Selecting a proper warehouse facility is crucial for the growth of your business. Established companies already have dedicated spaces to store their merchandise. However, leading Warehouse service providers in Kolkata also come up with shared warehousing facilities for new entrepreneurs who do not have enough funds to provide for the huge expenses that the dedicated facilities would need. Proper warehousing facilities help in saving both money and time thus ensuring consistent and dependable services.

The article rounds up a few crucial factors that can help you find the right warehouse facility for your business.

Your Requirements

The first thing that you need to consider before choosing a warehouse provider is the specific requirements of your business. Identifying your needs will help you decide the type of industrial space you’d need. For instance, new enterprises do not have a high volume of goods to keep or ship. Renting or leasing an entire warehouse will thus be a waste of funds for these businesses.

Small businesses thus want to go for shared warehousing facilities in Kolkata. With a shared warehouse, they have the opportunity to share the space with other companies thus making a huge reduction in expenditures. Warehousing and logistics services are closely related and if you rent or buy a warehouse it would be best if the same provider offers you the logistics for deliveries. 

Scalability

Talk to the warehouse service provider and check if they are capable to manage your changing business requirements. To do so, the house must include a solution that has the flexibility to run parallel to your business paradigms. 

In short, you need to transact with an experienced service provider who has the proper knowledge about the type of business you are running. Proper recognition of your business will help them scale up and down in cases of changing demands. 

Safety Measures

Besides looking for facilities like cold storage, and moisture resistance, do not forget to check if the warehouse provider offers good security measures. Burglary–resistant patterns and undue intrusion checkers come within the mandatory features in your checklist.

Check if the warehouse has proper infrastructure to check and prohibit unlawful entries. Installation of Closed Circuit TV cameras is also a part of the security coverage. Fire extinguishers and safety alarms are other components of proper safety measures. Round-the-clock manual security arrangement is also necessary.

Proper IT support

You will require managing the inventories properly, particularly when you are working with many others in shared warehousing facilities in Kolkata. Customized IT support is necessary to ensure that the businesses’ technology requirements are fulfilled.  

Automation is getting increasingly popular in advanced warehousing solutions. With it, you can easily check and manage your stocks. Check if the provider has a standard Business Continuity and disaster recovery plan. These plans help warehouses prepare for potentially disruptive events. Online security measures also help users to deal with real-time stock inventories.

Customer Service

Follow the warehouse provider’s attitude towards customers. If you see that the provider is trying to help their clients in every way, then you have found yourself a good warehouse provider with whom you can think of long-term relationships. 

Businesses often undergo changes in their operational plans. You need to find a provider who can match their services with your change in requirements. 

You will know about this by following the culture existing in the team managing the warehouse. Warehouse service providers today, follow positive approaches while dealing with the tenant or lessee’s needs.

The Bonded Warehouse

Bonded warehouses are secured areas where you can keep the dutiable goods without paying duties. Storing goods at these places will enable you to send consignments by air and the AAI will not charge anything in form of freight or duty. 

The provider must also provide various types of services fulfilling the operational needs of businesses. These include Out of Gauge services, Bonded Storage, and order fulfilment service.

Service Location

Location is an important consideration for improving lead times and end-to-end costs. Make a complete review of the supply chain before finalizing the location of your warehouse. 

Search for warehouses near airports or seaport positions if your dealing involves more importing and/or exporting of goods. It will save both costs and time.

Transparency in Dealing

Cost is an important aspect of any transaction. Ensure that the Warehouse service provider Kolkata has nothing to conceal regarding operational, distributional, and related expenses. They shouldn’t have any hidden expenses. To ensure that, ask questions to the provider you approach about the costs and ask for a clear breakup of the expenses involved.  

Final Words

So you are now aware of the things to consider while choosing a warehouse. Finally, enquire about the management that the warehouse keeps up. Check whether the warehouse has an in charge to look over the incoming and leaving consignments.