warehousing
Warehouse Design & Layout
Bringing efficiency through intelligent design.
What We Offer
Warehouse Design & Layout
Bringing efficiency through intelligent design.
Bringing efficiency through intelligent design.
We’re here to help you bring efficiency through improved warehouse design and layout.
Warehouse design is a critical element within logistics management. Warehouses and distribution centres represent major business expenses, and inefficiency in their design can lead to lower service levels and higher operating costs. Our team specialises in delivering design efficiency into your warehouse — ensuring every square metre contributes to performance and profitability.
New‑build facilities require significant capital investment, while reconfiguring existing sites often demands substantial changes in storage media and material handling systems. Considering these costs — and the need for a future‑proof return on investment — it’s essential that warehouses and distribution centres are professionally designed.
Of course, the physical layout is only one part of an optimised design. Every operational process must also be reviewed to minimise cycle times and reduce touchpoints across the entire operation. Our warehouse design consultants combine technical expertise and operational experience to ensure your facilities operate at the lowest possible cost while achieving the service levels your business demands.
HOW WE CAN HELP
Our areas of Warehouse Design & Layout
Designing and delivering the changes you need.
Our warehouse design consultants have extensive experience in both new‑build design and space optimisation of existing facilities. From the design and implementation of large‑scale 650,000 sq ft distribution centres to optimising space and throughput in smaller 10,000 sq ft stores, our team knows how to embed efficiency into every type of warehouse environment.
Warehouse size, configuration, handling equipment, and operating processes all directly influence both cost and service performance. Ensuring efficiency across these areas is critical to enabling businesses to serve customers at the lowest cost‑to‑market while maintaining high service levels. Our consultants combine technical expertise with practical insight to design and deliver the changes your business needs.
Warehouse Layout Design
Warehouse Layout Design & CAD Schematics
Our warehouse consultants can produce detailed CAD schematics for the optimal layout configuration of a warehouse or distribution centre. Elements considered within the design include material throughput rates, SKU profiles, storage level requirements, and order‑picking velocity.
Our team builds a detailed profile of the full business requirement — including all constraints — and designs an optimised warehouse layout with consideration for rack configuration, material handling equipment, pick routes, and marshalling areas. Options can also be developed around varying levels of automation or alternative picking methodologies.
The warehouse layout design will include:
Current and future space requirements (aligned with customer forecasts)
Detailed CAD drawings of layout configurations and elevations
Bill of equipment (racking, packing benches, trollies, MHE, etc.)
Phasing in of equipment/space (in line with sales forecasts)
Labour requirements, utilisation, and workflows
WMS specification requirements
Budget operating and capital costs
Implementation timing
New Facility Sizing : Demand Planning in S&OP
Building a reliable long‑term forecast.
In this step, the unconstrained demand forecast is developed and agreed. This involves updating the long‑term sales forecast to reflect baseline growth or contraction, new product impacts, market promotions, and external trends. For a truly effective S&OP process, the demand plan should focus on a mid‑ to long‑term horizon, typically at least a rolling 18 months at an aggregate level (e.g., product families).
The longer the planning horizon, the stronger the supply chain becomes. New assets such as warehouses and production facilities often require long commissioning lead times, meaning a short‑term forecast of six months is of little value if it takes 12 months to bring new capacity online. A robust demand plan ensures that investment decisions are aligned with future requirements, enabling businesses to respond with confidence and agility.
Warehouse Equipment Selection
Equipment Selection in Warehouse Design
Equipment selection is a key element of efficient warehouse design. With a wide range of storage and material handling options available in the market, choices must be made with careful consideration of capital investment, operating cost, service efficiency, and safety. Selecting the right combination of equipment ensures that both performance and cost objectives are met.
As part of any layout design, our consultants evaluate all possible storage and handling equipment options within budget constraints, determining the most effective mix and assessing the benefits that automation may bring. Leveraging market experience and a strong network of suppliers, our team identifies the best equipment providers and assembles the most competitive quotes, ensuring your warehouse is equipped for efficiency, safety, and long‑term success.
Standard Operation Procedures
Warehouse Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
The efficiency of a warehouse layout must be matched by the efficiency of the operating processes followed by personnel. Our warehouse consultants can generate full and detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) tailored to any warehouse operation.
These SOPs cover all key activities — including putaway, replenishment, pick‑face control, order picking, damaged goods control, returns, marshalling, and perpetual inventory checks. Each SOP is compiled into a comprehensive Operations Process Manual, complete with proformas for periodic auditing to ensure adherence and effectiveness. This structured approach enables warehouses to maintain consistency, improve efficiency, and achieve service excellence.
Implementation Management
Warehouse Implementation Project Management
There is a significant benefit to having the same consultant who designed a warehouse layout also manage its implementation. Our consultants can undertake full implementation project management, from agreeing project governance through to ensuring the site is fully operational.
Typical implementation programmes include:
Equipment tendering (consultant‑recommended or client‑approved suppliers)
Equipment installation and testing
CAD schematics for ancillary areas (offices, canteen, toilets, etc.)
General site works (flooring, ventilation, windows, signage, line painting)
Lighting and heating configuration
Contract arrangements (security, waste, cleaning)
IT requirements (hardware purchase, software provision)
IT installation (ADSL, access points, CCTV cabling, fire systems)
Operational set‑up (H&S compliance, SOP packs, recruitment, staff transfer planning)
By combining design expertise with hands‑on project management, our consultants ensure a seamless transition from blueprint to fully operational warehouse, minimising risk and maximising efficiency.