The warehousing business has been picking up the pace ever since the industrial revolution. Warehouses are spaces in the form of godowns where companies and businesses have an option to store their surplus goods.
Most industries manufacture tonnes of products and many plans to simply keep the production line going till the time a certain surplus is achieved. This surplus is then stored in the godown.
The companies and factory owners have to pay the warehouse owners for keeping their goods in prime condition till the time they aren’t taken out to be sold in the market.
The goods in such godown are of various types ranging from farm produce to electronics to furniture. Due to the wide variety of good warehouses, they have to be equipped with various features.
While some goods are perishable others require to be kept in cold temperatures while some even need to be kept in airtight rooms. Thus running a storage business will always keep you on your toes.
Here are some things that we always need to see while operating such businesses.
1. Contacting Local Companies
Most warehouses are placed near the factories that mass-produce goods. This is because the companies look to cut down on the huge transportation cost that piles up after delivering all the goods. Thus most local companies look to select a godown nearby for their produce.
Apart from this, there are also factories that might be located miles away from the warehouses as the city the goods are supposed to reach might be far off. The business owners then again look for godowns in the vicinity of the markets.
With so many factors affecting the aim of putting the warehouse to use, it is important to have links with all the major and minor companies that are nearby and also the companies that are far away.
For the companies that are in other cities or states, the easier way to go about it is to ascertain the companies that send their goods to your city on a regular basis and pitch them your best deal to make them rent out your storage facility.
2. Contacting Overseas Companies
Companies who send their products from overseas always do so in bulk to make up for the transportation costs. They usually send their goods in bulk on carriers which then dock and the goods are loaded on top of the trucks. After that, the goods are sent to warehouses to be stored until required. This means that there are thousands of potential clients for you to tap into. You should try pitching to as many companies as you can to increase your business. You will always face a lot of competition but if you contact enough companies some are bound to say yes to you.
3. Equipment
While warehouses might seem like simple storage facilities they are actually quite complex, modern warehouse storage solutions are necessary in order to boost productivity and accuracy. Some storages have certain requirements that need to be fulfilled for specific goods. Goods that might perish need to be stored at a certain temperature. Warehouse owners are mostly expected to provide cold storage for specific goods.
Temperature gauges and hygrometers are also sometimes essential in many godowns. Also, to bridge the gap between the loading docks and the trucks in a godown Tucson loading docks are often used. Ventilation is also necessary while storing things in bulk and thus a proper ventilation system is mostly a necessity. Without such in-house equipment, the functioning of a godown would be very difficult.
4. Staff
One of the most important elements of a warehouse is the staff that you keep. The staff is required to be trained properly in most cases. In places where the goods are tricky to store, experienced staff is needed. At times the companies that would be renting out your garage would expect your staff to make sure that goods don’t go rotten, especially when it is food items like mushrooms that need constant temperature control.
Moreover, the security guards need to be trustworthy and a background check is a must for all. It would be wise to hire guard services from a trusted company as the goods that are mostly stored in such huge godowns can be worth millions of dollars. There can be many instances of looting and burglary and the only line of defense in such places are the security guards.
5. Permissions
There are certain things that you must do before you can legally start a godown. There are business permits that every business has to take before opening. Then there is the issue of building the warehouse itself. For the construction of the warehouse, you would have to get a building or a zoning permit from the state in question. Even something as simple as remodeling the building needs a few permits to be cleared out first. Other things like taxes and registrations also need to be applied on time or one could face some serious issues from the law.
6. Maintenance
The maintenance of a warehouse might seem easy since it’s just a building used to store things right? Wrong!. It requires equal if not more maintenance than any other place of business. The storage needs to be kept clean and away from pests. There have to be regular repairs in buildings that have a cooling or a heating system.
All the other electrical units also need to be looked after. Any part of the godown that gives trouble needs to be fixed as soon as possible due to the huge bulk of goods that are stored in the building which could cause millions of dollars of loss if ruined.
Warehousing might seem like a simple business but it also has its own set of challenges. Without proper direction, knowledge, and guidance one might not be able to successfully run such a business.
There are quite a few things that can go wrong and the losses could easily make you go bankrupt very quickly. To make sure that you stay on the right path and to build a safe business simply go through the points mentioned in the article.
