Could Your Factory Grow Without More Factory Space?
Manufacturing capacity can become limited when an operation runs out of room, making the obvious solution seem to be expanding the building, leasing additional factory space, or purchasing a larger facility. But before making a major investment, there is another question worth asking:
How much of your existing factory is used for storage rather than manufacturing?
For many manufacturers, valuable production space is gradually taken over by raw materials, components, packaging, finished goods, seasonal inventory, and supplies. What starts as a few pallets can eventually become rows of inventory occupying space that could otherwise support production and growth.
Turn Storage Space Into Manufacturing Space
Every square foot of a manufacturing facility has value. When a significant portion of that space is dedicated to inventory storage, your facility may have more production capacity than it appears.
Moving appropriate inventory to an off-site warehouse can potentially free space for:
- Additional machinery and equipment
- New production or assembly lines
- Improved material flow
- Staging and work areas
- Additional employees
- Increased production volume
- Future growth
Instead of paying for more factory space, manufacturers may be able to make better use of the facility they already have.
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What Is Factory Space Really Costing You?
Storage inside a manufacturing facility involves more than the square footage occupied by pallets and inventory. It can also affect workflow, material handling, production efficiency, safety, and the ability to reconfigure operations as business needs change.
As inventory grows, manufacturers can find themselves designing their production process around their storage problem.
That can be a signal that it is time to evaluate whether certain raw materials, finished products, packaging, components, or seasonal inventory should be stored somewhere else.
How Off-Site Warehousing Can Increase Manufacturing Capacity
Using a local warehouse doesn’t necessarily mean moving all your inventory off-site. The goal is to determine which products need to remain immediately accessible and which can be strategically stored nearby.
A flexible warehousing partner can receive inventory, store it, manage it, prepare it when necessary, and coordinate transportation back to your facility based on your production requirements. Raw materials, excess inventory, finished goods, packaging, and seasonal products can all be candidates for off-site storage.
This allows manufacturers to keep critical materials accessible while freeing valuable factory floor space for production and operations.
This approach can give manufacturers additional flexibility without immediately committing to the expense of expanding or relocating.
Before You Expand Your Factory, Evaluate Your Storage
If your company is considering adding manufacturing capacity, start by looking at how your existing square footage is being used.
Ask yourself:
- How much of our facility is currently dedicated to storage?
- Is inventory interfering with production or workflow?
- Could we add equipment or production capacity if we had more floor space?
- Are we considering a larger facility primarily because we are running out of storage room?
- How much growth could our existing factory accommodate if some inventory were stored off-site?
The answers may reveal that your next opportunity for expansion is already inside your current building.
Make Your Factory Work Harder
Free Up Manufacturing Floor Space. Running out of production space because raw materials, components, or finished goods are consuming valuable floor space?
KE Warehouse helps Greater Cincinnati manufacturers increase manufacturing capacity by separating production space from storage space. With flexible warehousing, inventory management, kitting, value-added services, and local transportation, we help keep inventory nearby and accessible without allowing it to consume valuable factory floor space.
Before leasing, buying, or building additional manufacturing space, consider whether off-site warehousing could help you unlock the capacity you already have.
Your factory should be making products — not functioning as a warehouse.
Could Off-Site Storage Create More Room for Your Business?
Is production capacity holding your factory back? Talk with KE Warehouse about your current storage needs, manufacturing space, and growth plans. Together, we can explore whether moving inventory off-site could help your operation gain the increased manufacturing capacity to grow your business.
