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Originally Posted On: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/smallbusiness/top-8-facility-planning-strategies-for-efficient-layout-and-processes/ar-AA1kjz30

 

Facility planning is essential to building a successful and sustainable business model. The average warehouse in the United States is 16,000 square feet, and a poor layout creates dangerous situations and inefficient workflows. Optimizing your design saves time and money and ensures employees have a safe workspace.

If you’re considering a facility rearrangement, it’s vital to research your options and find designs that help you work toward your long-term goals. The best layout is critical to efficient operations and creates structure in the workplace. It’s an overlooked aspect of running a facility and one you can use to stand out from competitors.

Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place to learn more about the best facility planning and rearrangement tips. Continue reading to learn the eight best tips for optimizing your facility’s layout today.

1. Determine Your Long-Term Goals

Understanding your business strategy is critical when creating an efficient layout for your facility. It’s crucial that your layout aligns with your long-term goals and provides a means to achieve them. Keep the end goal in mind with each change you make to the design.

Create common areas to encourage teamwork and collaboration between employees and departments. You’ll improve workflows and create a happy work environment by creating common areas.

It’s also worthwhile to consider the effect of cross-contamination in your facility. If your brand works with food goods, separating products containing food allergens is crucial for the health of your customers. Installing walls and barriers will ensure gluten-containing products stay a safe distance away.

2. Understand Regulations

You’ll also need to study and understand the regulations and safety codes to adhere to when planning a facility rearrangement. Ensure your aisles are wide enough, and take steps to ensure clean air in the facility. It’s also wise to invest in the best material handling equipment to enhance worker safety.

Ensure your facility has the necessary number of fire exits and extinguishers. These small changes will cost you severe fines if you ignore them with your facility layout.

3. Design for the Future

Your facility planning should be geared toward achieving your brand’s long-term goals. Planning for growth and expansion is best as time passes and your brand becomes a power in your industry. Shifting your facility layout is much more straightforward when you plan to scale up.

New construction is expensive and will cut into your company’s budget. You can save considerable time and money by using facility planning to design and create the facility your brand needs ten years from now. Doing things right the first time is the best approach for facility planning.

4. Optimize Flexibility

Flexibility is a critical element of facility planning and design. Using your space for multiple purposes creates efficient workflows and movement during the workday. A training or common area with considerable space is the perfect candidate for flexibility.

You can make that space available for multiple uses to save space. Add portable partitions to the space to create individual rooms for meetings, training, and other essential work processes.

Ensure you have the necessary flexibility for equipment in your facility. The space to operate forklifts and install shelving systems prepares your facility for anything. A facility that can accommodate the equipment and provide space for collaboration is best to achieve your long-term goals.

5. Optimize Your Aisles and Services

Ensuring you have the necessary spaces in your facility for comfort and hygiene is also critical. Bathrooms are a top example of service rooms that don’t add value to your brand but provide necessary spaces for health and hygiene.

Utility rooms and aisles are other spaces to consider when altering your facility layout. Aisles and services use around 20 percent of the average facility’s square footage.

Optimizing aisles and services aims to make the most of the space they’re occupying. Refrain from attempting to make narrow aisles to save space. Make the most of your space while maintaining a safe work environment for your employees.

6. Use All Available Space

Most renderings for facility planning are conducted on computer programs or paper. They’re both effective design means, but it’s easy to forget to use all three dimensions with your facility planning. A facility with high ceilings has loads of valuable space you can use with the best shelving and racking systems.

These systems occupy vertical space that would otherwise go to waste. Ensure you have the proper equipment to access your goods and resources on the racking system. You can use intelligent methods with the best equipment to maximize the space in your company’s facility.

7. Design for Flow

An essential design element for your facility planning is ensuring efficient flow in the workplace. When possible, have the flow of people and material goods go in the same direction. Aim to have traffic flow from the receiving docks to the shipping docks for efficient workflows and a safe work environment.

The material can flow from one end to the other without obstacles. Building a facility layout optimized for streamlined flow will save time and money.

8. Maximize Visibility

Warehouses and extensive facilities become dangerous when you don’t optimize your layout for visibility. Forklift drivers with heavy loads need time to see what is in front of them. One of the best ways to keep the drivers and other employees safe and out of harm’s way is by ensuring the most visibility possible.

Vertical space is beneficial to maximize your square footage, but it can block sightlines within the facility. Consider the lighting you use and the locations of your racking systems to create a safe workspace. Include windows to provide ample natural light in the space.

Begin Your Facility Planning Process Today

Facility planning is essential to get the most value from your facility while preserving the safety of your employees. Ensure maximum visibility for employees and forklift drivers and design the facility layout for a one-way flow of materials. Plan for the future and ensure you adhere to safety regulations with your facility rearrangement.

Building a successful business requires a vision for the future. Explore our Business articles to take the first steps toward achieving your long-term goals today!