I’d be the first to admit that I have taken, historically, some of the more common sense or ‘traditional’ approaches to warehouse space design & development. While always aggressive with the given space I was tasked with, traditional approaches or solutions still applied.
Yes, maximizing space utilization or ‘cube’ utilization were two biggies. Made perfect sense…buildings, building space is expensive.
Code compliant design factors, with their cost considerations, are more prevalent today than in the past 20 to 30 years. As well, your Insurer may also chime in.
Storage concepts and design solutions fully endorsed or recommended in the past are analyzed differently today. Under such scrutiny, the “both eyes wide open” approach to your storage design, method or solution cannot be stressed enough!
What you don’t know…
What you overlook…
The graphics on the opening page of the West Coast Warehouse Consultants (WCWC) website subliminally suggest that smaller space or smaller buildings are better. Certainly, the most cost effective. Again, today, not so fast!
Is this generally, a counter-intuitive statement? Yes, absolutely, agreed.
More importantly though? That you know there will be other factor’s and design considerations in play today.
One Hint: Per the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the Commodity classification of the product you store is a substantial design consideration and potential cost factor.
WCWC Blog #2, 5/16/13