STOKA / Warehouse processes
A warehouse runs out of space long before it is full: the volume above working height goes unused, and aisles take up floor area that stores nothing. Before you rent additional square meters, STOKA measures how much capacity is still available in the building you already pay for.
Tell us your problemA warehouse signals that its layout has fallen short long before the space actually runs out. In a site survey those signals come down to one indicator: volumetric occupancy, the volume in use divided by the volume available below storage height.
Pallets sit on the floor while the top levels of the racking stay empty, because no one reaches them comfortably with the forklifts on site.
Whatever does not fit in its location ends up parked in the aisle: circulation area starts storing pallets, and every move takes a little longer.
An operator pulls down two or three pallets to reach the one that is needed, then puts them back. That time shows up in no report.
Part of the inventory has moved to a rented building, and every order now calls for a decision about which site it ships from.
STOKA answers one question: how much more capacity fits in the building you already have, with no construction and no move. It measures actual occupancy, both floor and volume, classifies products with an ABC analysis, which separates what moves every day from what barely moves at all, and proposes new zoning. It delivers the drawing with assigned storage locations and the relocation plan by zone, supports the internal move and trains each shift.
The redesign runs in five steps, each one with its own deliverable. The schedule is set after the site survey: it depends on the floor area and on the number of storage locations.
A STOKA technician walks the warehouse with the building drawing, measures clear height, aisles, columns and existing locations, and records actual occupancy. The warehouse manager flags what the drawing does not show.
STOKA requests movement records for a representative period that includes peak season, and classifies products by rotation and by load unit. That file is exported by the systems manager.
Engineering presents two zoning scenarios, each with its drawing, the pallet positions it gains and what it requires in forklifts and procedures. The operations manager picks one.
Relocation advances zone by zone, in the order the operation allows and in the sequence agreed with the warehouse manager. STOKA delivers the new labeling and trains each shift.
The same indicators measured at the start are compared: volumetric occupancy, available positions and travel per order. In the same project we show you how far the layout improvement goes and where an automated system starts to make sense.
There is one case where this work is not the right one: when the problem is the procedure and not the space. If orders leave late because no one confirms the location when product is put away, adding structure on top of a procedure that is not followed only locks the disorder in higher up. We say so, and we start with the process.
A square meter that stores nothing costs the same as one that does. According to CBRE's Q2 2026 survey, published by MDZ on July 20, 2026, premium warehouse rent in Greater Buenos Aires (AMBA), Argentina, stands at USD 7.33 per square meter per month. That same CBRE Q2 2026 survey puts premium vacancy in Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina, at 10.15%, with negative net absorption.
Building is not the fast way out either: in Argentina, a new industrial warehouse costs USD 180 to 430 per square meter, according to OneMake, June 2026. All three are Argentine figures, not regional averages: they put a price on the floor area your company already rents and does not use. The comparison between renting, building and going vertical has its own notes.
Clear height, floor condition and the load the slab can carry are measured in the warehouse, not estimated from a table. During the site survey, STOKA's technical team uses a laser distance meter to measure clear height below the structure, below installations —pipes, cable trays, light fixtures— and below the lowest point of the travel path, records columns and access points, and maps the fire protection system, which limits how high the load can go.
Floor flatness and permissible load are set by the manufacturer of the equipment you choose, and compliance is verified by a licensed professional engineer with the corresponding measurement. If a value does not work out, the project changes shape: a different system configuration, or the floor work indicated by whoever measured it. You receive the measurement and the alternatives before you decide.
Once height is used up to where your forklifts reach and the aisle cannot be narrowed further without slowing the operation down, the square meter stops paying off through reorganization. That is where vertical densification comes in: an automated system works above an operator's working reach and needs no maneuvering aisle, because the machine goes in where the equipment goes in today. Compared with a conventional selective pallet racking system, storage density can reach up to three times the current figure and free up to 66% of the floor space in use, depending on the project configuration.
when automating a warehouse makes sense, and with which technology
It depends on the volumetric occupancy the warehouse has today, and that number comes out of the site survey, not out of a table. STOKA compares the volume in use with the volume available below storage height, and only then says how many more pallet positions fit.
Narrowing an aisle gains storage area, but it constrains which handling equipment can drive through it and how fast that equipment works. The two decisions are made together: aisle width is defined after you know which machine will operate there.
Yes. With less height available, the lever stops being volume and becomes location by rotation, zoning and aisle width. No warehouse is ruled out by its height: what changes is where the work starts and how much there is to gain.
The schedule is set after the site survey: it depends on the floor area, the number of storage locations and how many products have to be moved. STOKA does not publish an average, because a building with few product references and one with thousands are not comparable.
No. Relocation is done zone by zone and in the order the operation allows, often on the slower days or on the quieter shift. That order is defined in the implementation plan, together with the warehouse manager.
Send us the warehouse drawing and the movement records for a representative period. STOKA returns a reading of actual occupancy and of the positions you can gain in the building you already pay for. We reply within 24 business hours.