Abstract
Warehousing is the segment of enterprise logistic functions responsible for the storage space and managing of the inventories beginning with suppliers receipt and ending with the consumption point. Warehouse operations cover a number of significant areas, from the receiving, organization, fulfillment, and supply processes and areas including Receiving of goods, integrating and maintaining tracking software. Goal of warehouse operations is to satisfy customer’s desires and necessities whereas utilizing house, equipment, and labor effectively. The current trends and pressures on provide chain and logistics-forever increasing client examine levels, inventory optimization, time CD ata warehousing in an integrated health system: building the business case and cost minimization have predictably changed the structure of supply chains and the location site and working of warehouses within the supply chains network .Supply Chain Management encompasses scheduling and organization of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics managing activities. The business contains each variety of warehouses and the trendy multi-purpose supply centers furthermore because of the ancient storage facilities called godowns. This study seeks to examine the different functions, types and problems of warehouse management while providing ways through its recommendation on how to effectively manage a warehouse.
Chapter One
Introduction
1.1 Background to the Study
Aberdeen’s warehousing analysis points to a number of pressures compelling warehousing logistics professionals to investigate productivity solutions. Dynamic fuel costs have professionals up and downstream in the supply chain scrambling to find cost-cutting measures and higher operating efficiencies. Similarly, ever-rising square footage expenses are forcing enterprises to think critically about maximizing productivity within their current distribution footprint as opposed to bringing another site online. Large enterprises continue to seek to reduce the number of stocking locations and drive more productivity from the remaining distribution centers. (Aberdeen Group, 2013) These cost and space pressures outweigh the pressures to improve operations because of rising customer demands for faster and more tailored fulfillment.
However, the best performing companies are focused on winning in both these dimensions: by creating faster throughput and more workflow agility in their warehouses, they are able to satisfy customer demands while lowering logistics costs. An increasingly vital part of any warehouse operation is an enterprise’s ability to deliver on customer demands in a timely fashion. The ability to fulfill orders rapidly reflects on a warehouse’s overall operations software, human capital, systems, equipment, etc. However, 58% of companies report that they have not been able to shorten their order fulfillment times since 2004. The median customer order cycle time for Lizardo ,(2009) However, to date in most organization, both analysts and managers have been relatively unsuccessful in convincing top management to give this area the due consideration that it logically deserves Inventories are basically stocks of resources held for the purpose of future production and/or sales. Inventories may be viewed as an idle resource which has an economic value.
Better management of inventories would release capital for use elsewhere productively; Hence Inventory control implies the coordination of materials accessibility, controlling, utilization and procuring of material. The direction of activity with the purpose of getting the 2 right inventory in the right place at the right time and in the right quantity is inventory control and it is directly linked to productivity of the warehouse. (Zhang & Vonderembse, 2012).
In the United States of America, According to Aberdeen (2013), research on the improvement of warehouse and distribution center performance deduced that for many companies, improved warehouse and distribution center productivity remains a goal, not a reality. Although companies’ top focus in warehouse improvement is cutting logistics costs, six out of ten respondents report that they have not been able to lower costs in the last two years. A majority of companies have also been unable to reduce customer order cycle times. However, a segment of companies have been able to reduce both costs and cycle times. These top performers are leveraging more technology, have better data visibility, and work harder at cross-training their staffs. Across the board, companies that are above average warehouse performers in their industry classified as Best in Class companies have been much more likely than their peers to have significantly lowered their warehousing costs in the last twenty four months.
