Building Resilient Supply Chains With More Warehouse and Distribution Centre Space
A custom built warehouse or distribution centre can help you build resiliency into your supply chain.
Recent global events have highlighted the weaknesses in supply chains for many businesses. For decades, operating on lean supply chains was seen as an advantage. Now, the coronavirus pandemic, along with the potential of looming trade barriers between different nations, have shown that employing multiple channels of supply may be a better approach despite higher costs.
Along with shortages resulting from manufacturing plants shutting down due to COVID-19, there has also been a surge in online shopping as local retailers complied with social distancing closures. All of this has driven demand for warehouse and distribution centre space as companies seek more local solutions such as re-shoring or near-shoring to increase the efficiency and resiliency of their supply chains.
Solving Your Warehouse Needs
The options to meet this surge in demand involve:
renting available warehouse space in existing storage facilities,
renovating or retrofitting vacant or under-used facilities,
or constructing entirely new buildings.
With a rented facility you may be sharing a building that is divided up among other businesses. This could make access to parking and loading docks more of a challenge. It may also limit your ability to expand should your warehousing needs grow.
When it comes to a renovation or retrofit, you may find yourself in a situation where the best use of the existing space means you have to settle for a solution that only partially fits your needs. You may also discover other issues to deal with during the retrofit such as hazardous materials or structural concerns. Such things can force delays and have the potential to drive up the cost of your project.
Build-To-Suit Warehousing and Distribution Centre Capability
Of the three options, constructing your own building has the biggest up front cost in terms of time and investment required. But it may be the most attractive long-term solution as you can custom build your warehouse or distribution space to meet the specifications unique to the products you deal in.
Building a new warehouse or distribution centre also affords you the advantage of being able to plan all aspects of your space including the truck yard to determine traffic flow, access to loading docks, and the ability to drop trailers to assist with peak volumes. In addition you can determine parking and accessibility for visitors and employees.
When you build a warehouse, you can choose the building shape and footprint. This gives you the opportunity to design for the optimal flow of goods from receipt to outbound shipping. You can also choose your building height, something crucial to maximizing the use of your footprint when it comes to storage capacity. If overhead cranes, over-sized doors or loading dock capacity are required, you can plan ahead and ensure the best placement for these systems.
Why Bel-Con is Your Best Choice to Build or Retrofit Your Warehouse in Eastern Ontario
Additionally, your choice of builder can have a tremendous impact on the successful completion of your warehouse project. With over 45 years of experience in the construction industry, Bel-Con have completed numerous new builds, renovations and retrofits for manufacturers, shipping companies and other commercial ventures in Bay of Quinte and Eastern Ontario.
Best of all, our status as a Butler Builder® gives us an advantage over many other builders. Butler Manufacturing's pre-engineered building solutions have been in use throughout North America for over 100 years. Their building systems have been carefully designed and rigorously tested for durability and efficiency.
As a Butler Builder® we can maximize your building’s performance with a complete Butler® system solution, including:
Innovative structural, wall and roof systems that are precision-engineered for seamless integration.
Tested assemblies to ensure you a more accurate estimate of long-term energy consumption to lower total cost of ownership.
Daylighting options which help create natural lighting for your facility and reduce costs.
An exclusive partnership with Konecranes to help you choose a crane system that integrates with Butler's building system.
Whether you're looking to build long-term storage space or quick turn packing and shipping facilities that support high-volume supply chain operations, Bel-Con Design Builders is here to help you. Contact us today to discuss your warehouse or distribution centre project needs.
In our last blog post we discussed the roof inspection process and some of the potential causes that contribute to an industrial or commercial facility having a leaky roof. Let's now focus on roof repair and the replacement options for your roof system.
To re-cap part of our last blog, repairs versus replacement are contingent on a number of factors:
How severe the leaks are
The age of the roof system; i.e., how much life is left in the system
The long term objectives for the building; in other words do you as the owner intend to keep the building for the short or long term
Are you looking to improve energy efficiency
Available capital
Once the factors above are reviewed and discussed, there is generally a clear direction as to whether the roof should be repaired or replaced.
Industrial/Commercial Roof Repair
Based on the issues noted by the professional who inspected your roof the following general guidelines will be employed in repairing your roof system:
All roof penetrations will be patched and/or replaced as required
All seams, joints and transitions will be re-sealed or attended to as required.
The two areas noted above are subject to the greatest stresses due to the movement that naturally occurs in all roofs and consequently are the main causes of leaks.
Weather damage, especially from winter weather, to the roof system as a whole
And as previously noted simple maintenance to remove leaves and other debris from roof drainage system will often remedy leak issues
Regardless of the repair(s) employed the key is to use the proper materials that are compatible with the roof system being repaired. Our specialty is standing-seam and through-fastened metal roofs and speaking from years of experience, tar based and silicone caulking are NOT products for repairing these type of roof systems; at best they will fail and the leak will reoccur, at worst they will compound the problem and greatly reduce the life span of the roof system!
Industrial/Commercial Roof Replacement
If the decision is made that roof replacement is required the following considerations should be taken into account:
Life Cycle Cost of the replacement system as opposed to Initial Installed Cost; we strongly recommend to all of our clients that they give consideration to Total Cost of Ownership #TCO as opposed to upfront/initial installation costs – we have some simple tools available to assist with this type of comparison – just contact us.
Roof drainage – is the roof system part of the facilities storm water management system? Are there other drainage issues that should be addressed as part of a re-roof program?
Insulation levels – what can be done to improve them? Rule of Thumb; $1 spent on improved energy efficiency will typically return $6 in savings on future energy costs
Are there redundant openings through the roof that can be eliminated when the new roof is installed? Properly detailed openings cost money, eliminate all that you can!
Are either the roof mounted equipment or mechanical vents through the roof in need of upgrade or replacement? We often find these items in need of attention at the same time as the roof. So it is best to have the new equipment mounted on new curbs and have the proper roof penetrations installed at the same time as the new roof
How will the re-roof of my facility impact day-to-day operations? Consideration should be given to contingency plans, required temporary protection, phasing, and whenever possible coordinating the work in good weather!
Our next blog post in this series will cover metal roof systems.
As stated in our last blog post, we cannot stress enough that it is imperative to have your roof reviewed and repaired or replaced by professionals who know the applicable roof systems and how to utilize them to provide you, the owner with peace of mind and the best value for your investment!
If you suspect you have leak or other maintenance issue, please get in touch and we'd be happy to perform an inspection of your building’s roof. Our service area is GTA to Kingston, north through to Peterborough. This includes the Quinte region (Belleville, Trenton, Picton and surrounding area) as well as Port Hope, Cobourg, and Napanee.
