30-Oct-15
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
Inbound processes
Receiving
Put-away
Outbound processes
Order-picking
Checking, packing, shipping
WAREHOUSING & DISTRIBUTION
FACILITIES MANAGEMENT
Session 2-Part 2
Topic : Warehouse Operations
WAREHOUSING OPERATION
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30-Oct-15
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
Receiving
Receiving
Receiving may begin with advance notification of the arrival of
goods.
This allows the warehouse to schedule receipt and unloading to
coordinate efficiently with other activities within the warehouse.
Once the product has arrived, it is unloaded and possibly staged
for put away.
It is likely to be scanned to register its arrival so that ownership
is assumed, payments dispatched, and so that it is known to be
available to fulfill customer demand.
Product will be inspected and any exceptions noted, such as
damage, incorrect counts, wrong descriptions, and so on.
All-in all, receiving accounts for only about 10% of operating costs
in a typical distribution center and RFID is expected to further
reduce this.
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
Put-away
Before product can be put away, an appropriate storage
location must be determined.
This is very important because where you store the product
determines to a large extent how quickly and at what cost you
later retrieve it for a customer.
This requires managing a second inventory, not of product, but
of storage locations.
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30-Oct-15
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
Order Picking
On receipt of a customer order the warehouse must perform checks
such as verifying that inventory is available to ship.
Then the warehouse must produce pick lists to guide the orderpicking.
Finally, it must produce any necessary shipping documentation and
schedule the order-picking and shipping.
These activities are typically accomplished by a warehouse
management system, a large software system that coordinates the
activities of the warehouse.
This is all part of the support to expedite the sending of the product to
the customer
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS : CHECKING & PACKAGING
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30-Oct-15
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
Shipping
Checking & Packing
Packing can be labor-intensive because each piece of a
customer order must be handled; but there is little walking.
And because each piece will be handled, this is a convenient
time to check that the customer order is complete and accurate.
Order accuracy is a key measure of service to the customer,
which is, in turn, that on which most businesses compete.
One complication of packing is that customers generally prefer
to receive all the parts of their order in as few containers as
possible because this reduces shipping and handling charges.
WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS
Shipping
Shipping generally handles larger units than picking, because packing
has consolidated the items into fewer containers (cases, pallets).
Consequently, there is still less labor here. There may be some
walking if product is staged before being loaded into freight carriers.
Product is likely to be staged if it must be loaded in reverse order of
delivery or if shipping long distances, when one must work hard to
completely fill each trailer.
Staging freight creates more work because staged freight must be
double-handled.
The trailer is likely to be scanned here to register its departure from
the warehouse. In addition, an inventory update may be sent to the
customer.
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