The latest trend in South Africa is for companies to go bigger when it comes to warehousing. Warehouses are now averaging around 10 000 pallet positions in size, with Plascon’s new warehouse offering a whopping 160 000 pallet positions. “We have noticed that small businesses are doing away with small warehouses and are going into multi-warehouses while larger companies are moving away from multi-user warehouses and opening their own,” says Fred Albrecht, managing director of APC Storage Solutions. He explains that while the latter companies still contract out their logistics, they are limiting the risks of goods from the wrong client being dispatched. By centralising, warehousing companies can also save money as trucks can load from a single location and do not have to drive around to various premises which wastes both time and fuel. With everyone feeling the effects of the credit crunch, companies have started to seriously look at making their existing businesses more efficient across the entire supply chain. “The new driving racking systems for warehouses do, for instance, make it possible for pallets to be stored on top of each other without the bottom pallets and their contents being crushed. The compact storage derived from such bulk stacking can save a company R3 million a year in storage space alone. There is also the option of having a fully automated system which very quickly shows a return on investment. It does proper stock control on a first in first out basis, it does your annual stock-take for you and it is extremely secure,” says Albrecht. “We not only optimise facilities in warehouses but also look at where the bottlenecks are in a business. Our warehouse maintenance system can help resolve these from the procurement stage right through to distribution,” Albrecht concludes.
