Treasure houses

The Polish book launch of \'Warehouses - Witnesses of Prosperity\' took place last month. According to the author, Ann De Kelver, this work is about the importance of warehousing to our society. \'Eurobuild Poland\' spoke to the author about her unusual choice of subject matter

Nathan North: It may seem like a strange idea to a lot of people to write a book about warehouses. Why did you feel that the world has been waiting for such a book? And why did you choose the title, \'Witnesses of Prosperity\'?
Ann De Kelver: I don\'t think the world has been waiting for a book about warehouses. I wanted to wake up the world to warehouses. All the things we have or need are stored in these buildings. The title does express defiance - it is now becoming increasingly difficult in western countries to build warehouses, with objections on environmental or traffic grounds accompanying every new warehouse development. But what people do not realize is that if they say no to warehousing, then they are saying no to their very way of life.

NN: Do you feel that warehouses are something that the average person takes for granted - that people in general undervalue the part they play in our lives? Is this the purpose of your book - to remind us of their true worth? You say at one point that the Romans knew the true importance of warehouses - why do you think we in the modern world have forgotten this?
AK: We now take warehouses and prosperity for granted - we are so used to having this. The generation that came before our parents are much more aware of our prosperity and how easily it could have been otherwise. Some young people have never seen their parents working. My book is about the general idea of prosperity and how we get there. In contemporary society there is often this desire to go back to nature, not to work too hard, to get rid of traffic - but if we do this we are saying no to all the things we have.

NN: Is it the complexity of the logistical process which puts people off the subject of warehousing? Or because it is so mundane, or because the buildings are so ugly?
AK: Warehouses are not very extravagant buildings - in fact, we don\'t even see them anymore. We don\'t find them as ugly as factories, but the real problem is that we are not even aware of their existence, of what\'s inside them and why. They are unknown and unloved. It is the fact they are invisible to us that leads to them being under-appreciated.

NN: A large section of your book is devoted to the history of warehousing. How far would you describe your book as a historical overview of the subject? And how educational would you say that your book was? For example, in terms of describing logistical systems and how they are sensitive to market forces?
AK: I hope I can describe the processes - however, Iím not an expert in logistics, but I can talk about society and how logistics sits within it. But it is far from a complete history of warehouses - Rome and London are the outstanding historical examples, and they provide us with an introduction into how warehouses are a crucial factor in making our civilization possible.

NN: Would it be right to characterize this as a political book?
AK: It\'s not a political book - what I am saying is something that everyone should be able to see for themselves. If the prosperity that goes with warehouses is not something that you want, then ok - but you will have to take the consequences. We forget how important the part they play in our lives is - we are so used to having everything we want. The danger is that we in the west could lose this - the prosperity could go to countries like Poland, where people want to work and appreciate better the ability to buy a wide range of new products.

NN: Nevertheless, you do appear to have a pro-market agenda.
AK: I can\'t deny that the book is celebrating the market - this is the best means of serving the majority of people and giving them what they want. But I wouldn\'t say I have any agenda in this book.

NN: You devote a whole chapter to the \'economic blur\' - could you summarize this concept and explain why it is relevant to warehousing?
AK: I\'m writing about the blur in everyoneís life - the 24 hour world and the fast pace of living. And the fact that prices are no longer determined by any material characteristics: eg. the value of a brand name is more important than any intrinsic qualities of the product that is delivered. Our certainties have disappeared and logistics has to operate in this world without clear boundaries between products and brands. We now need new kinds of warehousing to deal with the blur between time, space and value.

NN: You write that "we have become demanding wolves," and that in an American supermarket you can buy around 40,000 products when you only need about 150. But you later write that this \'materialism\' is a cornerstone of modern civilization. And are there really no negative aspects of this rampant consumerism?
AK: I\'m not saying that if you only need 150 products then you shouldn\\\'t be able to have the 40,000 others. I believe human nature has created the world to its own liking - and that materialism is inherent in human beings. Iím not denying that there are negative aspects to this - but these are mistakes in the way that we go about it. People want things, it is human nature. The problems that this causes are down to a lack of creativity. At the moment there is a contradiction between the way the free-market works and feeding the starving or looking after the environment, but to solve these we need to be creative and look further. We have to re-organize our production along more sustainable lines. But consuming less is not what people want and is not going to save the world.  

Ann De Kelver is a law licentiate, a business economics graduate and a company director in her native Belgium. She has previously written 2 books: \'Don\'t Tell My Mother I\'m an Entrepreneur\' and \'Offices, to work, to live, to relax\'. \'Warehouses - Witnesses of Prosperity\' is available from Lannoo.