Warehousing
Warehousing
Warehousing has been around in some capacity for almost as long as people have been trading and farming. Its evolution has been fascinating – from simple storehouses in ancient times to more complicated central distribution centers during the Industrial Revolution to 21st century smart facilities that leverage cutting-edge technology for real-time analytics to optimize inventory levels, predict demand, offer real-time tracking, and facilitate seamless fulfillment across global supply chains.
At On Time Delivery & Warehouse, we’re committed to Ohio warehousing that continues to evolve and meet the ever-changing demands of commerce and trade.
Our team offers:
- 3PL and 4PL logistics
- 90,000 square feet of indoor warehouse space
- 5 acres of outdoor storage
- 10,000 square feet of office space
- heated warehousing
- FDA registered warehousing
- Customs bonded warehousing
- inventory management
- public warehousing
- centralized exam station (CES)
- container freight station (CFS)
- consolidation services
- cross docking
- trucking (LTL, FTL, local delivery, and more)
- value-added warehousing services (kitting, assembly, labeling, product coding & packing, and more)
Our Northern Ohio warehousing facility is strategically located near Cleveland Ohio, a centralized hub for those tapping into Midwest markets - by air, port, rail, truck, or intermodal.
As e-commerce continues to grow, so too does the demand for warehousing - particularly warehousing that is smart, safe, sustainable, responsive, and transparent.
Warehouses are now the most common type of U.S. commercial building, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. (It used to be office buildings, but those have been declining since the late 1990s - even more sharply since the pandemic.) The number of warehouse and storage buildings grew by 26% in a recent 5-year stretch, while commercial buildings as a whole rose by just 7%.
The greatest region for warehouse growth: The Midwest. Warehousing and storage in the Midwest went from 163,000 to 307,000 - an 88% increase in just 5 years.
While different warehouse facilities may offer varied features and functions, customers often find the most value in working with 3PL and 4PL warehouses that can deliver on an expanding catalog of logistics services. These centers are also more inclined to be actively leveraging improved technologies and streamlined systems for more accurate inventory management, warehouse mapping and distribution schedules, risk mitigation, and sustainability initiatives.
Ohio Warehousing Advancements in Recent Decades
In our 40+ years in the Ohio warehousing and transportation industries, the only aspect that’s stayed stagnant is our commitment to being the best in the business – for customer service, regulatory compliance, worker safety, and client satisfaction. Virtually everything else about what we do has changed - including how we communicate, monitor, map, forecast, optimize, and deliver.
Factors that have contributed the most to warehousing changes in the last several decades:
Technology.
Technological changes underpin the majority of shifts we’ve seen in the warehousing industry over the last 25-50 years. Just since 2000, we’ve had an internet explosion (access in the U.S. went from 50% to 90%), a mobile revolution (from 1 billion people globally using mobile phones to 7 billion), an AI emergence (machine-facilitated learning is changing everything from warehouse management systems to inventory tracking to automated storage and retrieval systems).
E-commerce and omnichannel distribution.
Warehousing strategies have been reshaped by these two factors. Dedicated in-house warehousing no longer makes sense for a lot of businesses today. They need 4pl and 3pl warehouses and public warehouses that can serve as distribution centers, offer customs compliance, process small orders quickly and accurately, offer a menu of value-added services, and facilitate same day/next day and local deliveries. As a 3PL / 4PL warehouse, we offer clients flexible, scalable solutions that can always be adjusted to fit their needs within ever-changing markets.
Sustainability initiatives.
Whether we’re talking about lighting that’s more energy efficient or packaging and waste reduction measures that are more eco-friendly, sustainability has become an increasingly key consideration in the modern warehouse world. While sustainability is part of our personal priorities, we’re also aware of how important it is to many of our customers and also THEIR customers. Complying with environmental regulations is just the start. North Ohio warehouses like ours are increasingly adopting sustainable practices - which not only minimize their environmental footprint, they often reduce costs.
What’s Next for Cleveland Warehousing
As we look to the future, we anticipate Ohio warehousing providers will continue to evolve with the times.
Some of the changes expected over the next few decades:
- Continued adoption of advanced technologies. We’re going to see more Internet of Things (IoT) and AI devices used to improve warehouse operations, predictive analytics, inventory management, and order fulfillment.
- Growing use of automation. We’re going to see more robotics and automation in warehousing. This is not to say that humans are obsolete (far from it!). We recognize that our people are our greatest asset. We’re interested in embracing the sorts of automated systems that help our people work smarter - so we can deliver on our promise to always get your goods where they need to go - intact, on time, every time.
- Growing importance of flexibility and scalability. If the last several decades of history have taught us anything, it’s to be prepared for anything. Within warehousing, that means we’ve got to prioritize both flexibility and scalability so that our customers have the freedom to adapt to fluctuating market conditions, seasonal variations, etc.
On Time Delivery & Warehouse is committed to keeping up with the times while also keeping our top spot as the preferred 3PL warehouse & distribution center in Cleveland, Ohio.
Need more information about Cleveland, Ohio warehousing? Contact us today!