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Buying a New Warehouse: Tactics for Logistics Companies

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Buying a New Warehouse: Tactics for Logistics Companies

When launching a logistics company, the location of your warehouse is intrinsically linked to overall success. As well as the location, you need to decide whether to lease or buy a warehouse. Further, if you are looking to grow, you need to ensure that your location has the availability to do so. You will save a lot of time if you only have to run through these considerations once. Throughout this article, we will outline key considerations to make when buying a warehouse.

Workforce Availability

You will need a team to fulfill your work and having a qualified workforce will make your life easier. When you’re looking for a new warehouse, you will need to consider the demographic you’re moving into. For example, you won’t find success if you pick a warehouse in Silicon Valley because the demographic belongs to tech-savvy programmers. When you are hiring, you need to look out for areas with a large proportion of logistic businesses. You need to get a fine balance between availability and trade in the area. If you move into a business where demand for workers is high, you will find yourself competing against high salaries.


 

Rent Costs

The cost will be a critical factor in deciding where to buy a warehouse. After all, if you don’t have the available funds, you may be forced out of your desired location. In the US, warehouse rental costs are divided up per square foot (SF). The highest average prices at the moment are in San Francisco, CA, with $16.50 per SF. On the other end of the spectrum, Memphis, TN, comes in at only $2.56 per SF. Although the rental rates may be lower in some cities, you need to ensure you check state tax rates. You don’t want to be stung by hidden costs because you didn’t do your homework.

Insurance

Whether you rent or buy, you are putting valuable assets in the warehouse and you need insurance to protect them. Having insurance for your commercial property means that you are covered for unforeseen repairs, loss of income, damage, and operation expenses. Typically, you are looking at $17 to a month for the insurance. This may seem like a worthless investment in months where nothing happens, but as soon as it does, you will wish you had it.

Nearby Transportation Hubs

When choosing a location for your new warehouse, you need to make sure it’s close to transportation hubs. To do this, analyze your most significant point for receiving goods and align your site with this. For example, if your cargo typically arrives by air, you should position yourself closer to an airport. The closer you are to your nearest source of export, the higher demands you can come with and the easier it will be to manage drayage.

Traffic and Access

The main objective of logistics is being able to move cargo from A to B. If you don’t have the industry in the area, then your business will fail. You need to analyze all aspects of the local area including peak traffic times, average speed limits, typical traffic volume, road conditions, highway connectivity, and accessibility to highways. If these factors aren’t perfected in the area, you will end up paying more than you need to in fuel consumption.

Environmental Factors

As well as being close to significant export locations, you need to find a warehouse near to other suppliers. You will need to research the large local suppliers and take into account any supply chain partners.

As well as suppliers, you need to assess the environmental factors of the nearby areas. Is the area prone to natural disasters? Will you benefit from intense sunshine? Or are you in the middle of a flood zone? If you find any of these risks at your proposed site, you need to ensure that the building adheres to certain building requirements.

Starting up a logistics business takes a lot of time and patience. You need to decide what the most important location factors are and tick them off. There will always be criteria that you have to let slide. Make sure that you carry out your homework and consider all aspects of the location.

SCM software

Top Supply Chain Management Software

Manufacturing and distribution is the base of the global economy. Supply chain management software is also known as SCM Software technology hasn’t just made it possible to create and transport products quicker than ever before; in today’s world, efficiency, and transparency are demanded to be part of any logistics-related transaction. Whether we create a software product, a locally mounted product, or a complicated piece of machine-learning technology compelling resources from all over the world, it’s fundamental for any operation that controls the production and shipping of products to understand and wisely manage its complete supply chain.

Supply chain management software makes it easy to the intricate and complex process of making products from the supplier processed and to the buyer. With SCM software, supply chain providers gain some awareness and control over every phase of the production and shipping process.

We have listed Top Supply Chain Management Software based on features like Inventory management, Order management, Logistics, and shipping status, Forecasting, and Return management:

1. Magaya Supply Chain

Magaya Supply Chain is a cloud-based software for operations, accounting, visibility, tracking, connectivity, and agreement. Magaya produces strong functionality for freight forwarding, warehousing, 3PL operations, cultures compliance, freight rate management, and more.

