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Thu 28 Feb, 2013 06:33 am
Hi,
I'm an intern currently working on improving the facility used by a small company in The Netherlands. I'm actually designing a totally new facility from the ground up, and am using the SLP-model (By R. Muther) to do so. I am however, having a lot of difficulty estimating the space requirements of the warehousing. The company has around 30.000 different items, that vary from 1kg to 5.000kg. The product specifications are unclear and not registered anywhere, so I can't get my information from any system. I tried measuring the items as a sample, but quickly realised (by calculating) that I would need to measure around 7.000 items to be able to do some serious estimates. As I am alone, and only have a couple of months, this isn't an option. I'm not sure how to do some reliable estimates as to how much space is needed for the warehouse. I've thought of a single method, based on the Pareto principle. If I would measure 20% of the products that take up 80% of the space required, I would be quite accurate. Please help me, any suggestions are more than welcome!
@Unatoko,
Welcome to a2k, Unatako.
Here's a thread that tackles a similar problem:
http://able2know.org/topic/188045-1
It might help you figure out your own question - there were lots of suggestions on it.
@ossobuco,
Thank you for your reply. How do you feel about the Pareto method? I'm not sure I can use it as isn't exactly accurate.
@Unatoko,
Of all the people that responded on that thread, I'm the least trustworthy about the math involved in the calculations. I responded here to give you that link since some of the other respondents seem to know what they are talking about.
I have in fact found a solution.
I have talked to the warehousing personel and it seems they can estimate how many products fit in a standaard pallet. The larger items only take up about 5-6% of the stock, which is why I can measure them myself without using up to much time. Because I now know how many products go into a single pallet, and I know how many products there will be when I implement a new warehouse, I can estimate the space requirements. Thanks for all your help, it has certainly gotten me thinking!
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