What To Know If Your Business Needs A Warehouse

So you’re finally getting your business off the ground. That’s wonderful! There might not be many better feelings in life than starting a business and launching it successfully. But that doesn’t mean your work is done. In fact, as most business owners know, the launch is truly only the beginning. If things go well, you’ll need to grow strategically, and that can be almost as complex as getting things started in the first place.

In this piece, we’re going to discuss one aspect of that kind of strategic growth, particularly for a business that involves the making and selling of products (rather than simply providing a service). If you’re making your own inventory, you will eventually reach the point at which you need to rent or buy a warehouse for production and/or storage. That can be a pretty big step to take, and once you actually have your warehouse secured there’s a lot of work to do in maintaining it and keeping it suitable for operations. These are a few things to keep in mind in that regard.

Cleaning Is Heavy-Duty

If you have an office space, or even if you’re just used to cleaning your own home, you probably think you can get by with a mop and a broom, and perhaps some dusters and a few cleaning sprays. That tends to be the case for smaller areas. But for a warehouse, cleaning with these kinds of tools and materials is going to take you a long time and a lot of effort. However, it’s vital to keep the area clean so that conditions are suitable for working and product storage. In many cases, it becomes necessary to look into an industrial cleaning rental company in a situation like this, as such a company can provide you with equipment from large floor sweepers to dehumidifiers and odor control machines. You might not need the full lineup, but there are a lot of things you can rent that can help you keep the warehouse pristine.

Basic Maintenance Is Required

The above ideas should cover your basic cleaning needs in terms of keeping the air fresh and the floor clean. But some additional maintenance and cleaning is required to keep the warehouse in good shape, and some of it might require professional assistance. For instance, in addition to keeping the floors clean on a regular basis, you might rely on a commercial cleaning service for occasional painting or epoxy coatings. This keeps the floor in good repair, rather than just clean, and it should be done fairly regularly on a warehouse or factory floor that gets a lot of use.

Additionally, there are other regular cleaning efforts that require more regular attention and have less to do with maintenance than with simply keeping the environment fresh. The simplest solution is to hire janitorial services to make regular trips to the warehouse to handle things like window cleaning, or potentially even restroom upkeep if indeed your warehouse has its own restrooms. These are things you and your employees could probably handle on your own, but they take a deceptive amount of time and are best left to professionals, if you can swing it.

Basic Operations May Require Equipment

We’ve covered cleaning equipment, but it’s also a good idea to keep in mind that the average warehouse involves handling and organizing a lot of material. Even if you’re producing small, light products, chances are you only need a warehouse if you’re attempting to do it on a large scale. That means you may want to explore options from a forklift supplier or other providers of heavy equipment that can help you to transfer bulk inventory from one place to another, or even help you to load up delivery trucks. It all depends to some extent on what kind of business you’re running of course, but again, if you’ve reached the point at which you’re opening a warehouse, you may want to prepare for some heavy lifting.

You May Need To Hire A Manager

This depends on the amount of activity happening in your warehouse, but you should at least be prepared for the need to make a pretty major hire. A warehouse manager can handle everything from cleaning to fulfilling orders, as well as directly oversee any employees that work primarily in the warehouse space. It’s the kind of position a lot of business owners aren’t thinking about until it becomes absolutely necessary to hire someone, but if you keep the idea on your radar you can do a more thorough job of selecting a candidate that can fulfill your expectations.

Ultimately, opening and running a warehouse is no small feat. These are just a few of the many concerns that will come up throughout the process. But if you go about it the right way this can become a major asset for your business.