4 Steps to Planning a Distribution Center | PlanetTogether

When dealing with inventory and order fulfillment, it is important to have a distribution center and warehouse. While having a warehouse to store inventory sounds simple enough, there are a substantial amount of cost in holding this inventory and it is important to be able to rid yourself of it as soon as possible.

A way that can aid with the flow of product and inventory is planning out your warehouse or distribution center. Successfully planning out your distribution center should aid with moving product rather quickly and ensuring that costs are driven down while profitability is driven up. There are various benefits pertaining to planning your distribution center and in this blog, we are going to discuss the four steps to successfully planning a distribution center. 

Four Steps to Planning a Distribution Center 

The four steps to adequately aid with planning a new distribution center pertain to the following: 

• Prioritize Main Objectives - In order to know exactly what you’re looking for in a new facility it is essential to become clear about what any current plan points are. You should start by framing out goals and creating a foundation for the new space in terms of any project future growth. Then, take notes on how many SKUs you will have and flesh out any capacity needs. Once this is completed, you are then able to start singling out key objectives such as cost reduction, productivity increase, and improving customer service. 

• Collect Data - Collecting data is essential for any step within any process or planning stage. When you are considering a new space, it is extremely important to understand and document as much as possible. Ensure that physical elements of the space, the layout, internal configurations, material flows, and other components are accounted for and noted. The second critical aspect pertains to internal data. Gather any relevant product information from the amount, size, and weight of SKUs to your order history and activity logs.  

• Run Quantitative and Qualitative Analysis - It is also important to ensure that space aligns with stated goals and objectives before pressing forward with a solid plan. Otherwise, you may find yourself wasting valuable time and resources creating modifications that are unnecessary in the design process. In your quantitative analysis, you should focus on aspects such as flows, picking and storage modules, staffing, and other. Qualitatively look at things such as maintenance, automation, required training, and implementation difficulty. 

• Finalize Plans - Finally, it is time to finalize your plans. You will need to make a case for as to why moving to a new distribution center is the right move for your warehouse operation. This is the stage of the project when you should have the final layout mockups. Review these aspects carefully before signing off and they will determine how best to coordinate the arrival of essential products. Take your time in ensuring that all design specifications have been implemented according to the plan and the facility is secured. 

A software that can aid with planning production and the process pertaining to a distribution center is PlanetTogether’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software. Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software offers thorough visibility into a manufacturing operation and can aid production tremendously through cutting costs and improving profitability. PlanetTogether’s Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Software is a must for manufacturers that are seeking to enhance their production process and ultimately eliminate waste and achieve continuous improvement. APS also is important for production facilities that are seeking to achieve a competitive advantage and get ahead of others within their particular industry.  

Advanced Planning & Scheduling Software 

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software has become a must for modern-day manufacturing operations due to customer demand for increased product mix and fast delivery combined with downward cost pressures. APS can quickly integrate with a ERP/MRP software to fill gaps where these system lack planning and scheduling flexibility and accuracy.

Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) helps planners save time while providing greater agility in updating ever-changing priorities, production schedules, and inventory plans.

• Create optimized schedules balancing production efficiency and delivery performance
• Maximize output on bottleneck resources to increase revenue
• Synchronize supply with demand to reduce inventories
• Provide company-wide visibility to capacity
• Enable scenario data-driven decision making

Implementation of Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software will take your manufacturing operations to the next level of production efficiency, taking advantage of the operational data you already have in your ERP.

Video: Capacity Planning with PlanetTogether APS in Manufacturing & Distribution

Effective distribution center planning doesn’t stop at layout and racking. To keep inventory moving and service levels high, you need capacity planning that connects production, storage, labor, and shipping. PlanetTogether APS provides a real-time view of capacity across machines, lines, work centers, and critical DC resources so you can build schedules that are both feasible and efficient.

In this video, you’ll learn how PlanetTogether APS helps you:
– Visualize capacity and workload across production lines, staging areas, and distribution center activities
– Align production schedules with DC receiving, put-away, and shipping capacity so product doesn’t pile up in the wrong place
– Run what-if scenarios to see how new orders, promotions, or throughput changes will impact both plant and distribution center capacity
– Reduce overtime, bottlenecks, and last-minute carrier scrambles by planning around real constraints
– Use your existing ERP data with APS to support data-driven decisions across the entire supply chain

This video is ideal for operations leaders, production planners, and distribution center managers who want to move beyond spreadsheet-based plans and use APS to coordinate capacity from the factory floor all the way through the DC to the customer.

Key takeaways from this video:

• How PlanetTogether APS visualizes capacity and load across both production and your distribution center
• How to align production, inventory, and DC handling capacity to avoid bottlenecks and excess stock
• How what-if scenarios help you test changes in demand, layout, or throughput before committing
• How integrating APS with ERP turns your distribution center plan into a realistic, capacity-based schedule that protects service levels and profit

Turn Your Distribution Center Plan into a Profit Engine, Not a Cost Center

Designing a new distribution center isn’t just about square footage and racking—it’s about how well your layout, flows, and systems support fast order fulfillment, lower inventory, and better customer service. If planning still lives in spreadsheets, even a well-designed building can suffer from stock pileups, slow turns, and expensive scrambling to meet ship dates.

Download our one-page “The Money Is in the Planning” infographic to see how planning and scheduling gaps quietly show up as:

• Inventory sitting in the wrong place at the wrong time
• Bottlenecks at docks, staging areas, and key resources
• Extra labor, overtime, and expediting to hit carrier cut-offs
• Lost margin in an operation that looks “busy” but not efficient

Use it as a quick checklist with your team to make sure your new (or existing) distribution center is backed by the planning discipline and APS capabilities that actually protect profit.