What machinery can operate inside a temporary warehouse?
Warehousing operations require a lot of machinery and infrastructure to run smoothly and efficiently. F&L temporary buildings are experts in designing and installing temporary warehouse solutions and we regularly get asked this type of question by our customers. Our Sales Director, Matt Cassidy breaks down everything you need to know about how our temporary warehouse buildings can be designed to accommodate essential machinery, plant and equipment.
Warehousing operations
Matt has visited countless businesses, all with varying operations. There are essentially four key components to effective warehousing, be that in a traditional warehouse or temporary warehouse building. The objective is to make these more efficient, quicker and faster. If you can do that, you are well on the way to improving your warehouse operations.
• Goods in
• Storage
• Picking and pakcing
• Goods out
Matt continues to explain how a temporary warehouse can be designed and configured to optimise this workflow, taking into account the overall building design, machinery and plant needed for effective warehousing operations.
HGVS loading and unloading directly into a temporary warehouse
Firstly, let’s consider how you get stock and products into your warehouse, often referred to as “goods in”. The goods in process may require unloading HGVs and transferring product directly into storage or the product may be processed and arrive from another part of your site. If they arrive by HGV, we can design and engineer an integrated or standalone loading canopy for a temporary warehouse. The size of the canopy can be specified to allow HGVs to unload inside, undercover or allow for unloading of curtain sided trailers. This will enable the vehicles to be offloaded, undercover, in dry well lit conditions.
If product is arriving in smaller vehicles or other areas of your operations, it may be entering on equipment like a forklift truck (FLT), telehandler, roll cage or flatbed trolley. All of these options can be accommodated by a temporary warehouse building. This is because F&L Temporary buildings install the warehouse directly onto the ground to create a flush finish with no ramps, thresholds or level changes. Secondly, the access door is completely bespoke, meaning we can design doors large enough to accommodate plant. Sliding gates offer the biggest aperture opening, perfect for bulk and oversized items. Other doors available include roller shutter doors, Sectional doors, zip speed doors or simple double doors that are quick and efficient for fast operations such as palletised goods.
Can a forklift operate in a temporary warehouse?
Yes, forklifts can absolutely operate in a temporary warehouse to help product handling from yard to rack. F&L Temporary Buildings design around the realities of modern warehousing. Door openings, eaves heights, and internal layouts are all specified to suit the exact forklift types and intended flow, whether that’s counterbalance or high-reach equipment. Matt explains how our design approach makes this possible:
There are a number of design options when it comes to the internal configuration of a temporary warehouse. The best option for applications that require FLT access are our clearspan structures. This means there is no internal legs, poles or support structures, giving you a more efficient use of space, clear of any obstructions.
In contrast to traditional warehouses, where layouts, access points, and floor conditions can limit efficiency a tailored temporary solution supports faster handling, safer operations, and optimised capacity.
Temporary warehouse access doors in action
As an example, we designed set of double sliding gates, clad with T35 panels to provide an overall opening of 9.5m x 4.0m to allow for board product to be safely transferred by FLT into and out of a warehouse for a leading building merchants. Similarly, we designed a 4m wide x 3.5m high electrically operated galvanised roller shutter door, with internal up/down rocker switch and redundancy at on an insulated temporary warehouse, for a furniture company. These projects show how we can design a warehouse specifically around operational needs and processes.
Temporary warehouses are designed to accommodate a wide range of machinery. Explore our full range of temporary warehouse solutions to see how they’re tailored to your operation.
What about telehandlers for industrial warehousing?
Telehandlers are often used alongside forklifts to support the movement of goods from yard to warehouse, sometimes from on-site laydown areas. As these have an extended reach and ability to operate on uneven they are often used for handling materials outside the structure, or working where traditional loading docks aren’t available. Within a bespoke temporary warehouse, this flexibility is fully supported. Larger door openings, considered layouts, and ground-level access allow telehandlers to integrate seamlessly into the overall warehousing flow. Compared to traditional warehouses, which are typically constrained to fixed dock arrangements and internal-only handling equipment, a tailored temporary solution enables a more adaptable approach connecting external handling with internal operations to keep materials moving efficiently from arrival through to storage.
F&L Temporary buildings provided a temporary warehouse solution, designed specifically for telehandler usage for a construction and infrastructure project. The warehouse was installed using an innovative ballast solution. In addition to short-term material storage on-site, the structure was used to safely store the machinery overnight.
Storage solutions within a temporary warehouse
Now your goods and products are in the right place, what is the most efficient way of storing them. The best options will depend on if your storage requirements are cross docking, interim, overflow, long-term storage. The internal configuration is flexible and adaptable. Within a temporary warehouse, racking systems and equipment is often fitted by our clients that is compatible with our buildings.
Storage solutions within a temporary warehouse
Now your goods and products are in the right place, what is the most efficient way of storing them. The best options will depend on if your storage requirements are cross docking, interim, overflow, long-term storage. The internal configuration is flexible and adaptable. Within a temporary warehouse, racking systems and equipment is often fitted by our clients that is compatible with our buildings.
Picking and packaging machinery
All types of machinery can operate inside a temporary warehouse. We have even built standalone structures for packaging operations. For example, we provided a structure for Matalan to do just that, it houses their specialist bailing machinery and gives them dry and protected space to process packaging products and materials. If you have require pallet wrappers such as shrink wrap machines, strapping machines or void fill machines to operate within your temporary warehouse, they can all be integrated into the design and footprint or a specialist structure can be installed for this particular process, depending on your workflow.
Automated and robotic machinery
Automated systems can also be accommodated within a temporary warehouse, with structures designed to support larger-scale, high-performance operations. We offer warehouse spans of 40m wide, with unlimited length options. Large clear spans, generous eaves heights up to 8m, and unobstructed internal layouts allow for the integration of conveyor systems, sorting lines, and even robotic handling solutions, again depending on the ground surface. This creates a streamlined flow of goods from picking through to dispatch, reducing manual handling and improving efficiency.
Goods out and dispatch
A temporary warehouse building can significantly enhance goods-out and dispatch operations by creating a space specifically designed for speed, flow, and outward movement. With ground-level, flush access and wide door openings, goods can move efficiently from picking and staging areas directly to loading vehicles, reducing handling time and eliminating unnecessary bottlenecks. If your stored product is heading back into other areas of your site, we can position the building and design door locations for maximum efficiency. For example, we provided a bespoke structure with aligned door openings to allow a client to transfer product between their main building and the structure, again suitable for FLTs.
Now see what it costs to build a temporary warehouse
The machinery you use, from forklifts to telehandlers plays a key role in how your warehouse should be designed, influencing everything from layout and access to overall efficiency. You might want to learn more about how much it costs to build a temporary warehouse.
