A summit focusing on the future of food and cooking held last month in food-crazy Seattle, identified a trend towards greater connectivity between budding food entrepreneurs.

It seems inevitable that robotics will continue to play a starring role within the logistics, distribution, manufacturing and transportation sectors in the very near future, and yes many, many “human” jobs will be lost.

Get up to speed with the evolution of “hub and spoke” centres.

Learn how your business can navigate the rapidly changing industrial property landscape.

How to benefit your industrial business in years to come.

The importance of having an energy plan.

How the manufacturing sector in New Zealand is evolving.

Navigating the path to a lease that suits your industrial business.

How 3PL can make your business life a whole lot easier.

How maximising the cube can improve your warehouse efficiencies.

How the changing industrial market could open up new possibilities for your business base.

Operating a business is not always plain sailing – some things are well within your control and others, completely out of your sphere of influence.

Getting the right industrial premises for your business is the key to operational success and sometimes, you need to bite the bullet and go for a purpose-built facility.

As industrial investment property continues to outperform other commercial property sectors, vacancy levels for existing industrial business premises are at historic lows – which makes it tough for those looking to lease a new industrial property for their business.

There’s been a surge of interest in the leasing of food grade premises and in particular, cold storage facilities, around the country in recent times and in some areas, there’s pent up demand thanks to tight supply.

Convenience and cost-effectiveness are the two prime benefits that come to mind when considering a live-work unit for an industrial business – but there are many others worth factoring in to the mix, too.

While owning your own warehouse or other industrial property could – on paper – seem like a smart business decision, could it be at the expense of growing or evolving your business?

If your business model includes warehousing in some form, global trends suggest that warehouses will become even hotter property on the back of changing retail practices, and where that warehouse space is physically located will change as a result.

The thing about being in the market for a new warehouse is: when you’re looking for something so big, it’s hard to think small. But when it comes to signing a years-long commercial lease, the little things are often more important than the large, obvious ones. And sometimes those obvious things should be crossed off your list all together…

To get the most out of an industrial lease in the fast-moving industrial market, a tenant may have to start thinking more like a landlord.

With a shortage of undeveloped industrial-zoned land for new-build industrial properties in most of New Zealand’s main centres, the challenge for businesses and landlords within this popular sector lies in maximising and optimising existing space in order to achieve operating efficiencies.

So you’ve answered the “where?” in the search for your next warehouse. But, before you start rolling in the moving trucks, there are many other questions to ask. Like, is there anywhere to park them?

Location – it’s so important that people usually mention it three times in a row. 

Many factory workers find out what they don’t like in a workplace the hard (labour) way, on the warehouse floor. This has lead to an industry with a notoriously high turnover – but it doesn’t have to be this way.

When your products aren’t leaving your factory or warehouse via ghost truck, they will fly out via delivery drone. And the goods themselves? They’ll pop out of a 3D printer or be assembled by an AI bot. What does this have to do with the future of industrial real estate?.