BY SUSAN K. LACEFIELD, EDITOR AT LARGE
SITE SELECTION AND NETWORK DESIGN
Strategy
OPENING A NEW DISTRIBUTION CENTER (DC)
is a major event for any company, but—unless you’re
Amazon—it’s typically not something that you do every
month. So it’s all too easy to overlook some issues or concerns that could affect the success of the facility (and your
entire supply chain) for years to come.
One key to avoiding that trap is to ask the right questions.
For example, at the start of the process, when you’re considering general locations, these questions would be ones
regarding the site’s suitability from a distribution network
perspective, such as how close you’ll be to your customers
and suppliers, how good the existing logistics infrastructure
is, and how easy or hard it will be to find the right type of
employees.
But what about when you have narrowed your search to
a few specific sites within your target region? What information do you need to make sure you pick the best possible
spot and end up with the best possible DC layout? After
talking to a few experts, we have compiled some examples
of the kinds of questions companies should ask themselves
before breaking ground or signing the lease.
1Are you sure you have executive buy-in? It may seem obvi- ous that you need executive approval before embarking
on a capital project like building a new DC. Yet time and
time again, site selection projects are put on hold or delayed
because project leaders did not get approval from high
enough up the food chain, according to John Morris, who
leads the industrial services group for the real estate firm
Cushman & Wakefield. For example, Morris remembers
one client that had to stop and make its pitch for a new DC
three different times—first regionally, then to the company’s headquarters in North America, and then again to the
world headquarters in Europe. To make sure this doesn’t
happen to you, get the support and approval of someone at
the C-level from the start.
2Is everyone on the same page? When it comes to designing the building itself, you need not just an architect and a
general contractor but also a team of specialists to plot out
the work processes and determine the facility’s layout. The
facility design team should work closely with the opera-
Before you dig:
11 questions
to ask before
breaking ground
on a new DC
With complex DC design and
construction projects, small oversights
can lead to big holdups and delays.
Asking the right questions beforehand
can help keep your project on track.
