A WAREHOUSE LAYOUT FOR A FRUIT AND VEGETABLE SERVICE 

 WHOLESALER IN A TERMINAL MARKET 



By Robert K. Bogardus, industrial engineer 

 Transportation and Facilities Branch 

 Marketing Research Division 



As used in this report, the term "service wholesaler" means a wholesale 

 distributor who obtains orders for fruits and vegetables through salesmen or 

 by telephone and who makes deliveries to his customers. 



In recent years, many distributors located on terminal markets have 

 given serious thought to the problems of shifting over to a service wholesale 

 type of business. In order to operate at the lowest costs possible, they have 

 considered adopting new equipment and improved methods of handling fruits and 

 vecjetables. The wholesalers have also recognized the need for remodeling 

 existing facilities to accommodate the new equipment and to provide for 

 efficient warehousing. 



The Agricultural Marketing Service is conducting engineering research 

 which involves the development of warehouse layouts for different scales of 

 operation. The research reported here was designed to provide service whole- 

 salers with guides for the layout of a warehouse within a modern terminal 

 market facility. The basic volume selected was 1,000 carloads annually. A 

 suggested layout for a warehouse in which the depth was limited to 100 feet 

 is shown in figure 1 (p. 6 and 7). 1_/ Provision was made in this layout for 

 an orderly expansion of the facility to handle 2,000 carload equivalents. 

 Figure 2 (p. 6 and 7) shows the suggested layout after expansion. 



Wholesalers on terminal markets who do not handle a general line of 

 coimnodities or who would not be engaged in a service wholesale type of oper- 

 ation would require a different layout for their activities. 



LAYOUT REQUIREMENTS 



Characteristics of the Service Wholesale Business 



The following assumed characteristics of a service wholesale enterprise 

 were used to determine the amount of floor space required as shown in both 

 layouts: 



1. Of the 1,000 carload equivalents handled annually, railroad receipts 

 account for 450 carloads and motortruck receipts for 550 carloads. 



1_/ The layouts were developed by the McPherson Company, Architects and 

 Engineers, Greenville, S. C, under a research contract with the U. S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



Agriculture-Washington March 1958 



