Introduction
As our world grows increasingly remote, our demand for — and dependence on — warehouses are at an all-time high. And growing. Whether we’re clicking over to Amazon for clothes and groceries instead of the department store, or adapting our business model to the modern economy, warehouses are becoming more and more integral to our everyday lives.
However, growth comes with challenges.
And warehouse challenges can have a direct impact on almost every step of the supply chain — from import/export and customs to retail and manufacturing. In the world right now — and in the foreseeable future, well-constructed, well-maintained, and continuously-operating warehouses are in the perfect position to capitalize on the turning tides.
But how? In this blog post, you’ll learn the unique challenges facing warehouses today, and how you can overcome them with the help of Aggreko’s warehousing operations solutions.
The challenges warehouses face right now
Social and economic changes have put warehouses at an inflection point.
On top of the already-long list of warehouse-specific construction demands — access to infrastructure, employee safety, vertical space and storage, materials, security, etc. — individuals involved with warehouse construction and operations have much more to consider:
- Environmental and sustainable concerns are top-of-mind everywhere, from the consumer to the corporation to the Federal Government. Everything from construction materials to the flow of operations must adapt to environmentally-sound expectations.
- The world’s gone digital. And virtually every security, fulfillment and warehouse management system is either in the cloud or on the hard drive. Continuous power generation is non-negotiable.
- Retail industry drivers have created the consumer expectation of next-day delivery, shifting demand for warehouses to urban areas. However, while urbanization is on the rise, our population is simultaneously moving out of the major cities into smaller ones. Meaning higher expectations, from more places, spread further apart.
- More business models are moving remote, creating more specificity, diversity and complexity in warehouse construction. For example, as leading retail players continue to move grocery stores online with same-day delivery and ghost kitchens gain traction, the demand for cold storage in urban markets will rise.
- Modern consumers are conditioned to constant access. And with the ability to access any business, anywhere, online, everything from orders to customer service emails can come in at any time of day. Downtime hurts business more in the 24/7 economy.
How Aggreko can help
While they can seem overwhelming, our process engineers are skilled at helping organizations in warehouse construction and/or operations navigate these challenges swimmingly.
Here are four ways we can help you.
1. Design and develop turnkey solutions for building, expansion and planned maintenance
As pillars of the supply chain, warehouse operations have to be able to adapt to sudden demand changes and global logistics challenges.
This can manifest in many ways, including:
- Sustained or sudden growth may lead to the need to build and operate in conjunction with, new warehouses
- Spurred by market growth or public policy, it may be necessary to rapidly expand an existing warehouse
- Manufacturing wear-and-tear can create the need for planned maintenance or decommission
In times like these, operational continuity and product preservation are top concerns: nothing can eat at a warehouse’s bottom line quite like shutdowns or product loss. At Aggreko, we partner with our clients to build turnkey power generation and HVAC solutions to keep warehouses running smoothly — and without disturbing operations. From temporary utilities during expansion or planned maintenance to emergency response, we can help you adapt to demand change without sacrificing products or continuity.
2. Stay on pace with warehouse construction schedules
With rapidly spiked demand comes tighter construction schedules. And when the market for warehouses is as hot — and high-pressure — as it stands today, the toll of delays can compound at a staggering rate.
In construction, schedules face two big threats:
- Productivity problems during construction
- Access to permanent utilities
The best defense is a good offense: preparing an A-Z solution for powering, heating and/or cooling your construction site — including a temporary utilities plan — minimize the risk of dips in productivity due to power problems or discomfort. And allow you to take your new warehouse live despite potential delays.
3.Ensure continuity during emergencies and unplanned maintenance
Think of all the things that can go wrong in an outage or maintenance emergency:
- Even minor shifts in temperature or humidity can wreak havoc on storage shelves, pallets and products: moldy or mildewy cardboard boxes, water damage and — in the case of perishables like foods and medicines — spoiling or contamination.
- Changes in temperature and humidity can also agitate hazardous materials like chemicals, aerosols, petroleum and more.
- Power outages interfere with business-critical systems: security, logistics and management can be at risk in an instant.
Contingency plans are key to our approach to stopping warehouse challenges in their tracks. By comprehensively planning for power and HVAC restoration, product protection and continuity before problems happen, your warehouse is prepared to rapidly weather most storms.
4. Rent sustainable power solutions
While it’s important to construct new warehouses with environmental considerations upfront — or update existing warehouses accordingly, it’s equally important to maintain that mindset throughout the lifecycle. Even in the heat of an emergency.
Aggreko’s equipment can run on natural gas, diesel, or propane.
This gives you paths towards sustainability:
- Continue run your warehouse on renewable energy during an outage
- Systematically transition from diesel to natural gas over time
Final thoughts
Warehouses play a vital role in the supply chain: store and protect products at several steps across their lifecycle. And with warehouses becoming an increasing part of our day-to-day, in parallel to economic, cultural, and environmental shifts, the need to properly build and maintain warehouses is of prime importance.
At Aggreko, we help warehouses across the world maintain operational continuity, stay on top of shifting demands, and prepare for emergencies with our turnkey solutions.