How to Calculate the Storage Capacity of a Warehouse

In your warehouse or storage facility, space is arguably the most important asset but often the most difficult to get more of. Being able to store more products in your warehouse, means better utilisation, efficiency and productivity for your business.

Because of how scarce storage space can be in a warehouse, you should take the time to calculate how much capacity you currently have and how much you could have. To see how to calculate the storage capacity of a warehouse, read on to find out.

Total storage capacity – Calculation

A common pitfall made by warehouse owners is that they simply calculate the size of their warehouse and assume that’s the storage capacity. To find out how much storage space you have available, you need to follow a few steps beforehand.

1. Find the total square footage of your warehouse facility
2. Calculate the amount of space you have for non-storage purposes (office space, bathrooms, loading areas etc)
3. Subtract the square footage space used for non-storage purposes from the total square footage space of your warehouse to find the usable storage space
4. Determine the storage facility’s clear height, which is the distance from the ground floor to an overhead object. In most circumstances, this will be from the floor to the warehouse’s steel shell, but it can also be from the floor to things like overhead lights and equipment.
5. Multiply the square footage of usable storage space by the warehouse’s clear height to determine the facility’s total storage space by cubic feet.

Total storage capacity – Example

For a real-life example to follow when calculating storage capacity, see the below points using the steps laid out in the previous paragraph.

1. 200,000ft²
2. 20,000ft²
3. 200,000ft² – 20,000ft² = 180,000ft²
4. 50ft
5. 50ft x 180,000ft² = 9,000,000 cubic feet of storage capacity

Even though the 9,000,000 cubic feet is the ‘final number’, you’ll need to consider the size of your pallet racking systems, shelving and other storage systems in your warehouse.

The number of systems you have will reduce the size of your storage capacity, but having products stored in an orderly and easy-to-retrieve way, means your facility will run smoothly and in a highly efficient manner.

Warehouse Storage Systems

To find out ways on how you can maximise the efficiency of your warehouse, Oakway Storage has a number of solutions that help business’ like yours. Get in touch with one of our experts to discuss the options on how we can help you, by filling out the form below.