Logistics yard layout example: laydown, storage and truck movements

What the layout needs to solve

A yard is a small traffic system. Trucks arrive, unload or load, and leave. Materials are stored, picked and moved. People walk between offices, storage and vehicles. The layout should make the safe path the easy path, with enough room for the largest vehicle to turn.

Step by step

1. Calibrate the yard. Put your site plan on the satellite map at true scale and draw the site boundary.
2. Gates first. Mark the entry and exit gates. Separate gates make a one-way loop much easier.
3. Truck route. Draw a one-way delivery route through the yard and check it with true-size trucks and semi-trailers from the SITE OBJECTS library.
4. Loading bays. Place loading bays along the route so trucks never need to reverse across a walkway.
5. Laydown and storage. Set out laydown areas and containers next to the loading bays, grouped by what is stored there.
6. Water and services. Add water tanks, refuelling or wash-down areas where vehicles can reach them without blocking the route.
7. People. Draw pedestrian walkways and crossings, and place site offices and parking away from the truck loop.
8. Export. Print a PDF with a legend and north arrow for inductions and the gatehouse.

Tips

• Drag a semi-trailer along the route to spot tight corners early.
• Use exclusion zones to mark no-go areas around machinery.
• Update the plan in phases as stockpiles grow and shrink.

Watch a whole plan being built

See every step in one go in How to Make a Site Logistics Plan from Scratch | Full Build on YouTube. In about 15 minutes it builds a complete plan in 10 steps, from calibrating the drawing to the map through to the site boundary, a tower crane, water tanks, routes, phases and export.