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SIOR, IAMC Map Out Industrial’s “Roadmap for Change”
The Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR) in conjunction with The Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC) released a white paper titled “Roadmap for Change: The Flexible Distribution Facilities of the Future.”
SIOR’s Jim Hirt says, “This paper digs deep into the issues currently facing distribution and manufacturing centers—a major component of industrial real estate—as well as the trends and challenges that will impact this sector in the future.”
As technology saturates today’s market, emerging trends continue to challenge the commercial real estate industry to remain on top of constantly shifting practices. Global manufacturing centers see various areas of opportunity to grow alongside these innovations.
In “Roadmap for Change,” a team of engineers and architects with significant expertise in the manufacturing and industrial sector set out to explore and understand the massive changes in the distribution industry already underway. The white paper addresses the importance of facilities adopting business models that are customer-centric, with moving parts working together to optimize shipping and delivery methods. It also delves into logistical implications of warehouse infrastructure, automation technologies, before concluding with an examination of how flexibility in design, practice and other elements play a role in facilities’ ability to anticipate unforeseen change and accommodate appropriately.
Key findings:
– Manufacturers face vast supply chain implications, as technological advancements, demographic changes, and shifts in the customer-producer dynamic take permanent hold in the coming decades
– Finding ways to repurpose existing obsolete facilities may be a key to deliver innovative solutions, while addressing rising lease rates and land costs. This will also revitalize stagnant pockets of communities and reverse urban blight
– Concepts for future facilities may help strike a balance between cost-effectiveness and growing demand for just-in-time deliveries
– Six key disrupters include: global migration to megacities; self-orchestrated supply chains; robotics and automation; autonomous logistics and new modes of moving people and things; smart technologies; and industrial Internet of Things (IoT)
– Flexible future facilities will blur lines between factory and warehouse, allowing continuous reinvention
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
