Facilities get bigger but fewer
By Staff -- Modern Materials Handling, 6/1/1999
A 1998 WERCwatch survey on facility trends indicates there will be fewer warehouses in companies' networks, but they will be larger.WERC members representing various manufacturing, wholesaling, retailing, public utilities, and government sectors responded to how their companies' number, types, and sizes of warehouses have changed over the last year. They were also asked to provide information about any expected changes to the size and number of facilities within their distribution network during 1999.
Respondents predict that the total number of facilities in their entire distribution networks would shrink by almost 10% by fall 1999. Manufacturers forecast the greatest decline in average number of warehouses-a 25% decrease from fall 1997 to fall 1999.
Wholesalers were the only group to forecast an increase in total average number of warehouses-from 11.3 in fall of 1997 to 12.2 in fall 1999.
The research found that new facilities to be added or replaced in 1999 will be larger than existing warehouses. Consumer goods firms predict a facility-size growth of 41%, manufacturer's facilities are predicted to be 55% larger, while pharmaceutical companies will have facilities that are 100% larger than those that currently exist.
For more information on WERC and to purchase the complete report visit www.werc.org
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