Moving offices can be a whirlwind, even for employees. Between packing, settling into a new workspace, and navigating potential disruptions, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. But fear not! Let’s discuss 4 essential tips to help you navigate a corporate relocation smoothly and minimize stress.
Benefits of a Commercial Relocation Company: Costs, Services, and More
When it comes time for your business to relocate, it’s important to have a plan. This planning is especially critical when it comes to a large-scale move, like a commercial relocation. A commercial relocation company can help take the stress out of the move and ensure that everything goes smoothly. In this blog, we’ll discuss some of the benefits of working with a professional relocation company like Relocation Strategies and everything else you need to know.
What is a Commercial Relocation Company?
A commercial relocation company is just what it sounds like, a company that helps commercial companies relocate – aka, move! But they’re so much more than just muscle for hire. They’re a team of experts who can streamline your entire move, saving you time, money, and stress.
Types of Services Offered
Commercial relocation companies offer a wide range of services to streamline your move and minimize disruption. Here’s a breakdown of some of the key services you can expect:
- Packing and unpacking
- Moving and transportation
- Furniture and cubicle disassembly and reassembly
- Furniture procurement
- On-site project management
- Vendor management
- IT equipment relocation
- Offsite storage
- Post-move cleaning
- Workplace setup
- FF&E disposal
- Construction project management
7 Benefits of a Commercial Relocation Company
Moving a business is stressful and expensive. It doesn’t have to be with a commercial relocation company! Here are 7 benefits of hiring the professionals:
1. Expertise
A professional commercial relocation company will have the expertise needed to relocate your business quickly and efficiently. They will know how to pack and ship your property safely and securely, and they will have the resources necessary to handle every aspect of the move.
2. Commercial Relocation Costs
Don’t underestimate the hidden costs of a DIY move! Commercial relocation teams leverage their buying power to secure discounts on packing materials, shipping, and labor compared to what you’d pay individually. This, combined with their expertise in minimizing damage and maximizing efficiency, can significantly reduce your overall commercial relocation costs.
3. Time Savings
A commercial relocation company can help you save time as well as money. They will handle all of the details of the move, from packing to shipping to unpacking, planning to execution. This means that you can focus on running your business rather than worrying about logistics.
4. Stress Reduction
A large-scale commercial relocation can be a very stressful event. Working with a professional company can help reduce this stress, leaving you free to focus on your business goals. A project manager will be responsible for overseeing the move and ensuring that everything goes according to plan.
5. Reduced Risk
Professional movers are trained in proper packing and handling techniques to minimize the risk of damage to your valuable equipment and furniture during the move. They also ensure the secure transportation and storage of sensitive equipment and documents like in a data center move, thus greatly reducing risk.
6. Improved Safety
Commercial movers understand the importance of safety when handling heavy equipment and navigating tight spaces. This can help prevent workplace injuries for your employees during the relocation process.
7. Increased Employee Productivity
A smooth and efficient move minimizes disruption to your employees’ work routine. This can lead to increased productivity and less downtime compared to a DIY move.
Best Commercial Relocation Companies
When choosing a commercial relocation company, it’s important to do your research. Make sure to choose a company with a good reputation and plenty of experience relocating businesses. The benefits of working with a professional company are undeniable, so don’t hesitate to call us when it’s time for your company to move!
Whether you have outgrown your previous space, need a downgrade, or are moving for geographic reasons, developing a warehouse transition plan is crucial for success. Going into a complex move without a strategy can feel like moving skids without a pallet jack. To make the process easier, think about every component of your move early and often. This will help prepare you and your team for the massive undertaking that lies ahead.
Every facility requires a unique strategy, so finding a ready-made guide for your specific situation is impossible. This warehouse transition plan serves as a starting point for planning the relocation, but contacting an experienced industrial relocation company is the best way to ensure everything is handled.
