Today, with the accelerated reconstruction of the global supply chain and the continuous explosion of e-commerce and manufacturing, warehousing has long been upgraded from a traditional cargo storage point to a core hub supporting the efficiency of the industrial chain. According to the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2023, 78% of the world’s economies are increasing their investment in warehousing infrastructure, and efficiency, durability and scalability have become the core keywords of the new generation of warehouses.
In this warehousing revolution, the combination of steel frame + composite panel is replacing traditional concrete warehouses with its disruptive performance advantages and has become a new choice for global industry and commerce. This article will combine the global warehousing trends to dismantle this solution and reveal how China’s leading company, Canglong Group, can provide you with storage warehouse construction solutions.
Ⅰ. Problems faced by warehousing
The current global warehousing demand presents three major characteristics, and the traditional construction model has been unable to cope with it:
Timeliness requirements surge: Cross-border e-commerce and instant retail promote the popularization of forward warehouses, and warehouses need to be quickly implemented (the construction period of traditional concrete warehouses is as long as 6-12 months, which is easy to miss the market window period).
Functional diversification: Cold chain, chemical industry, precision instruments and other sub-sectors have put forward differentiated requirements for warehouses such as constant temperature, moisture resistance, fire resistance, and impact resistance.
Sustainable pressure: More than 50 countries in the world have introduced “carbon reduction” policies, and traditional building materials with high energy consumption and high carbon emissions (such as concrete) face restrictions on use.
Take Europe as an example. Germany’s “Industrial Building Energy Saving Act” requires that carbon emissions of newly built industrial buildings must be reduced by 40% after 2025. Traditional concrete warehouses have been included in the “restricted list” by many countries due to their high dead weight and large amount of construction waste (more than 2 tons of construction waste per square meter). Emerging markets such as Southeast Asia and the Middle East face high temperature and high humidity climates. Ordinary color steel plate warehouses are prone to rust and poor insulation, resulting in a cargo loss rate of up to 8%-12%.
Ⅱ. Advantages of using steel frame + composite panel to build warehouses
The combination of steel frame and composite panel is a technical breakthrough for the above difficulties. Its advantages can be broken down from four dimensions: construction efficiency, functional adaptation, cost control, and environmental protection attributes:
1. Construction efficiency
The steel frame uses standardized prefabricated components, and the factory processing accuracy reaches the millimeter level. Only bolt connection or welding is required on site, and large-scale concrete pouring is not required. Taking Canglong Group as an example, its modular steel frame system can compress the construction time of the main structure to 7-15 days. Composite panels (usually metal panels + core material structures, such as rock wool and polyurethane) are also prefabricated into wall panels and roof panels in the factory, and can be hoisted and installed on site. The overall construction cycle is shortened by more than 70% compared with the traditional model, which is particularly suitable for temporary expansion before e-commerce promotions and rapid landing of overseas cross-border warehouses.
2. Functional adaptation
The customized core material of the composite board is the key, and polyurethane (thermal conductivity ≤ 0.024W/m·K, thermal insulation performance is better than traditional color steel) can be selected for cold chain warehouses. Fireproof rock wool (combustion performance A1 grade, fire resistance limit ≥ 2 hours) can be selected for chemical storage. Anti-static aluminum-magnesium-manganese plate (surface resistivity ≤ 10^9Ω) can be selected for precision instrument warehouse. The flexible structure of the steel frame supports large-span design (column-free space can reach 30 meters). With the detachable wall, the warehouse can be easily upgraded from a flat warehouse to a three-dimensional warehouse or a cold storage + office area composite space to meet the business expansion needs in the next 10 years.
3. Cost control
Although the initial cost is slightly higher than concrete (about 10%-15% higher), the long-term benefits of steel frame + composite panels are significant:
Low maintenance cost: The corrosion resistance of steel (hot-dip galvanizing treatment) is 5-8 times that of ordinary steel. The core material of the composite board is moisture-proof and mildew-proof, and no large-scale renovation is required within 10 years (concrete warehouses need to repair cracks every 3-5 years).
Low energy consumption cost: The high thermal insulation of the composite board reduces the energy consumption of warehouse air conditioning by 30%-50% (taking a 2,000㎡ cold chain warehouse as an example, the annual electricity bill savings exceed 150,000 yuan).
High residual value: The steel recycling rate exceeds 90% (concrete is only 10%), and the materials can be reused after demolition, reducing asset depreciation losses.
4. Environmental attributes
More than 95% of the raw materials of the steel frame are recyclable, and the carbon emissions during the production process are only 1/5 of that of concrete (according to data from the International Steel Association). If the composite panel core material uses inorganic materials such as rock wool and glass wool, the production energy consumption is low and no harmful substances such as formaldehyde are released. In markets such as Europe and Japan, steel frame + composite board warehouses have been included in the “Green Building Certification (LEED/BREEAM)” bonus items to help companies obtain tax exemptions or subsidies.
III. Rigid demand for global warehousing upgrades
Data insights:
► Global warehousing investment increased by 11% annually (CBRE 2025 report).
► Pain points of traditional warehouses: construction period > 8 months, energy consumption accounts for 35% of operating costs.
Green Certification: LEED bonus points (recycled steel accounts for ≥70%).
Carbon footprint: 62% reduction compared to traditional solutions (verified by SGS).
Conclusion
The transformation of global warehousing is essentially a reconstruction of the four major factors of efficiency, function, cost, and environmental protection. The combination of steel frame + composite panel breaks the performance boundary of traditional warehouses with technological innovation. And Canglong Group transforms this material advantage into actual value for customers through the deep integration of technology + service. Whether it is a forward warehouse for cross-border e-commerce, an intelligent three-dimensional warehouse for the manufacturing industry, or a high-standard cold storage in the cold chain industry, Canglong Group can provide a full-cycle solution from design to operation and maintenance, helping enterprises to seize the initiative in the global supply chain competition.
Choosing Canglong is not only choosing a warehouse, but also choosing a future-oriented warehousing competitiveness.
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