My passion for logistics didn’t reveal itself until I visited a warehouse during a Logistics Management course when I studied Business Administration at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam. That and my reading of Eliyahu Goldratt’s book The Goal sealed it for me. I needed to be in logistics and have loved it ever since.
LEGO Warehouse Design
Maybe my logistics fire would have sparked much earlier if I’d had a LEGO Warehouse like Thomas Geurts designed for LEGO Ideas when I was a kid. The small warehouse has all the main characteristics of a warehousing operation. It has pallet racking, pallets, boxes, a forklift truck and a hand pallet truck to load and unload trucks. The set also comes with a truck that can dock at one of the two loading docks. There’s a supervisor in the reception area where the drivers can report, there are three workers in the warehouse (one is on a break in the canteen), and the truck comes with a truck driver as well.
Thomas paid attention to detail. There’s a birds nest on the roof of the canteen upstairs, where the employees can have a break and drink a cup of coffee and read a newspaper (both are included). There’s an AC unit on the roof of the warehouse and the office downstairs has a computer, some mail, and an office plant. Other nice details are the big beams that run across the ceiling of the warehouse, the yellow and blue pallet racking, and the barrier between the loading docks. The whole unit is designed on a 32x32cm base. The modular design makes it easy to detach parts like the canteen, to reach the office, or the warehouse wall or roof to access the warehouse.
Thomas Geurts, who is a Customs Admin at Arvato Supply Chain Solutions, hopes his design will spark an interest in logistics.
“Supply Chain and Logistics have gotten much more mainstream attention the past years, with the supply chain issues following the Ever Given blocking the Suez canal, and the global disruption caused by the pandemic. I hope that through this set I can inspire children to find out more about the world of logistics, so they may choose a career in logistics when they grow up.”
Your Vote is Needed!
Through LEGO Ideas anybody can submit their own design like Thomas did with his “Transport Inc. a small logistics facility”. Designs that get more than 10,000 votes are officially considered by LEGO. Every month several designs that have reached 10,000 votes are selected and LEGO produces and releases them. This is where you come in. Thomas needs your help to reach 10,000 votes. Here’s how you can help:
- Go to the LEGO Ideas website and create an account
- Visit the Transport Inc., a small logistics facility page
- Support the project by hitting the Support button
- Let your colleagues and friends know about this project, and ask them to support it as well
I hope Thomas’ Idea will be produced. I will absolutely buy one.
If this is a success, maybe the next step is a LEGO Technics automated warehouse with actual robots moving through it…