Components of a Warehouse Transition Plan
There is an overwhelming amount of preparation involved with planning a warehouse move. Reserve a heavy equipment transportation freighter 6-12 months in advance to ensure availability for your anticipated move. Establishing your move date and giving yourself a tangible deadline enables you to begin setting progress goals that ensure your move goes smoothly.The components of your warehouse transition plan include:
1) Finding a Space
2) Administrative Work
3) Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory
4) Decommissioning Old Space
5) Transportation
6) Settling into Your New Space
1) Finding a Space
First, you will need to identify prospective spaces and make sure that they are suitable for your needs. There are many things to consider during this phase, and it is arguably one of the most important steps. Obtain floor plans and use CAD software to ensure the new warehouse meets your space requirements. Pay special attention to ceiling heights and account for sprinkler systems. This will help determine if your current racking will fit in the new warehouse.
Moving to a new location also allows you to establish a more efficient operation, so identify potential improvements and challenges during your search:
• Are there any areas of the warehouse that are prone to congestion?
• Is popular inventory easily accessible?
• Are aisles wide enough for forklifts to easily maneuver?
• Is there ample parking and public transportation for employees?
2) Administrative Work
Once your new location has been decided, the administrative work will begin. From finalizing the lease to vendor and employee relations, the administrative work consumes a lot of bandwidth. Ideally, your warehouse transition plan will have a dedicated project manager handling all aspects of the move without having to split their focus on operational tasks. If you aren’t able to have one dedicated person handle all tasks, assign individual members of your team a specific role. The individual project managers should maintain an open line of communication and provide regular updates to each other.
Warehouse Transition Employee Roles
• Lease Coordination: Depending on the size of your move, there will be at least two leases in play. Finalizing the lease and securing a move-in date for the new location will be priority one. Once you have accomplished this, focus on exiting your current lease.
• Freight Acquisition: Moving heavy equipment and pallets of inventory relies on specialty freight trucks. These vehicles tend to have a long wait time for booking, so early planning is key to securing the necessary freight.
• Inventory and Productivity Management: Moving an entire warehouse typically means disrupting your supply chain. By dedicating an employee to manage inventory and productivity, you stand the best chance of maintaining fulfillment during the move.
• Personnel Planning: Responsible for maintaining communication with employees and determining staffing requirements at the new location. Whether it’s packing inventory, cleaning, or breaking down equipment, most employees will have an additional job to help prepare for the move. The personnel planner needs to make sure that the employees know how they will help during the move. Keep the employees up to speed on the progress of the move and make them aware of specific deadlines for their assigned tasks.
• Vendor Relations: Suppliers, utility companies, government agencies, customers, and partners. All of these groups will be affected by your move, and they must be made aware of your plan to relocate. The person in charge of vendor relations will need to communicate the change of address and date of completion to all parties.
3) Shipping, Receiving, and Inventory
If you designated individual project managers to handle each task in step 2, the inventory and productivity management appointee will need to determine when purchase order deliveries should be received at the new location. Diverting shipments to the new location will cut back on the amount of inventory that needs to be moved. It can also help minimize costs and expedite the transition.
A second important component of inventory logistics is creating a designated area for continued operations in your existing space. If your layout permits you to do so, keeping an area that operates independently of the rest of the warehouse will help to decrease the potential chaos of a transition and keep operations running smoothly.
One final consideration related to shipping, receiving, and inventory relates to determining how inventory will move through the location. Consult the floor plans and outline an inventory flow to show how inventory will be received, stored, and shipped. This is your chance to optimize the process and correct any inefficiencies in your current flow.
4) Decommissioning Old Space
The most laborious step of your warehouse transition plan involves physically preparing for the move. Decommissioning a warehouse involves many of the same tasks involved with decommissioning an office space. However, the larger scale of the furniture, fixtures, and equipment (FF&E) requires additional effort and planning.
Each employee will most likely have a task to prepare for the move. The task could involve taking a physical inventory at the SKU level. It could also involve more traditional decommissioning tasks like packing, tearing down equipment, and cleaning. If you find that your workforce is stretched too thin, and can’t finish the warehouse decommission in time, you must outsource the work.
