How to Optimize Warehouse Space Before Moving or Expanding

Why Warehouses Run Out of Space

— Are you struggling to find enough space in your warehouse to keep up with growing demand? Is your tight space or excess inventory slowing down your production or operations? Maybe you’re even considering moving to a larger facility or temporarily shutting down operations.

Many warehouses struggle to make the most of the space they already have, whether it’s unused vertical space, inefficient layouts, or outdated systems. In this video, we’ll explore practical ways to rethink your warehouse space and uncover opportunities to make it work harder for you.

My name is Ben and this is The Lifting & Rigging Channel. Today, Marc Smith is going to give us a glimpse into the mind of a Mazzella warehouse solutions specialist and walk us through how he looks at a facility a little differently to come up with many different options to maximize its space. So, Marc, if someone is running out of space in their warehouse, how should they look at the space they have? Or rather, how would you look at it differently than they might?

How a Specialist Evaluates Warehouse Space

— Oftentimes customers look at their warehouse the way that it has always been. The aisle widths have always been that way. The lift trucks that access those aisles and the product has always, this is what we’ve always had.

I look at it a little bit differently. I look at warehousing as cubic footage. I want to challenge people and say, well, why are you using that piece of equipment here? You have the option to move some of this equipment or this storage space. Can we utilize the vertical space a little bit better?

So again, not just a square footage analysis, but I try to look at cubic footage and try to find different ways to be a little bit more creative, do something different than what they’ve done before.

How Space Constraints Hurt Productivity

— So what are some of the most common ways space constraints affect operations, efficiencies, workflows in a warehouse.

— Traditionally, constraints like that slow productivity, makes things congested. Folks are on top of each other. It affects employee morale, product turns, travel times, everything just slows down.

Common Examples of Wasted Warehouse Space

— So what are some of the most common examples that you’ve seen of wasted or underutilized space inside warehouses?

— It’s the travel paths. Things getting touched more than once or twice or three times in a day. We wanna make sure things have the right home and that where they’re being utilized is in the closest proximity to where they’re being stored.

And that your vertical height is being utilized properly. Oftentimes we see a lot of short racks in tall buildings and we ask, well, why is your racking only half as tall as it should be?

How to Use Vertical Space More Effectively

— So what are some ways that you can utilize your vertical space?

— Replacing the rack, of course, with taller racking. We also can provide mezzanines or platforms. A mezzanine would be a structural support or platform or an additional level.

So if your ceiling heights are tall enough, then we can put a mezzanine in there and it can do light manufacturing, it could be office space, it could be storage. Also we find above storage rooms and offices, there to be a second or third level that’s not being utilized as well for storage.

Layout Changes That Improve Storage Capacity

— What are some common layout inefficiencies that can be addressed without a major overhaul?

— Some of the bigger ones that we see oftentimes is poor configuration of storage racks. It’s really not very difficult to unanchor storage racks and move things around, placing old and slow moving inventory into different areas.

— What about disorganization? Are there systems that can help people be better organized?

— Different types of storage, shelving, mechanical versus automated. There’s a lot of different types of storage mediums that we can use to help organize people.

Lean Six Sigma methodology about everything, having a home, everything being labeled properly, good housekeeping and just proper monitoring.

Why Floor Staging Creates Congestion

— What’s usually the reason why people start piling stuff up on the floor?

— It’s a temporary storage spot. That’s where we stage products. What we find happening is all those temporary staging areas become permanent staging areas. Things become congested, cluttered, trip hazards exist, and then you start to present some safety concerns.

— So how do you as a warehouse solutions specialists help companies uncover new opportunities to maximize their space?

How a Site Assessment Finds New Opportunities

— It really starts with a site assessment. We need to understand the customer’s needs, and what their business needs are, and how they’re gonna change. We like to talk to the people on the floor and understand really what their concerns are as well.

You’d be shocked how many times we speak to supervisors and managers, and their goals and their priorities are much different than the people on the floor actually doing the work.

