Modern manufacturers need to do more than simply produce finished goods or foodstuffs. Across Canada today, many warehouses can be found and are often either bought or rented, and commercial logistics call for trucks going smoothly to and from factories, warehouses, and distributors. Popular brands such as Warehouse One and others may be used in Canada and its southern neighbor the United States, and Warehouse One and others offer space to rent or purchase for business clients. A food warehouse, for example, has food grade logistics for cold meats or diary products, and trucking companies may bring reefer trucks to those warehouses. When working with Warehouse One and the like, what might a manufacturer expect?
Production and Delivery
Canada is home to many farms, dairies, and production centers. These sites make nearly anything, ranging from dairy milk and meat to wheat, furniture, car parts, home appliances, books, and much more. Today, the Canadian Trucking Alliance has reported that nationally, the trucking industry has a value over $65 billion, and some 260,000 drivers and 400,000 employees overall are employed this way. Many trucking companies exist across Canada and in the U.S. to the south, and most of them tend to be on the smaller side. But together, they can transport many billions of dollars’ worth of goods across Canada and even for land-based trade. Statistics from 2012 show that some 90% of consumer goods and foodstuffs were delivered by truck across Canada. These trucks are vital not only for national transportation, but also for trade along the extensive Canada-U.S. land border. Both nations trade many goods by truck along that border every single year.
Plenty is being made that needs to be transported. The food and beverage processing industry now ranks as Canada’s second largest manufacturing industry, based on value of production with shipments totaling $105.5 billion in 2014. This means that this industry accounts for 17% of all manufacturing shipments and 2% of Canada’s gross domestic product, or its GDP. That’s a lot of deliveries just for food and beverages, and plenty of other industries need trucks and warehouse space, too. A good manufacturer will have a working relationship with local carriers and warehouse providers such as Warehouse One in its area, and these can be highly lucrative business partnerships.
Renting Warehouse Space
Some larger manufacturers will buy warehouse space, since they have the budget for it and they don’t plan to move anytime in the future. Most other manufacturers, however, are smaller and will instead rent their warehouse space. This may be a good idea since warehouse rentals are much more price-friendly than purchases in most cases, and a warehouse lease may simply be ended when the client manufacturer is ready to relocate somewhere else. It may prove much easier to simply end a warehouse lease deal than try to sell off an owned warehouse.
What criteria might there be? For one, the warehouse should be at a fairly convenient location. That warehouse should be within reasonable distance of the manufacturing site, local truck carrier companies, and also the distributors or retailers who will receive those goods. Of course, this may sometimes result in ideal warehouse space being expensive to rent, with more remote warehouses being cheaper to rent due to their less-desirable location. The actual costs will vary, as there’s no single universal figure. But a manufacturer may weigh location vs cost to determine where they should rent warehouse space.
The manufacturer may also send representatives to look over potential warehouse rental space in person, to determine if it is in good condition and well looked after. Ideal warehouses will have solid, treated concrete floors with clear painted markings, labels, and boundaries to maintain coordination and safety during work. The floor should not have large cracks or other faults in it. What is more, the warehouse must have enough square footage in it and enough shelf space to store everything that the renter will put there, and some renters may also need special hardware present, such as a cooler. A dairy or meat packing plant may need series of coolers or freezers to store cold-sensitive items at the warehouse until refrigerated reefer trucks arrive to transport them elsewhere.