Warehouse Management

Definition

Warehouse Management is a sort of physical management of inventory where raw materials, semi-finished or finished goods are stored. Warehouse is a commercial building for storage of goods. The main objective of warehouse is to reduce cost and increase customer service.

Following are the activities of warehouse management

Receive Goods:

Warehouse receives goods within the factory or from outside transportation.

Identifying and dispatch goods to storage:

Items are identified with the appropriate SKU number and sorted and put away.

Shipment of goods:

After package goods are shipped from the warehouse with shipping documents.

Manufacturing Warehouse

In a manufacturing warehouse, warehouse personnel typically perform the following tasks:

Receive and store products such as raw materials and components.

Test the quality of received products or send the products to be tested in a laboratory.

Pick raw materials and components for manufacturing workshops.

Store finished products after the products have been manufactured.

Quarantine finished products for bacteriological control, which is followed by a quality assurance process for the quarantined products prior to their release.

Ship finished products to a central warehouse, a distribution warehouse, or directly to a client.

The following are typical characteristics of a manufacturing warehouse:

The physical size is between 1,500 square meters (13,500 square feet) and 50,000square meters (450,000 square feet).

The number of items in the warehouse can range from a few items to severalhundred, depending on the quantity that is manufactured.

Products that have similar characteristics are stored in the same manner, whichenables the use of automated handling equipment.

For inbound warehousing, warehouse personnel receive components, raw materials,and finished products in the form of full pallets, full cases, or in bulk.

For outbound warehousing, warehouse personnel pick components and rawmaterials in various units of measure to supply the manufacturing lines. Warehouse personnel ship finished products in full pallets or in bulk.

Manufacturing warehouse to operate efficiently, the following conditions must exist:

A quality control system for components and raw materials that warehouse personnel receive

An accurate record of inventory in the warehouse.

A system for managing lot numbers if items are processed by lots.

A method for ensuring timely picking and delivery of inventory to manufacturing lines.

Accurate parts lists that warehouse personnel use for picking items for work orders.

Types of warehousing

General Warehouse

Goods are stored for long periods and where main objective is to protect goods until they are needed. This type of warehouse used for inventories accumulated in anticipation of seasonal sales.

Distribution Warehouse

Distribution warehouse is a dynamic purpose of movement and mixing. This is widely used in distribution system.

Efficient Warehousing

Provide timely customer service.

Keep track of items so they can be readily and correctly.

Maximize the total physical effort and thus the cost of moving goods into and out of storage.

Provide communication links with customers.

For a general manufacturing warehouse to operate efficiently, the following conditions must exist:

An accurate record of inventory in the warehouse.

Flexible configuration of storage areas to meet storage requirements of products.

Cartonization of inventory that is received in small units of measure, such as eaches.

Accurate picking Attention to the condition of picked items.

Effective control over labor costs.

An efficient and cost-effective transportation system.

Ability to accommodate seasonal demands.

To improve warehouse productivity

Maximum use of space.

Effective us e of labor and equipment.