory in locations already at full capacity.
  • Stock miscommunications: Poor inventory management can cause miscommunications about stock levels — for example, accepting an order without enough stock to fulfill it or denying an order when you do have enough stock

Inefficient product management is most often caused by manual processes, which can create data inaccuracies. Replacing manual efforts with automated systems can minimize these errors. 

Inefficient Space Utilization

Missed opportunities to optimize your distribution center space can cause process inefficiencies, no matter your facility's size. To promote an effective warehouse layout, it's essential to utilize vertical storage space to maximize floor space, enabling employees to navigate your warehouse more safely and efficiently. You should also implement new racking systems and technologies to improve product accessibility and minimize manual processes.

By making the most of your warehouse space and optimizing your layout, you can achieve better business outcomes. 

Substandard Picking Processes

Order picking is one of the most important steps in any material handling facility. The moment an order is placed, workers should be able to fulfill it promptly by minimizing time and movement. Suboptimal order picking occurs when workers are unable to navigate the warehouse efficiently or do not have the technologies needed to streamline their picking processes. Both of these issues can hinder order fulfillment, leading to longer lead times and financial losses.

The key to overcoming poor picking processes is to improve your warehouse flow design and embrace warehouse automation to minimize picking errors and inefficiencies. 

Poor Seasonal Preparation

Fluctuations in product demand are expected, though not every company prepares for them, rendering them unable to adapt. Organizations that are unequipped to keep up with seasonal demands often find they don't have enough products in stock to fulfill incoming orders or enough warehouse space to store more inventory.

You can maintain a balance between supply and demand and better adapt to seasonal fluctuations by rearranging inventory to reflect these demands. Position in-demand products at the front of the picking aisle for easier access. You can also implement automated racking systems to improve operational efficiency. 

High Labor Costs

The majority of most warehouse budgets go toward labor costs, hiring workers to undertake general tasks like forklift operation, product picking, warehouse management and material handling. And while many organizations think they're saving money by choosing manual labor over automation, the opposite is actually true. 

Replacing manual operations with material handling automation helps boost warehouse efficiency, minimize errors and reduce labor costs. Companies should identify areas in their warehouses that can be automated and make changes accordingly to see better results. 

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Our Warehouse Design and Build Process

Design-build services have become a fast-growing method of construction across the United States. Through these services, owners are given a single point of contact for their entire project instead of working with separate designers, contractors and subcontractors. Rather, the project warehouse designer and contractor work on the same team and complete every step of the project together, ensuring optimal communication and timely project completion.

You can optimize your facility with warehouse design, layout and build services from Siggins. When you come to us for your warehouse transformation, we'll work with you directly from conception to completion to ensure your needs are fully met. It's our goal to help you run your company at the highest level of productivity by implementing material handling systems, technologies and equipment that streamline your operations.

Our process involves two design and build phases broken down into specific steps to create the ideal warehouse environment for your company. 

Design Phase

Through the warehouse design phase, our team gets to know your company's project expectations and requirements. Then, we use your goals and objectives to develop a customized facility layout with material handling systems ideal for your individualized needs.

1. Operational Analysis

To begin our design process, we will ask you to provide our team with relevant data regarding your current warehouse operations, such as SKU numbers, order history, product movement, electrical systems, and pallet and container footprints. Then, our team of engineers, contractors and other consultants will come together to analyze this information and determine which parts of your facility work well and which require improvement.

Conducting an operational analysis in your warehouse helps us pinpoint areas of need while enhancing areas of success. As a result, we can create a facility design that maximizes your company's efficiency.

2. Business Objective Assessment

In addition to the condition of your current warehouse operations, we also want to know your company's core business objectives. Our team will meet with you to discuss your individualized goals, mission and needs to gain a comprehensive understanding of your overall vision and design a complete material handling system accordingly. 

We'll consider your company's budget and timeline to help you achieve the greatest cost savings and finish your project exactly when you need it. You can also expect us to gauge your style preferences and functional requirements. 

3. Material Handling Product Selection

Once we understand your business's goals and expectations, we'll begin the product selection process. Our goal is to choose material handling systems and technologies that match your business objectives and product characteristics to generate the greatest success.

We offer an extensive selection of material handling products we can implement into your facility design, such as:

  • Conveyors
  • Mezzanines
  • Order picking/processing solutions
  • Autonomous mobile robots
  • Robotic picking
  • Racking
  • Shelving
  • Autonomous lift trucks
  • Safety products
  • Modular offices
  • Palletizers
  • Stretch wrappers
  • Warehouse management/controls
  • LED lighting

4. Warehouse System Design

After we've chosen the most effective material handling systems for your warehouse, we'll use our operational analysis results and business objectives assessment to create a comprehensive system design that's ideally suited to your needs. During this phase, we'll develop initial building drawings and present you with this design to ensure you are fully satisfied. Once you approve, we'll proceed with the last step of the warehouse facility design phase. 