When decommissioning the old space, pay attention to dead and aged inventory that will not be moving to the new location. This inventory can be donated for tax benefits or disposed of, usually for a fee. Eliminating the unnecessary inventory before the move will help decrease overall stress and make the project less overwhelming.
TIP: Determine the storage locations at the new warehouse early on and assign each bay an identifying code. When you are loading and shrink-wrapping pallets at your old location, mark each pallet with the appropriate code to make re-stocking the new warehouse easier.
5) Transportation
Moving the equipment to your new location is a massive undertaking, and you should make arrangements well in advance. We recommend securing the freight trucks at least 6 months before your planned move date to ensure their availability. If your warehouse requires specialty vehicles, such as reefers or other climate-controlled transportation, you may need to start planning even sooner.
You will also need to ensure that you have the appropriate rigging to move the heavy equipment and machinery that populates your warehouse. Failing to obtain qualified operators can result in irreparable damages and costly delays. We recommend looking for a CCO-certified operator who has a verifiable history of success.
Moving the inventory is the final piece of the transportation phase, and it requires the most thought. Strategically staging the inventory for transportation will help your warehouse continue to operate during the otherwise tumultuous period of relocation. Pay special care to maintain accurate documentation of inventory during the transition period.
6) Settling into Your New Space
Since you took care to organize your inventory and performed detailed space planning for the new location, settling into the new warehouse will be relatively straightforward. If you haven’t already informed the appropriate parties of your move, now is the time to make everyone aware of your new address. Below is a list of parties who should know that your address has changed. Please note that this list is not comprehensive, and you may need to notify additional parties of your move.
• Utility companies (Electric, water, internet, gas)
• Customers
• Banks and financial institutions
• Insurance companies
• Food and beverage services
• Business partners
• Government agencies (IRS, Secretary of State, Postal Service, local tax collector)
Other than physically settling in and communicating your new location to relevant stakeholders, you will need to bring your employees up to speed on the procedures for the new location. We suggest holding an orientation in which you implement a walkthrough of the new space with your team. They should be briefed on safety protocols, provided with appropriate security and entrance codes, informed of parking procedures, given internet access information, and made aware of any new changes.
Help from an Industrial Relocation Company
One person cannot handle all of the moving parts involved with an industrial relocation. Having a warehouse transition plan helps organize the undertaking, but your best chance for an efficient and stress-free move is to seek the services of an industrial relocation company. By delegating the task to an experienced professional, your team can focus on doing what they do best while the relocation project manager handles the tedious details.
At Relocation Strategies, we have been providing relocation services for industrial companies for over 25 years. During that time we have developed a reliable network of vendors who are trustworthy and efficient. If you are planning an industrial move, whether it’s a factory, warehouse, lab, or other industry that requires specialized transportation equipment and advanced logistics, you don’t have to go at it alone. Chat with one of our industrial relocation project managers today to see how we can remove stress from your relocation.
Making a business relocation can be a complex project, especially without the right guidance. Hiring a professional business relocation team or relocation project manager to manage the move is essential if you want to ensure it goes smoothly and with minimal disruption to your operations.
Collaboration
Relocation projects require collaboration between various departments, such as IT, HR, and operations, so having a lead consultant to drive the project forward is highly beneficial. An experienced business relocation consultant can help you make an informed decision about the best solutions for your business. This will ensure that all areas of the relocation are addressed in accordance with industry best practices.
Proper Planning
A professional business relocation team can also be responsible for assisting in communications with stakeholders, planning and coordinating the move, and managing all aspects of the relocation project. They can assist with budgeting, selecting moving companies, arranging for the necessary permits and licenses, and addressing any legal issues that may arise during the relocation process.
Staff Protocols
A business relocation consultant or project manager can also provide guidance on cultural considerations that should be taken into account when relocating, such as local labor laws and language barriers. They can also help you manage employee relocation issues and assist with the transition of employees to their new location.
