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structures continued to be used. In Europe, some interesting innovations came instead in the form Replacing the basic skids, crates, boxes and barrels that had been in use since our Roman horrea and
of the agricultural barn, particularly the aisled tithe barns developed from the 12th century onwards.
before, pallets enabled goods to be stacked and transported with unparalleled efficiency. Spurred on

In general, medieval merchants stored their wares in cellars, back rooms or small outbuildings by the demands of World War II, manufacturers released a range of adjustable pallet racking in the
around their home. But, as international trade began to pick up, warehouses were built in ports to 40s and 50s, reconfiguring the warehouse for new palletized possibilities.
handle goods arriving from or destined for the sea.
With efficient vertical storage now a reality, the warehouse evolved beyond the old multi-storey

The Wool House in Southampton, built in the late 14th century to store wool for export, gives us model, with items stacked relatively low, to a single large room, stacked to the brim with pallet
some idea what these commercial hubs looked like. The typical format is strikingly similar to the racking. The new format – our own – was fairly standard from the 60s onwards.
old Roman horrea: a long, rectangular building, two or three storeys high, with a timber frame and Technological Revolution

stone walls. Norfolk, also has a number of historic warehouses spanning from the 15th to 18th
centuries, proving just how steadfast this design was. The final part of our warehouse story is all about technology. The 60s warehouse might look familiar,

but the last 50 years have seen some of the biggest developments in how warehouses operate.
The Age of Industry
Of all the recent inventions, none has left quite the same mark as the barcode. Adoption finally
The watershed moment came in the last few decades of the 18 century, when new production
picked up in the 80s and 90s when the price of related technologies began to drop.
processes made both cast and wrought iron available on an industrial scale. This offered a entirely

new structural material to the industry. First buildings and followed by warehouses started using the first real-time WMS ( Warehouse Management System) was installed by J.C. Penney in 1975,
iron to build structures. These warehouses also began to specialize, with separate display, rail, and these became gradually more accessible over the next 25 years. With a number of product
identification systems available – the UPC and around 270 other species of barcode – and widespread
export and packing warehouses popping up across the country.
WMS use that no longer required data to be inputted by hand, warehouse management had gone
The scale of warehouses had been gradually increasing from the 18th century onwards. One of truly digital.

Manchester’s impressive textile warehouses, completed in 1856, the building is 30m high and 90m By 2004, between 80-90% of Fortune 500 companies had automated their warehouses using

long. barcodes. Management changes soon meant physical changes. Today’s common layout techniques,
like random location storage or effective zoning, are made feasible by computer optimization.
Scientific Management Digital automation is even contributing to the rise of ‘mega’ distribution centers over 800,000

square feet.
In the first half of the 20th century, standardization and efficiency were the business buzzwords of

the age. These principles would have a massive impact on supply chains and warehouse design, Indeed, the future is here. Amazon Robotics, Locus, Fetch Robotics and others are now offering
laying the foundations for the buildings of today. robotic warehouse automation. Bots follow warehouse staff or are guided by barcodes on the floor
to find and pick storage locations. Amazon already has 30,000 robots working in their warehouses.
Usage of the word ‘standardisation’, 1800-2000.
1.3 The functions of Warehouse

Probably the first major innovation was the forklift. Primitive trucks, lifts and hoists appeared Warehouse is an important clog in the entire supply chain process and strategy and delivers many

towards the end of the 19th century, but the forklift concept truly took shape in the first quarter of value additions through its functionality.
the 20th century. Though these early trucks improved productivity, it wasn’t until the invention of
the standardized two-faced pallet in the 1930s that the new invention really took off. Follows are some of the key functions of a warehouse: