Modular offices, also called prefabricated offices, are buildings-within-buildings 
that can be customized for a great variety of uses. At DAK, we’ve worked with businesses to install a variety of pre-engineered structures inside warehouses. Let’s take a look at the most common ways that modular offices can be used to increase the comfort and efficiency of your warehouse space.
Office Space for Management or Staff
We’ll start with the most obvious use of modular warehouse structures: creating additional office space for your management team. Modular offices give the leadership team in the warehouse a place to use the computer, engage with employees, and fill out their paperwork. They also offer privacy when managers need to make business-related phone calls or have meetings with staff.
Of course, it’s not just warehouse managers who might need a relatively-quiet place to go in a warehouse. Sometimes it’s those who are in charge of inventory; other times it could even be salesmen. After all, some warehouses contain everyone who is employed by the business. The modular office might be the only place where all of the staff, including HR, works on a daily basis.
Staff Lunch and Break Rooms
Modular offices can also create a friendly break room for employees to help them recharge. These prefab office structures can be customized with comforting lighting and other amenities such as refrigerators, microwaves, toaster ovens, and vending machines. Fill it with tables and chairs and you have a great place where workers can congregate.
Here’s a little secret that we suggest you keep to yourself: yes, these warehouse prefabs create a place for employees to relax. But it also keeps them on-site. Instead of leaving the warehouse and heading to the local Applebee’s (where they’ll probably spend more than their allotted hour-long lunch break), they’ll be more likely to stay in the break room and be more apt to get back to work on time.
Quality Assurance and Testing
You want to ensure that whatever is going out of your warehouse or assembly stations is up to your standards. But in many cases, this requires a set-aside space so that tested and untested products can be kept separate. The more delineated those spaces are, the greater the chance that you’re actually providing proper quality assurance.
Clean Rooms
If you are in need of a clean room, modular offices can accommodate you. There are a variety of levels of clean rooms; not all of them have to be up to the level of a NASA satellite going into space! Some can simply be a dust-free environment that a product enters before it is cleaned, sealed up, and shipped.
Shipping and Receiving
Businesses require different levels of shipping and receiving. Those that need carton flow racks might have an entire section of the warehouse devoted to picking and packing, something that tends to be too big for a modular office. But other businesses might be more focused on bulk shipments, which calls for a smaller space for shipping and receiving of a considerably smaller number of packages. Prefab interior buildings and stations can provide the right place for this type of work, away from the hustle and bustle of the warehouse floor.
You Don’t Have To Choose Just One Purpose
A modular structure in a warehouse doesn’t just have to be one thing. In fact, one heavy duty structure can play many parts in improving the efficiency and privacy of a warehouse.
Here’s the perfect example. We worked with a custom die manufacturer in order to make the most of their space. This custom prefab office actually fulfilled three separate needs. First, it contains the employee break room, complete with comfortable lighting, coffee, refrigerators, and a Pepsi machine. On the other half was office space, giving multiple people a place to work with the door closed. Finally, there is a covered area that’s still open to the warehouse, making it easily accessible for testing and inspection.
If you’re intrigued by modular warehouses, be sure to read our other articles about the benefits of modular offices and the cost-efficiency of modular offices vs. permanent construction. Then reach out to the experts at DAK. As partners to the leading prefab office providers, we can recommend a modular office that’s best for your specific needs.
