Barakat is one of the UAE’s leading fresh food companies, specializing in the sourcing, processing, manufacturing, and distribution of fresh fruits, vegetables, juices, ready-to-eat, and ready-to-cook food products. Established in 1976 and headquartered in Dubai, the company serves a diverse customer base including retail chains, hotels, restaurants, airline caterers, and direct consumers across the UAE. With an extensive cold chain network, processing facilities, and distribution infrastructure, Barakat has established itself as a trusted provider of high-quality fresh food products and value-added food solutions.
Barakat was operating its finished goods warehousing and order processing activities within the available space at its manufacturing facility. As business volumes continued to grow, the existing facility faced increasing pressure on storage capacity, order processing operations, and production expansion requirements.
To support future growth, Barakat decided to develop a dedicated Finished Goods Distribution Centre on an adjacent plot. The new facility was intended not only to accommodate growing storage and fulfilment requirements but also to release valuable space within the manufacturing plant for future production expansion.
While the initial master plan and building layout had already been developed, Coign was engaged to validate the facility design, align the infrastructure with operational requirements, and develop a warehouse solution capable of supporting efficient cold chain operations, high-volume order fulfilment, and future scalability.
The proposed facility needed to support multiple warehouse functions including receiving, storage, picking, sorting, staging, and dispatch within a temperature-controlled environment. The challenge was to create a layout that maximized storage and processing capacity while maintaining efficient material flow and cold chain integrity.
The existing operation faced challenges due to dense storage practices and the absence of structured location management. While maximizing storage capacity was important, the new facility required a storage strategy that balanced capacity utilization with accessibility, picking efficiency, and operational productivity.
The business handled a mix of bulk and loose-order fulfilment requirements across multiple delivery routes and customer channels. Designing a warehouse capable of processing growing order volumes efficiently while minimizing handling effort and maintaining order accuracy was a critical requirement.
Warehouse operations were largely dependent on manual processes with limited system support. The absence of location-controlled inventory management, system-directed operations, and automated sorting processes increased dependency on manpower and limited operational scalability.
The facility needed to efficiently manage both storage inventory and route-wise dispatch staging within the same temperature-controlled environment. The challenge was to optimize utilization of chilled infrastructure while maintaining clear segregation between storage and dispatch activities and ensuring smooth movement of material throughout the facility.
Coign transformed the initial building concept into a purpose-built distribution facility by aligning the infrastructure with Barakat's operational requirements. Recommendations on dock positioning, building configuration, floor allocation, clear heights, material movement paths, office placement, utility locations, and traffic circulation ensured that the facility was designed around operational efficiency rather than purely architectural considerations.
This created a scalable warehouse infrastructure capable of supporting future business growth while maximizing the utilization of available space.
A lean warehouse operating model was developed with clearly defined receiving, storage, picking, sorting, staging, and dispatch zones. Material flow was designed to eliminate conflicting movements, minimize travel distances, reduce handling touchpoints, and create a seamless movement of products through the facility.
The resulting design improved throughput; reduced operational bottlenecks, and enhanced overall warehouse productivity.
Rather than focusing solely on storage density, the storage strategy was designed around product characteristics, inventory profiles, and order fulfilment requirements. Structured location management and optimized slotting methodologies ensured that products remained easily accessible while maximizing storage utilization.
This significantly improved inventory visibility, reduced search and retrieval times, minimized unnecessary material handling, and enhanced picking efficiency.
A future-ready fulfilment model was developed to support both bulk and loose-order processing requirements. The design incorporated system-driven inventory management principles and evaluated the integration of barcode-enabled processes, automated sorting methodologies, and pick-to-light / put-to-light technologies to improve order processing efficiency.
The proposed approach reduced manual dependency, improved order accuracy, increased processing speed, and established a scalable platform capable of supporting growing order volumes.
The warehouse design incorporated dedicated sorting and route consolidation processes that enabled efficient segregation of orders prior to dispatch. By creating structured order processing workflows and route-wise staging areas, the design reduced handling effort, improved dispatch readiness, and enhanced delivery responsiveness.
This established a more organized and efficient outbound operation capable of supporting increasing customer service expectations.
A key feature of the design was the dual utilization of chilled space for both inventory storage and route-wise dispatch staging. The facility was configured to maintain clear segregation between storage and dispatch operations while maximizing utilization of expensive temperature-controlled infrastructure.
This improved space efficiency, reduced infrastructure duplication, and supported more effective management of cold chain operations.
The proposed operating model established the foundation for a transition from manual and paper-based operations to a system-driven warehouse environment. The introduction of location-controlled inventory management, system-directed processes, and technology-enabled fulfilment workflows improved process discipline, inventory control, and operational visibility.
This created a more scalable and resilient operation capable of supporting future business growth.
Through facility validation, warehouse design, process optimization, and technology enablement, Coign developed a future-ready finished goods distribution centre framework for Barakat. The solution enabled the separation of warehousing and manufacturing activities, creating additional capacity for production expansion while establishing a dedicated distribution platform for future growth.
By combining optimized cold chain infrastructure, efficient material flows, structured inventory management, and scalable fulfilment processes, the proposed facility established the foundation for improved operational efficiency, enhanced service performance, and long-term supply chain scalability.
