Design of a warehouse layout and order and delivery process within third-party logistics

Purpose -3PL warehouse operations play a significant role in a company's supply chain and it is important to remain competitive by constantly working on continuous development of internal processes to remain a relevant player with maintained and strengthened competitiveness.To maintain competitiveness, it is common for companies to gradually expand or move operations to modern facilities.Therefore, the purpose of this study is:To investigate the relationship between warehouse layout design and the order & delivery process within 3PL warehouse operations.To answer the purpose of the study, two questions have been formulated:1) What factors influence the relationship between the design of the warehouse layout and the order & delivery process?2) How can a 3PL-warehouse operation adapt the order & delivery process to the strengths of the warehouse layout?Method -The study is a case study and was conducted at a company with 3PL warehousing operations.The study is of both qualitative and quantitative nature.Data was collected using interviews, observations and document studies at the case company Findings -The study shows that the design of the warehouse layout has a direct impact on the efficiency of a 3PL-warehouse operation's order and delivery process, where flow layout, zoning and item placement are crucial to reducing internal transport distances.A strategically well-planned warehouse layout enables scalability, flexibility and adaptation as the 3PL warehouse operation evolves.Implications -The study provides insights into how layout changes can support operational efficiency in 3PL-warehouse operations.The results provide practical guidance when planning future warehouse designs and implementing customer-specific solutions.Limitations -The study only includes the processes within Order to Delivery.Other processes are excluded from the scope of the study.The study is based on only one case, which means that the generalizability of the study is questionable.The study is intended to function as a decision support, which means that the study does not concern the actual decision or implementation.