Planning an Investor's Site Visit to a Warehouse in Uzbekistan

You reach the warehouse after a long journey. The manager receives you with tea, walks you through tidy aisles, and you return to the hotel with a positive impression you cannot quite explain. Two months later you discover that what you saw was the best part of the warehouse. A site visit shows an investor what documents cannot, but only if it is planned, if you know before you arrive what you are looking for, and if you, not your host, lead the tour.

What to request before the visit

Ask for documents in advance so that you can compare what you see against them, not after you are back in your own country:

• The balance list by item and location, with its date and hour, and keep a copy.
• A plan of the warehouse and the names of its zones.
• The papers of the last count and its result.
• Receiving and dispatch records for the last month.
• The asset register, the lease and the insurance documents.
• The names and positions of the people who will meet you.

Study these papers before you travel, so that you arrive with ten specific questions and not just a general impression.

Agree in advance who will accompany you. An accountant or a local representative who reads the documents in their own language saves a great deal of translation and confusion, and an interpreter lets you talk to the people on the floor and not only to the manager. Ask permission to take photographs beforehand, since some sites restrict it, and settle it before the day and not in front of the guards at the gate. Ask for a quiet room in which to go through the papers.

What to look at on the floor

The floor speaks, if you know how to read its language:

• Aisles and pallets: are the labels readable, does what is on them match the contents, and is there random build-up?
• The dock: how is a truck received, who counts, who signs, and are remarks written down on the spot?
• The damaged and returned zone: is it separated, or are there neglected cartons in the corners?
• Upper racking and back pallets: do not settle for what is at the front.
• Storage conditions: damp, leaks, pests and heat.
• Safety and security: extinguishers, exits, lighting and cameras.
• People: do the workers know where things are without asking someone else?

Write down what you see as it is, without explaining it at once; interpret it later, calmly.

The questions to ask on the day

Put the same question to more than one person: agreement between the answers is a sign of confidence, and disagreement deserves follow-up. Ask when the last loss or theft occurred and what happened afterwards. Ask how a missing item is handled when it is found to be missing. Ask who holds the keys. Ask how the ledger is updated and at what time. Ask for a random carton to be opened in front of you and for a pallet to be counted while you watch.

A worked example: a four-hour visit schedule

This is a conditional schedule for a medium-sized warehouse:

1. 09:00: a short meeting to review the aim and the timetable, 20 minutes.
2. 09:20: a walk round the dock and the receiving area, 40 minutes.
3. 10:00: choose 10 items from the balance list and locate them on the racking, 90 minutes.
4. 11:30: review the receiving and dispatch documents for those items, 30 minutes.
5. 12:00: closing questions and notes, 30 minutes.

Accept the hospitality offered, but keep it for the break.

After the visit

Write up your notes the same day, before the details fade: what you saw, which photographs were taken with permission, and which questions remain open. Send your host a written list of the documents still missing, with a time to reply. Then decide frankly what the visit proved and what it did not. A visit gives you an impression and a direction, but it does not prove quantities, because your eyes cannot count thousands of items in a few hours. If the visit raised doubts, or the deal is large, the next step is an independent count with a documented method.

In short

A planned visit reveals a great deal: documents requested in advance, an orderly look at the floor, questions repeated to several people and items you choose yourself. WarehouseDepo does what a visit cannot: an independent team counts what is on the shelves, sets it against the books and documents it with photographs, and your representative is welcome to attend during the count.