Your Business Relocation Team
Hiring an experienced professional is essential to ensure that your relocation project is successful and that you are able to minimize disruption to your operations. By working with a relocation project manager, you can make the transition to your new location easier, smoother, and more successful for customers, staff, and the business as a whole. Investing in professional assistance will help ensure that your relocation is properly planned and managed. Relocation Strategies is here is your business relocation team, get in touch today to learn how we can help you make the most out of this process.
Relocating a manufacturing plant can be an extremely complex and costly endeavor, but one that can ultimately be beneficial for a business. Taking the time to carefully plan and consider your relocation strategy is essential for making sure the relocation process will be successful. Before embarking on this potentially daunting task, there are three primary considerations that should not be overlooked in the relocation of a manufacturing plant.
Setting Your Manufacturing Plant Relocation Up For Success
The first consideration is to hire an experienced relocation project manager. Having someone who has gone through the relocation process dozens times and understands the complex details involved can be invaluable in making sure each step of the process goes smoothly. A relocation project manager should have extensive experience in manufacturing plant relocation, as well as knowledge of local regulations and laws.
Create Your Relocation Plan
The second consideration is to create a relocation plan that takes into account not just the relocation of equipment, but also relocation of personnel, shipping and storage needs, communication systems, and other important details associated with the relocation. It’s also important to build in contingencies for unanticipated difficulties during the relocation process. A relocation plan should also take into account any potential disruptions to business operations during relocation, and make sure that there is a plan for minimizing these disruptions.
Manage Your Relocation Budget
The third consideration is managing your relocation budget. Having an accurate and detailed relocation budget will ensure that you are able to stay within your financial means when relocating a manufacturing plant. It’s important to factor in relocation costs such as relocation services, equipment and personnel relocation, shipping and storage expenses, communication systems set up fees, and any other potential relocation expenses. By carefully managing your relocation budget you can help ensure that the relocation process is successful and cost-effective.
Relocating a Manufacturing Plant
By taking into account these three primary considerations when relocating a manufacturing plant, you can help ensure that the relocation process goes as smoothly and cost-effectively as possible. Hiring an experienced relocation project manager, creating a relocation plan and managing your relocation budget are all essential steps in making sure that the relocation of a manufacturing plant is successful and beneficial for business.
Business relocation is a complex and demanding process that business owners must face at some point. It requires careful planning, organization, and management. This is why hiring a business relocation consultant or project manager can be highly beneficial to make the transition smoother and faster.
What is a Business Relocation Consultant?
A business relocation consultant is an experienced professional who assists business owners with the relocation process from start to finish. They will provide guidance and advice on the best strategies for business relocation, such as assessing space requirements, determining the most efficient layout, and developing a timeline for completion. These individuals can either connect you with or perform the roles of a business relocation project manager. They will take charge of the entire process by managing all aspects of business relocation including budgeting, scheduling, facility setup and equipment installation, as well as overseeing and coordinating other business relocation services.
Why do I need a Relocation Management Project Manager?
When business owners decide to move their business from one location to another, there are many aspects that need to be taken into consideration. Some of the most common issues that can occur during business relocation include:
1. Poor budgeting: Without an accurate assessment of the business’s financial capabilities, business owners could end up losing money on unnecessary expenses or spending too little and compromising the business relocation’s quality.
2. Problems with logistics: Without an experienced and knowledgeable project manager, business owners could struggle to coordinate efficient business relocation services and oversee their team of professionals.
3. Unforeseen issues: With business relocations come unforeseen issues that business owners are not always prepared to handle. A business relocation project manager can help business owners identify potential problems and address them in a timely manner.
For these reasons, business owners should consider hiring a business relocation consultant or project manager to ensure the relocation process runs smoothly and efficiently with minimal disruption to their business operations.
Relocation Strategies
The team at Relocation Strategies has expertise in coordinating and managing relocations of large and small offices, as well as large corporate locations, manufacturing and production facilities, research and technical laboratories, medical clinics and more. Our consultants and project managers are here to help you through any phase of the relocation process. Reach out today to receive a free quote.