E-commerce continues to show significant growth figures every year, even despite the crisis. Proof of this is that, in a large part of European countries, up to 40% of the real estate spaces allocated to warehouses and logistics centers are due to the needs originated by electronic commerce.
This is also confirmed in the United States where the logistical needs of electronic commerce is one of the main drivers in the demand for industrial land. For its part, Latin America, which started from a lower position in terms of percentage of Internet connections and business figures, is experiencing one of the fastest growth in the world, and growth figures of even over 50% are expected in some countries. countries in the LATAM zone.
But e-commerce is also putting increasing pressure on delivery times, giving urban logistics a key role. This means that not only more warehouse space is required, but also that the warehouses are located closer to the urban centers where the “last mile” of the supply chain takes place.
The “last mile”
The “last kilometer” or the “last mile” refers to the last link in the supply chain, from the last distribution center until finally arriving at the customer’s home, generally in urban areas.
In this last section, the economy of scale can no longer be used, and despite being able to represent a small distance, its impact on costs can be proportionally very high. To this must be added the costs of returns by customers.
Therefore, it is increasingly necessary to design high-density warehouses, such as clad-rack warehouses with stacker cranes. But in warehouses oriented towards urban logistics, where location can take precedence and, probably, less availability of square meters, space expansion solutions can be used, such as mezzanines or mezzanines and elevated aisles.
The high demands of electronic commerce
Warehouses require an increasingly agile response to a demand for electronic commerce that may be generating new orders at any time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This requires optimizing all handling tasks as much as possible, using both the implementation of automated warehouses and the application of new technologies to streamline manual picking tasks with systems such as light-guided picking or pick to light.
ATOX Storage Systems, a leading manufacturer in metal shelves and with a consolidated international presence, designs and adapts industrial racking solutions to the specific needs of the client, with experience in internationalization that allows it to more effectively meet the new needs in warehouse racking, from metal racking to pallet racking, and space expansion solutions such as mezzanines or mezzanines to shelving for picking and shelving for special loads such as cantilever racks.