How an Integrator Can Help Decide the Best Solutions

— So how does Mazzella’s approach differ from like a traditional rack manufacturer or a single product manufacturer?

— We’re an integrator of dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of different manufacturers and distributors. So we’re not gonna paint someone into a corner because of what we offer. We wanna make sure we find the right solution, and then we’ll provide multiple solutions sometimes based on cost and timeframe.

And if we can’t handle something personally or directly, then oftentimes we know someone that can. At the end of the day, it’s about making sure the customer gets what they need at the price that they need it at.

— If you go to a rack manufacturer, they’re gonna solve your problem with racks, even if that’s not necessarily the best solution that you could have, whereas if you go to Mazzella, an integrator, we’re gonna say, you could do this, you could do this, you could do this, you could do this.

— [Marc] And that’s one of our key advantages. We have decades of experience, and we have hundreds and hundreds of partnerships that we’ve built over the years.

Optimizing vs Moving or Expanding

— Can you share any examples of people that you’ve helped? Maybe they thought they wanted to solve it with this solution, and you said, well, that might not be the best solution, have you ever thought of this?

— Several customers just recently I pulled in, couldn’t find a parking space. So my first question to the contact was, well, geez, where’s everyone parking? And they’re like, well, we’re busting at the seams. I’m like, really? What do you attribute that growth to? And what are your plans on handling that growth?

And they’re like, well, we’re looking at expanding the building or we’re looking at moving. I’m like, okay, well those are pretty expensive options. Why don’t we do a site analysis and look at your operations and see if we can make better use of your current square footage? People don’t think about that. They just think we need more floor space.

Well oftentimes the building’s not being used intentionally is a word I like to use. Think of the cost and the expense and the disruption to their operations when you have to move or expand. That can be very, very costly. That can be detrimental to a lot of organizations.

By changing what’s currently there versus moving can be a huge improvement for operations, really.

Real Examples of Improving Warehouse Space

Another example where we helped a customer out and kind of challenged what they were used to doing was we actually shrunk their storage aisles, where they had 12 to 15 to 20 foot aisles. And that was the first thing I asked was like, wow, what are you driving through here that would need that size aisle? You know, show me your lift trucks.

And they did, and there were 20,000 pound lift trucks and they were handling a 2000 pound pallet. And I’m like, well, have you thought about using a different type of lift equipment? We could narrow those aisles and actually provide a whole nother row of storage for you immediately. “Wow, I never thought about that. Well, we’d have to unload all the racks, correct.” That’s right. But still better than-

— Cheaper than moving.

— It’s cheaper.

— We still gotta move. Unload the racks to move, right?

— [Marc] 100%. So that’s what we did. Is we sold them some new lift equipment. Actually one was a reconditioned unit and one was new. And then we shrunk their aisles and provided ’em with some more racking and they added like 30% more storage space.

— Have you ever had someone who has offices in their warehouse down on the ground and you said, well, why don’t we move those offices somewhere else?

— Absolutely. We’re working with a customer right now. In the middle of the warehouse, they have all this vertical space that’s being unused and they need to add some supervisory offices in there, as well as some additional storage.

Providing ’em with a two and a three story modular mezzanine and office solution.

What to Do If You Truly Need More Space

— So let’s say someone truly is out of space, they’ve completely maximized their space. How can you help them maximize their new space if they are going to move into one?

— We have a team of engineers. We can provide turnkey solutions for brand new storage, brand new mezzanines, modular offices, break rooms. We have the capabilities of helping customers completely turnkey, organize their operations and their offices.

Final Takeaways on Warehouse Space

— Hopefully this video gave you some new ideas on how to make the most of the space in your warehouse. Running out a room can be frustrating, especially if it slows your production. If you’re ready to explore ways to maximize your space, Mazzella’s Warehouse solutions specialists are here to help. You can contact us through the link below.

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