Why Building Layout Matters in Industrial Real Estate

The dimensions of a building can determine if a distribution operation is moving goods profitably, a manufacturing operation produces product efficiently, and a warehouse operation stores product effectively. For these reasons, supply chain real estate practitioners should be aware of how their company or client's operation translates into an ideal building layout for any new real estate search or re-design of current facilities.

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Lighting in Industrial Properties: What are the Latest Types and Features

Lighting is a critical component of today's supply chain real estate. The use of light, whether artificial or natural, affects the costs, labor, compliance and environmental elements of an industrial operation. Therefore, facility decision makers and designers should have a keen awareness of how light is employed in their facilities.

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Why are Bays and Column Spacing So Important in Supply Chain Real Estate?

We found that the bay and column spacing within a warehouse can have a significant impact on key performance indicators (KPIs) for warehouse occupiers in ways that are not always obvious. In this post I discuss bays and column spacing in a warehouse and why they are important for supply chain real estate participants to consider when a) designing a new warehouse location and/or b) perhaps re-designing an existing warehouse.

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Fire Sprinkler Systems and Industrial Real Estate

…fire sprinkler systems have evolved from little more than a perforated pipe to a highly technical engineered system capable of extinguishing the most combustible materials capable of being stored. Since fire codes and fire systems require professional interpretation and expertise, it is imperative that supply chain companies work with experts to mitigate any risk to their desired storage plans.

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How Many Trailers Can I Park per Acre?

Assuming the acre is functional in shape, meaning closer to a square than a bowling alley, estimates typically range from 34-40 trailers per acre with no truck cab.

The second point to make is that as the land increases in size, the number of trailers that can typically be stored per acre goes up. For example, my team is marketing an 8 acre land parcel and a space engineering firm created a layout with 394 trailer parking spots for a total of 49 trailers per acre, with 23 trailers spots double stacked.

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How You Can Measure the Performance of a Distribution Center

For most experts, all KPIs are metrics but not all metrics are KPIs.  In order for a metric to be a KPI it must measure how well a company is meeting its objectives.  For example, a metric measuring cost of inventory in transit would be a KPI to a company trying to reduce their inventory holding costs.

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