MF Logistics - SPACE – THE FINAL FRONTIER

Here we are approaching a new millennium; technology is taking us all into places we never dreamed of and what is one of the most pressing problems facing businesses of all shapes and sizes – SPACE.

Legislation and government bodies demand we keep all our business records for numerous years which is all very well for them, but where do we keep this ever increasing mountain of paperwork?

Corridors, kitchens, lofts and any other possible square foot are now utilised for storage. Apart from the obvious fire, health and safety considerations is this the image you want your customers to see. Is this the image of a well-run organisation looking to a bright and professional future – or does it say that we have a problem but are not sure how to address it.

Companies are extremely conscious of all overheads and expenses, premises will always be a major consideration when the accountants get their pens out. In the age of downsizing and third party contracting could this problem be more commercially addressed? The cost per square foot of city centre office space is roughly three times more expensive than out of town industrial units – what does that tell us.

It highlights two options. Firstly you can take a lease on an appropriate sized unit which you can use for keeping all the dormant files. This leaves you with the benefit of knowing exactly where everything is at any point in time. The downside for this option is TIME, and as everybody knows TIME = MONEY.

When you operate your own off-site facility you must add into the equation the initial cost of getting all the items to the destination, transport costs can be much higher than you initially thought because paper is a very heavy commodity. How many members of your staff will be needed to prepare and assist in the operation? What will happen once everything arrives in your unit, will it be arranged in some sort of order or just stacked haphazardly to save time? If there is no basic system how can anything be successfully retrieved when required in the future. Again how much time will be involved when you have to send a member of staff to find a file or document and there is no easy recognition system. It could take hours to travel to the unit, then locate the items and eventually return to base. Would you consider this an efficient way of using valuable working time.

The second option available is to use a professional archiving company, but what does this add to the equation. The benefits are easy to describe. Once you have negotiated the costs, long-term budgets can be put into place to despatch matter on a regular basis. If you choose the right company they will have a tracking system in their premises which can locate any item instantly. This can be delivered back to you as required, again at a pre-determined cost. The premises where the archives are stored should be sound, environmentally controlled and highly secure. If you visit the company prior to signing any contract I am sure you will be able to make your own judgement as to how suitable they are for your particular business.

The case against this option is cost – or should I say perceived cost. Yes this type of a service has an actual monetary cost to be paid but how do you then balance this against what you could possibly gain. The most obvious advantage is a neat and tidy working environment, which some will say could actually improve productivity. Now that you have freed up the old storeroom, what are you going to do with it – could it be used to become commercially advantageous through introducing a revenue generating process? This could be either a new member of staff or even another machine to increase your capacity for business. It may solve a problem you have regarding future expansion, to grow within existing premises is much more cost effective than having to move to new larger ones and all the difficulties associated with that.

Having introduced the demon word technology at the beginning of this article, I will now take you into that “Brave New World”.

This problem of retaining documents is not going away, if anything it will increase pressures on already tight budgets simply because the concept of the “paperless office” can never be a reality for many sections of the business community. As our life expectancy grows longer, if nothing else our medical records will have to be kept for a few extra years.

The “year 2000 bug” has concentrated many minds on the subject of computers and their uses and I suspect it has been a major catalyst for businesses upgrading systems. With this in mind we come on to the use of having data scanned on to a CD, this gives almost instantaneous retrieval and the capacity to reproduce documents if necessary.

One CD has the capacity to store the equivalent to six drawers of a standard filing cabinet. This opens new worlds for all of us. Yes it is possible to work from home, with all our files on a few CDs - the spare room could easily become a full working office. This solution can also be networked for multi-user or multi-site facilities. All those times you needed a file and found someone else working with it can be nothing more than a distant (but frustrating) memory. Add to all this not having to worry about the new office junior misfiling important customer information and you begin to see the opportunities unfold in front of you.

For those of you out there (and I know you exist) just think how wonderful it would be if you could take your whole office with you on holiday!!

The rest of us will now have an introduction to one of those problems that may not have surfaced yet, but it is there, and we will have to address it in the not too distant future.

BEAM ME UP SCOTTIE!!

About the Author
Mike Forryan has some 30 years experience in business processes and has worked for UK, European and US multinationals in various rolls including business development and troubleshooter.

He now runs his own Supply Chain Resources business which includes interim management, consultancy, recruitment and business health checks.