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The material to be dispatched is brought to the staging area based on the pick list or invoice.
This material is now inspected, labeled, packed and counted before being loaded on the outbound
vehicle.

Storage area

This is where the material is actually stored. The material can be stored on ground, on pallets, on
Slotted angled racks or Heavy Duty Racks depending upon the product or design of the warehouse.
Different storage area could be created for fresh and for damaged/quality control material.

Office area

Office area is the area where the warehouse team sits. There could be workstations, cabins, small
pantry and conference room within the office area.

Record room

Record Room is the place where all warehouse records are kept. The documents for various inward
and outward transactions are usually binded and stored month wise. The law also requires all
transactions records to be stored for certain set of years. Example, if there is need to show the POD
for a particular dispatch which occurred about a year back, the same can be retrieved from record
room and shared.

Equipment Area

This is the area where all warehouse equipment like forklifts, reach trucks, Hand Pallet Trolleys are
stored. This area may also carry charging stations for charging of forklifts.

Value Addition Area

Lot of times value added activities like kitting, labeling, retail packing, bundling happens at the
warehouse. Separate area along with work stations are created for conducting these activities on
regular basis.

Access Control Area
Figure 2.1 Layout of a Warehouse
Lot of times, warehouse carry high value items like mobiles, important records, costly raw materials
and other high valued items. These material are stored in strong room with access control. Only The optimum designing of the warehouse is essential for maximizing the advantages of any
certain identified people are allowed to operate in this area. The area will carry separate locks and warehouse. Whether a warehouse is a small manual warehouse or a large automated facility, the
guarding and will be generally under CCTV surveillance.
designing of the warehouse is governed by following principles:
Utility Area
1. Product: What kind of goods will it hold?
Other area for utility like DG, Toilets, server rooms, small pantry area for staff are also part of the
warehouse infrastructure. Nature of the product in terms of size, weight, numbers has a large influence of the warehouse
layout. Layout of a warehouse storing small spare parts will be very distinct from a warehouse

storing white goods. Understanding the characteristics of the product being stored is essential. In