Warehouse Operations and Logistics Management

Posted on Dec 8, 2024 in Other subjects

Warehouse Operations and Activities

Storage activities include:

  • Downloads
  • Reception
  • Transfer to the storage area
  • Picking (removing pallet units as requested by the customer). This can be done in several ways:
    • Establishing a picking area, reserving an area to store where you place articles.
    • In single units of the lower holes on the shelves, set in holes that are on the shelves in the warehouse floor area for picking.
    • In all the gaps on the shelves, use handling resources that raise the operator to the place where the pallets are.
  • Consolidation and shipment (Once the orders have been completed, proceed to label the products, grouping them by destination, pack them, and generate documentation.)
  • Loading: When shipping is ready, it is then loaded into the conveyance.

Procedure for Choosing a Location

  1. Constitution team must select the location (Evaluate locations. It is composed of staff from various departments involved in the location decision.)
  2. Selection criteria (Choosing the requirements to be searched for when selecting locations, establishing relations of the same priority (key factors and secondary factors).)
  3. Search for a location (select the candidate locations for the store, according to the factors chosen in the previous phase.)
  4. Placement Assessment (collect and analyze information on each alternative. Data can be quantitative (cost) or qualitative (climate).)
  5. Selecting a Location (Choose a location according to the analysis of the previous phase.)

Impact of Location Choice

The choice of location will have an impact on aspects such as:

  • Transportation costs
  • Installation costs
  • Staff costs
  • Delivery
  • Others, such as accessibility to transport, taxes, etc.

Key Factors in Location Selection

The most important factors when choosing this location are:

  • Distance between the store and the customers
  • Distance between the store and providers
  • Type of transport to be used more often and proximity.
  • Accessibility
  • Cost of the land. If you look to buy, consider if you can reassess the ground if you have to sell.
  • Availability and characteristics of the labor.
  • Other conditions: If the store will be built by the company itself, it has to take into account the ease of obtaining work permits, electricity, water, telephone, etc. Other factors include the legal framework for the area, taxes, weather conditions, etc.

Warehouse Areas

The areas of the warehouse:

Loading and unloading areas have direct access to trucks and transport vehicles and goods delivery. Two possibilities:

  1. The first is what puts such areas integrated into the store, which means better handling speed of the goods. It can be done with a progressive decrease to avoid steep ramps, which are hampering the move and slow motion.
  2. The second is to place the two areas independently. It consists of a large esplanade which has direct access to trucks. It manages to reduce the time spent in the placement of the truck and the download is done through metal ramps that are attached to the truck.

Area Reception: Located more independently, acting as a receiver and sorting the product received. This area will undergo a double process: first, quality control and then a classification of the goods.

Storage area.

Zone picking: Not necessary. Composition is different when full pallets and pallets composed of different units come out of the storage area. Specially designed for picking.

Delivery Area: Those intended for packing goods to exit. For correct speed of movement, reception areas should be clearly defined. A major difficulty is the movement of trucks.

Service area and office.

Other specialist areas:

  • Cold storage: The number and size of cameras will be decided under the same criteria and considerations, such as temperature and humidity, must be considered. Doors with coats.
  • Returns: If the volume of returns is important, a zone will be created. This area usually performs the unpacking, sorting, and grading for recognition.
  • Empty pallets

Logistics Management

Logistics is very important. It is the function of the company and is responsible for meeting customer needs by providing the products at the time, place, and amount demanded by the customer at minimum cost.

Activities Comprising Logistics

Activities comprising logistics in industrial companies:

Purchases of raw materials: Ordering, transportation, storage, and other supplies needed to start the production process. The procurement function is that the factory can produce their products on an ongoing basis and should try to get supplies in the most favorable conditions while avoiding excess stock.

Manufacture: Processing of raw materials into certain products.

Distribution: Proceeds to temporary storage and then transported to customer sites.

Material flow: Movement of materials from supplier to customer (transport and storage). / / Information Flow: The processes described above operate in a disjointed manner. The modern management of stock is moving towards the reduction of stock and quality of service above other considerations. These inventory management systems are based on information flows and work as follows:

  1. The department determines market research, forecasting sales.
  2. According to this provision, the level of finished goods required is estimated.
  3. The estimate is calculated by subtracting manufacturing of finished goods stock required from the inventory level of finished goods actual.
  4. According to the forecast production, calculate the stock of raw materials and other supplies required.
  5. Estimate the amount to ask suppliers of raw materials and other supplies, taking into account the stock both present.

In commercial enterprises: Buying and distribution.

  • Flows of materials: transport and storage.
  • Flow information: In commercial enterprises, the sales forecast and actual sales are also taken into account to determine the amount of products to ask their suppliers.

Competitive Priorities

Competitive priorities:

  • Quality (according to price and if tailored to customer needs)
  • Time
  • Cost
  • Flexibility (the ability to cope with the changes that occur in the needs of customers. This helps businesses to respond to changes that occur in the application, covering the so-called peak demand (periods where they sell more than usual) and also reduce production or distribution capacity but at higher costs.)
  • Other priorities.

Logistics Networks

Logistics networks:

Central logistical warehouse platform: Its mission is to save costs on storage and distribution of products:

  1. When ordering larger quantities.
  2. By locating storage in places where the cost of land is more reduced.
  3. By reducing the number of transports needed.

Warehouses or transit consolidation: Group orders for a small or medium geographic area in order to save distribution costs. This type of storage is widely used in transportation companies.

Regional and local stores: Serve the customer orders or retail outlets for a particular geographical area. Its mission is to unbind or ungroup items.