Company and Project Background
Beyond the Bean is an independent business based in Bristol, specialising in manufacturing and supplying products to the café bar and food service industries, including smoothies, syrups, cookies, toppings, hot chocolate and equipment.
As the company developed new products, an efficient warehouse operation became essential to receive, store, pick and despatch goods. Beyond the Bean manufactures its syrup range in an adjacent facility, which increased stock levels to support economically sensible batch sizes.
Project Objectives
Due to business growth and range expansion, the warehouse operation at Beyond the Bean was under pressure. The company engaged SCCG to conduct a comprehensive warehouse review, with objectives to analyse the product range, recommend appropriate storage media and layout options, maximise space utilisation and determine storage and throughput capacities.
Initial Situation
The existing warehouse layout used wide-aisle pallet racking with a large area of clear floor space for marshalling. This setup was no longer suited to Beyond the Bean’s growing business needs and expanding product range and required gap analysis to identify areas for reconfiguration in line with best-practice processes.
Our Approach
As specialist warehouse design consultants, SCCG addressed the challenges through a strategic design phase followed by full implementation support. The consultants conducted an operational and capacity review, analysing current activity data and applying growth projections.
Various warehouse design options for the distribution centre (DC) were developed and modelled, covering racking and storage equipment, warehouse layout design, material handling equipment and process enhancements.
A collaborative design workshop produced finalised CAD layouts, backed by a full report explaining the recommendations. Material flow analysis was carried out to optimise space utilisation, and gaps in the existing system were identified.
Outcome
The project delivered significant improvements to Beyond the Bean’s warehouse capacity, productivity and efficiency. The redesigned operation was built to accommodate current and projected growth, with layout changes, process improvements and system enhancements providing a roadmap for the company’s expansion plans.
Conclusion
By combining a data-led capacity review with practical warehouse design and layout planning, SCCG helped Beyond the Bean move from a constrained, reactive operation to one built for future growth. The project gives the business a clear roadmap for expanding storage and throughput capacity as its product range and order volumes continue to increase, and demonstrates how the right warehouse design can turn a growth bottleneck into a scalable operation.
Get in Touch
Facing similar warehouse capacity, layout or growth challenges? Our warehouse design consultants can help you plan a solution built around your business.