5. Warehouse Design and Operations Proposal

Our design-build team will take your approved warehouse design and create a thorough project proposal detailing everything that will be addressed during the construction phase. Your warehouse flow design proposal will establish all project expectations moving forward, addressing all aspects of your individualized building plan, such as:

  • Mechanical equipment.
  • Sequence of warehouse operations.
  • Services to be provided.
  • Transparent pricing.
  • Complete project timeline.
  • Warehouse plan and elevation view drawings.

Build Phase

Once we've completed the warehouse design phase of our design-build services, we'll move on to the construction process. Through these last few steps, our team will begin assembling your ideal warehouse by transforming your facility design into a reality. We'll prepare your job site for construction and take the meticulous steps to create a timely, cost-effective build that adheres to your expectations and our high quality and efficiency standards. 

1. Engineering Planning

It's common for the design and build phases of warehouse construction to overlap, which often allows for greater project efficiency. Before beginning construction, we'll prepare by creating detailed warehouse drawings that will serve as a guideline for your material handling system installation. These blueprints will include vital information like elevation views, which will help us generate mechanical material lists for your project. Your material lists will comprise all the construction and engineering materials needed.

Finally, the Siggins team will manage the procurement process by securing goods and services from factories and vendors to ensure we have everything we need to facilitate successful project completion.

2. Project Management

Siggins will coordinate and supervise all warehouse construction activities to make this process move as smoothly as possible. Construction tasks our team will manage from beginning to end include:

  • Final engineering.
  • Order releases.
  • Installation schedules.
  • Deliveries.
  • Vendor services.
  • Personnel training.
  • Maintenance development.
  • Technical manual establishment.
  • System run-in support.
  • Spare parts list compilation.
  • System commissioning.

When managing your construction project, all crew members are held equally accountable for accomplishing the same goals and deadlines. 

3. Coordinated Installation Services

Now, it's time for us to install your material handling systems. Through this step, the Siggins team will carefully manage your system installation, taking measures to ensure our process reflects your time and budgetary requirements. Our installation experts are highly experienced in removing, relocating and installing material handling systems with optimal precision and efficiency.

The coordinated installation process will be supervised by an assigned site supervisor who will have complete authority over all trades. This individual will lead our design-build crew and serve as your primary point of contact during construction.

4. Post-Installation Support

Our involvement doesn't stop after we conclude your warehouse planning and design project. Instead, we deliver ongoing support to our customers. When you partner with us, we'll work with your personnel to create a preventive maintenance schedule for your warehouse systems that you can employ to ensure long-term upkeep. If we feel that training is necessary for your workers, we'll coordinate their ongoing learning at designated factory sites.

We also offer scheduled project management visits, where our factory-trained workers will come to your job site to ensure all systems and operations are running smoothly. Our team performs this post-installation service upon request.

An organized and efficient warehouse thanks to Siggins' warehouse design services

Benefits of Partnering With Siggins for Warehouse Design Services

At Siggins, we're dedicated to designing dynamic material handling systems that grow with your business. We rely on our innovative thinking, powerful design capabilities and extensive expertise to create single- and multi-phase solutions that help our customers make the most of their warehouse space and resources.

When you choose us as your trusted partners for warehouse layout planning and construction, you'll benefit from our company's many perks:

  • Meaningful customer relationships: We're committed to building long-term relationships with our customers by considering their unique needs and implementing solutions that serve those objectives. 
  • Optimal value delivery: Siggins will become your partner in success by adding value to your warehouse through high-quality solutions that facilitate growth and efficiency within your unique warehouse environment. We do not limit you with narrow product offerings or single-brand loyalty.
  • Vast industry experience: We've provided customers with material handling and storage equipment for over 75 years. We also have extensive experience working with many major industries, from automotive to pharmaceutical to food and beverage.
  • Wide geographic reach: Our central U.S. offices allow us to serve customers across North America, including the United States, Canada and Mexico, so we can assist you no matter where you are.

Optimize Your Warehouse Network Design With Services From Siggins

If you're looking to achieve a more efficient warehouse layout, the experts at Siggins can get the job done. We pride ourselves on being small enough to provide personalized attention to each of our customers but big enough to handle projects of all shapes and sizes. It's our goal to enable sustainable long-term growth for our customers by providing them with solutions that offer a dependable return on investment (ROI).

Contact us for assistance from our expert team today! 

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At Siggins, we provide SOLUTIONS, SERVICES and PRODUCTS for your distribution and material handling success story.

Contact us today for a consultation or site survey

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