Literally thinking outside the square

When people talk about innovation and smart business practices, we often hear the hackneyed cliché “thinking outside the square”. And usually it’s much easier said than done.

So today I thought I would share a story about a case where true outside the square thinking for one of our clients ended up improving their productivity, service to clients and reducing their rental costs.

Our client needed to relocate 50 staff members and a warehouse. Their challenge was that they were growing but struggling with logistics in and out of the warehouse at their existing property.

We worked with our logistics planner to find ways the operation could work more innovatively with their warehouse building. Part of the solution was to put in a large canopy and traffic management plan that allowed containers coming in to be unloaded under cover in the yard rather than inside the warehouse.

We also worked on logistics inside the warehouse. The result was that instead of having to move from a 5,500 square metre warehouse to a 7,000 sq metre building, we were able to relocate them to 6,000 square metre premises.

Yes, we obviously achieved a smaller space overall and therefore less rental outgoings than would have been required using conventional thinking.

But we also were able to fit new facilities into the building, such as break-out rooms and team areas.

Our client ended up making a big difference to their bottom line through a more efficient operation and a sped up service to clients – factors that make a great deal of difference in this competitive business environment.

My challenge to you is to break free of conventional thinking when looking at property factors, and achieve more efficient operations and lower costs to boot.