Warehousing



Warehousing

Introduction

Warehousing is a big part of logistics. Warehousing as many different responsibilities and functions. What is involved in warehousing is not only storage, which is what most people think. There is a lot more to it than that. Warehousing involves receiving material, storing material, inventorying material, picking material, packaging and shipping material. It also involves training to do these things plus training to operate the equipment required to accomplish the things listed above. Safety is also a big issue in warehousing and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has some say in how a warehouse is run. It has several regulations that a warehouse has to be familiar with and go by.

Discussion

Purpose of Warehousing

I find that the purpose of a warehouse is broke down to the factor that the demand and expectations of the customers' must be met in a timely manner. Sometimes the need could be to hold some stock if needed, but it does need to minimize to avoid stock holding costs, which is also an important factor to keep cost down to operate and provide the desired level of service.

Warehouses are also used to break bulk down into smaller orders. This helps to consolidate and complete order activities for different locations. (Unknown, Purpose of a Warehouse, 2003-2010).

Objectives of Warehousing

The warehouse objective is to have an efficient and timely flow of materials between distribution points. (Cross, 2011). “Eight main warehouse functions, as described by Frazelle:

1. Receiving happens when materials enter the warehouse, are verified as to the quantity and quality of these materials.

2. Identification/Sorting occurs when products are received in bulk and are subsequently packaged in specific quantities.

3. Putaway involves the placing of materials in storage.

4. Storage refers to the physical containment of materials.

5. Order picking is the act of removing items from storage to meet a specific demand, whether for production or to satisfy customer requests.

6. Packaging is the step where individual items or assortments are containerized for more convenient use.

7. Sortation refers to the process of collecting picks into individual orders.

8. Unitizing and shipping encompass the preparation and packaging of orders into shipping containers, preparing shipping documents, weighing shipments, and loading outbound trucks.” (Blanchard, 2010).

Another objective is fulfillment which is the process of receiving, processing, and shipping order form warehouse inventory. (Cross, 2011). The key is to improve the productivity and accuracy of order through computerizing of warehouse greatly increases the ability to identify causes of ...