Imagine Warehouse Software Managing The Largest Warehouse

Biggest Warehouses In The World

Cities Unto Themselves

Bigger is not always better, although it depends upon its use. Sometimes bigger is just, well, bigger. Yet regardless of any position one takes on warehouse size, benefits or liabilities (or even function), wms software will need to provide all of the inventory management the same as any other warehouse. It could be quite a challenge for some of the mega warehouses around the world, however. Plus, in certain cases, there’s an additional wrinkle. Some warehouses double as retail outlets in an attempt to compress the supply chain by eliminating certain distribution and logistics layers.

Wal-Mart, Costco and Ikea

Wal-Mart, Costco and Ikea stores all double as warehouses – or is it the other way around? Regardless, they’ve successfully expedited the supply chain process by cutting out traditional distribution centers in the main. For several decades, these mega-stores have been some of the largest warehouses as well, all under the same roof, while consolidating functions as part of the process. When it comes to wms software, too, they are also combing certain functionalities. In addition, they are accelerating ‘product to market’ availability to the consumer as well. As such, they are not your ‘father’s inventory management system’ any longer. Costs and price points passed on to the consumers are collapsed, bringing them closer than ever, making products more affordable to the end consumer.

Conventional Warehouses Extraordinaire – other examples

Constellation Europe located in Bristol, England is a whopping 858,000 square feet. As one of earth’s biggest beverage companies, they bottle from bulk wine delivered to the warehouse and store bottled wine brands that include Robert Mondavi, Banrock Station, Echo Falls and Kumala, among others. Constellation’s warehouse can hold up to 57 million bottles of wine at any given time. 4,000 cars could fit on the rooftop and 14,000 double-decker buses could fit inside!! Partner Logistics also of England (Cambridgeshire) stores frozen products in 554,000 square meters of space. While this facility was developed originally for Lamb Weston Meijer, they also share warehouse space with BirdsEye and Pinguin. The Partner Logistics warehouse can store up to 77,000 pallets at -27 Celsius and is fully automated. Its gigantic size required 5,000 tons of steel in its construction.

U.S. Army at Camp Carroll in South Korea houses military vehicles in its 350,000 square feet of space. Though not quite complete, it will be one of the largest warehouses in the world before 2012 is over. It will contain a variety of heavy combat machinery including the Abrams Tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles. This warehouse is two-stories and humidity and temperature-controlled. Each Abram Tanks weighs in excess of 67 tons. The Bradley Fighting Vehicles are 27 tons each. Historically, this equipment has been stored outside. However, outdoor storage is nearly $2 million dollars in repairs annually, of which the warehouse will dramatically curtail.

All in all, while these warehouses, and warehouse models, require warehouse software like any other warehouse would, the astronomical amount of space and product contained in each might make a smaller warehouse management system blush.

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