Update on the racking industry

2010 - what a change from 10 years ago where large scale design and build warehouses were happening everywhere and good buildings were hard to find; well not today with every fifth building for lease or sale and some have been vacant for a year.

Although the year has started very well for Storepro in particular with a number of customers moving or more accurately reconfiguring to make sure they don't have to move in the near future so we don't mind either way - growth or retraction both require our services and both ensure continual efficiencies.

Personally I see this year as only a slight move forward in terms of growth and the main requirement for efficiency and cost cutting will still be very evident - the recession may have officially ended but hasn't actually disappeared and it is "on hold" so I believe we may still see some more pain for many businesses.

In terms of racking and warehousing we have seen a lot of consolidation and downsizing and this will continue; the demand for recycled or used products will remain; warehouses will continue to be higher and so does the racking and the working aisle and thus land footprint all become smaller.  We are seeing companies hold a lot less stock, shipping is down thus reducing outright storage capacity but more advanced planning and management systems to assist in this way of doing business.  What's more it is also become a lot more acceptable in our industry of racking and shelving particular that due to increased and more advanced design things take longer and are often custom made though Storepro do hold a large amount of product off the shelf (excuse the pun).

All said and done we at Storepro are looking forward to it and in the first two months have seen us with projects in Sydney and the UAE - im not sure if that makes the rest of the world better or worse off than NZ !!!

Aaron Young
www.storepro.co.nz