5.2.5 Sizing of the shipping zone
The key factors that need to be taken into account in sizing the shipping zone are similar to those considered for the receiving zone, with the difference that it is sometimes necessary to consider the presence of equipments complementary to the shipping (packaging materials, material packaging lines, scales, labelling lies etc.). In general, it should be observed that the shipping zone can be smaller than the receiving zone since shipping is under the direct control of the warehouse manager, so that suitable planning can limit the traffic congestion of the outgoing packages. The number of docking doors of the shipping zone is determined by using formula (5.11), taking into account that the relevant parameters should be referred to the outgoing operations. However, it should be observed that, in the case of a warehouse with a flow-through layout, the number of docking doors for the incoming and outgoing operations of the warehouse is generally the same. Every docking door can be empirically limited to about 45m2 of shipping zone. However, the sizes Lx and Ly of the shipping zone can be determined also as a function of the selected warehouse layout. For example, the size Ly coincides with the corresponding size of the receiving zone in the flow-through-type warehouse; in contrast, the sizes Lx of the receiving and of the shipping zones will coincide in U-shaped warehouses.