Warehouse Operations Design Services | FORTNA
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Operations Design

How We Work

Warehouse operations design services powered by data analysis

FORTNA begins each distribution center design with a deep dive into your operational data to gain a thorough understanding of your business requirements. Our proprietary tools, processes and algorithms allow us to quickly extrapolate meaningful insights and begin developing solution concepts that balance cost and service without bias towards a particular supplier or technology.

Warehouse operations design services leveraging software for higher efficiency

FORTNA understands your distribution center operations design must have business case justification, be flexible and scalable, and offer a compelling path to measurable results for stakeholders. For that reason, we begin the warehouse layout design process with business and operational requirements rather than technology. This enables us to design solutions that achieve desired business outcomes in less time.

Reducing the time it takes to arrive at a solution means we can dedicate time to considering alternative technologies that would reduce the total solution cost and explore ways to increase efficiency with warehouse execution software. To that end, FORTNA designs and engineers solutions with an operator’s perspective in mind.

Our ideal warehouse operations design is one that is easy to operate, easy to measure and meets the financial, strategic, and operational goals of the business. With FORTNA, your DC operations design will be:

  • Business case justified
  • Flexible and scalable
  • Highly efficient
  • Lowest total cost of ownership
  • Implementable and easy to operate

Our process from the bottom up

  • Align on the requirements. FORTNA begins the distribution center operations design process from the bottom up – with your business and operational requirements. In addition to aligning on budget, cost, benefit and ROI, we design effective warehouse layout solutions to meet operational goals for service, productivity, cycle time, growth, labor hours, SKU count, inventory levels, peak versus non-peak volume, value-added services and more.
  • Define the processes. While most warehouse operations design services save process definition for last, FORTNA designs the operating processes before selecting the technology. We leverage the orchestration capability of warehouse execution software to create more efficient processes and designs. This can result in smaller equipment purchases and/or smaller footprint facility, netting either cost savings or scalability for your distribution center operations design.
  • Select the technology. Where other warehouse operations design services start design from the top down – with technology, FORTNA believes that the choice of technology is the final step in the distribution center operations design process. This allows FORTNA solution designers to remain solution agnostic throughout the process and choose best-fit technology from any material handling equipment supplier at competitive pricing. The direct sourcing and procurement bidding process results in lower total cost of ownership for clients.
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Operations Design

Innovative and pragmatic solutions

The right solution is strategically, operationally and financially aligned to your requirements. You can’t afford surprises or added risk. FORTNA holds itself accountable to business results so that you can rest assured your distribution center operations design is appropriate to your business requirements, implementable, justified, flexible and manageable. The FORTNA warehouse operations design service enables you to transform your distribution center operations.

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Technology selection approach

Distribution center operations design requires both science and art to balance cost, service, flexibility and return on investment. That is why FORTNA starts with the data and business requirements and takes a unique approach to choose the best-fit technologies to meet the need.

We draw on a deep bench of operational experience and consider software an integral part of enabling next-generation distribution solutions. The FORTNA Warehouse Execution System (WES) allows us to incorporate best- fit technologies  and integrate with any system, giving you the flexibility to select the best technology to meet your needs.

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Comprehensive, integrated, pragmatic design

FORTNA goes beyond facility layout with a comprehensive and integrated design that considers more than just people, processes, systems and assets. FORTNA warehouse operations design services consider safety and ergonomics, as well as the impact of congestion on productivity.

We include in our designs the systems plan, labor model, description of operations and budget assessment. Our solution design team consists of both engineering and operations experts to ensure the design is pragmatic and that your team can easily operate the facility once implemented.

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Simulation and alternative analysis

FORTNA develops the solution hypothesis and performs alternative (trade-off) analysis to arrive at the optimal solution for your warehouse space needs. We test and refine the proposed solution through a series of workshops with your team. We use concept designs and simulation to stress test our design and minimize project risk by identifying limits and considering alternatives to ensure operational success.

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Business case

FORTNA understands the need to justify the investment. We perform the financial analysis and provide you with the all-in investment requirements and an implementation and resource plan ready to present to all critical stakeholders for their review and approval. As your partner, we hold ourselves accountable to achieving business results — not just meeting equipment rates.

Moving from warehouse distribution operations design to implementation

At FORTNA, we don’t just design the solution, we help you build it. Our Operations Implementation team is ready to seamlessly take responsibility for the project as a single partner, accountable for the countless workstreams, suppliers and tasks required to bring the vision to life.

Explore Implementation