It doesn’t come as much of a surprise that demand for warehouse space is increasing, driving spending on real estate.
A variety of sectors are becoming more reliant on advanced supply chain management strategies alongside shipping and fulfillment improvements. It’s a recipe for warehouse expansion and the trend is playing out in the marketplace. With a crunch for a physical room on the horizon, how can businesses create fiscal resources to invest or optimize the room they have to avoid getting into real estate?
What’s Happening in the Warehouse Space?
Many organizations are working to accelerate delivery to urban locations.
Research from CBRE found that global investment in warehouse space in the proximity of industrial centers increased 12 percent year over year in the first three quarters of 2017. This trend is set to continue through 2018, with a move toward last-mile logistics strategies pushing organizations to open more warehouses in a wider range of locations.
CBRE isn’t alone in these findings. Reporting on a Cushman & Wakefield study, Curbed explained that industrial real estate values are skyrocketing because many organizations are working to accelerate delivery to urban locations. This is combining with a generally strong economic situation and supply chain improvements to push companies to embrace warehouse expansions despite rising real estate prices.
Responding to the Warehouse Boom
While the demand for space is pushing organizations to expand into new real estate, such a strategy may not be an option for everybody. Organizations that lack the capital resources to move into more space could work to optimize their current warehouse configurations and streamline processes to avoid a move. A few strategy options include:
- Leveraging automated data collection and strategic tools, such as augmented reality or voice picking, to accelerate warehouse processes to speed up shipping without opening a facility in closer proximity to customers.
- Deploying internet of things devices to track traffic patterns in the warehouse and further optimize organization to not only improve operations but also develop strategies to fit more goods into the available space.
- Expanding into less expensive real estate in more distant locations and using a combination of remote management and mobile data collection solutions to coordinate activities across facilities and optimize fulfillment.
Like so many other businesses, your organization may find itself needing more warehouse space. Beyond optimizing your current facilities, you can also use modern technologies to avoid being reliant on facility space in the most expensive regions. Mobile data collection can prove transformative in either scenario, and RFgen can help you identify and deploy the best solutions for your needs.
