Three Mega Warehouses That Will Make You Go ‘Wow!’
Here at Cane Toad Tough, we see a lot of warehouses. Over the years we’ve easily visited hundreds of them. And while mere size alone doesn’t really tell us anything about how a business is being run, sometimes the scale of a business or organisation’s warehouse is enough for a ‘Wow!’ right off the bat. Check out these three beauties to see what we mean!
1. Amazon Fulfilment and Distribution Centres
Amazon is the largest online retailer in the world. With this fact in mind, it figures that they have some immense logistics going on behind the scenes. Rather than acknowledge the scale of just one of their warehouses (all huge in their own right), we put these guys first due to the mind-blowing scale of their global network.
According to one source, Amazon operate a global total of 431 facilities, with 79 more in planning and/or construction stage. (You may have heard – Amazon is coming to Australia!) That’s umpteen millions of square meters of storage space, and the movement of a phenomenal amount of stock everyday! For example, one fulfilment centre alone is the equivalent of 59 football fields, and Amazon boast an inventory of over 1 million items!
Check out this video to get a small glimpse of even one of Amazon’s many distribution centres and some of their cutting edge use of technology in high turnover environments.
2. Aalsmeer Flower Auction building
Billed as ‘the largest trade building in the world’, the Aalsmeer Flower Auction in The Netherlands, is the leading global hub for flower sales. According to ‘European Traveler’, the flower auction boasts daily sales of over 20 million flowers, all stored and moved within a warehouse with an area of almost one million square metres. As ‘European Traveler’ points out, a visit to the building isn’t about seeing all of those flowers so much as it’s about seeing those immense logistics in action!
You can check out the flower auction in action with this short video. Talk about the beautiful execution of some world class logistics!
3. NASA Vehicle Assembly Building
What’s more ‘Wow!’ than walking into the epicentre of man’s mission to conquer space?! Completed in 1966, the ‘VAB’ as it’s known, is the largest single storey building in the world. Covering an area of 8 acres, with a capacity of 3,664,883 cubic meters, the VAB is a true giant.
While its sheer size is obviously impressive, we’re also blown away by some of the feats of engineering and mechanical brilliance found in the machines used in the building to assemble the rockets.
For example, according to a NASA Factsheet ‘There are five overhead cranes inside the VAB, including two that can hold 325 tons. These are critical to picking up the heaviest elements of rockets and placing them carefully into position ahead of launch. Often operated from cabs near the VAB’s ceiling, the cranes are precise enough to lower an object onto an egg without cracking it.’ That’s precision!
Your warehouse may not be able to rival these in terms of size or ‘wow factor’ (Yet!), but running a safe, efficient, profitable business is always an achievement in its own right. Cane Toad Tough would love to help you save money, time, stock and injury by bringing our revolutionary, indestructible pallet racking protection system to your warehouse. Get in touch to organise a free demo.
Image source code: JC Bonassin