2. Logility

The Logility Digital Supply Chain Platform leverages an innovative blend of AI (artificial intelligence) and advanced analytics to programmed planning, accelerate cycle times, increase accuracy, improve operating production, break down business silos, and give greater clarity.

3. StockIQ

StockIQ is a rational supply chain planning software solution for Order management, Replenishment outlining, Supplier planning, Advertisement, and Promotion Planning and monitoring, Inventory, and Capacity planning. The StockIQ software is curate for the distribution and production industries.

4. SAP SCM & ARIBA

SAP SCM is a tool implemented by SAP AG for maintaining the supply chain procedure of an organization. SCM helps in the planning, and execution of all supply chain-related actions of that company. SAP Ariba is one of the best cloud-based innovative solutions that enable suppliers and customers to combine and do business on one platform. It acts as a supply chain service to do business globally.

5. Oracle SCM and PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management

Oracle SCM that is Supply Chain Management Cloud, is a cloud-based app built by Oracle. It unites end-to-end enterprise processes pending the changing supply chain needs of modern projects.  Oracle PeopleSoft Supply Chain Management renders a cohesive yet compliant solution for the collaborated supply chain, driving capabilities in cost savings over your entire supply chain. That includes your plan-to-produce (P2P) and order-to-cash business processes.

6. Anaplan

Anaplan is a California-based planning software company. Anaplan vends subscriptions for cloud-based business-planning software and presents data for decision-making purposes. As a dedicated platform, connecting people, data, and systems, Anaplan offers a unified real-time, cloud-based environment to optimize marking and democratize decision-making overall lines of business and its operations, from strategic to operational levels.

7. Precoro

Precoro is a Procurement and Spend Control software, which helps businesses to fully reduce manual workflow and conserve lots of time and money. It is one of the most efficient SCM software solutions.

HMI

Benefits of using HMI for Industrial Purposes

HMI stands for Human Machine Interface. We use HMIs to control and monitor machines in any industry. It is mainly used in the manufacturing sector. Process industries massively use HMIs, such as in oil and gas and mining processes in which many operations are managed remotely from a control room. Industries have implemented HMI software where human interference with a machine or automated equipment is needed. This could be in a system, plant, building, or even a vehicle. The level of assimilation and refinement may vary, but we can use HMI for just about any application type.

Let’s come to the point and see the benefits of using hmi for industrial purposes:

Improved Productivity

A human-machine interface, i.e. HMI, improves the performance of the given task. Even if a person can perform that same task, this kind of software/device increases productivity in an enormous amount. Using an HMI facilitates more work in any industry in a short time.

 Troubleshooting with old data

The HMI system detects, have the systems inspected based on past data feed. The entire evaluation, isolation, and correction of the alarm took less time to do it manually. HMI’s makes it troubleshoot the problems in early stage.

Report generation

The creation of a perfect report and save it for data analysis is one of the crucial tasks. As a human, we can make many mistakes while recording such things. Maintenance and feeding the data for future use is something that should be done on time.

Comfort

With the ability to control a device easily, their use in production and ease systems has dramatically improved people’s lives by increasing comfortability. The machine should be accessible from a long distance so that the operator can be at more ease.

Keeping Records

They have high abilities to keep records. By inserting instructions into an HMI, the system to which it is connected can automatically store the data. Such data can be utilized later for other researches, for example, troubleshooting future analysis.

Internet of Things (IoT)

Internet of things refers to a combination of devices that are all coupled to the internet. HMIs can also connect to the internet since they are devices too. This enables remote access to the devices.

Reduce the Cost of Hardware

An HMI reduces the expense that an industry acquires in terms of devices like consoles, connections, and control panels. An HMI can replace them, thus saving on costs.

Asset management

Accuracy in real-time data and reports gives managers the ability to be more efficient and make just the right maintenance plans for businesses. The drilling and fracking industries have to handle some of the most challenging circumstances in managing and observing large numbers of regularly moving assets.

Data availability

Data is an essential input when making decisions. How users utilize these records will discover the value applied to the process. The power is in the availability of data and relying on people’s abilities and skills to get insight and make enhancements. This data is available for other analysis too.