Professional Documents
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Function of Warehousing
Historically warehouses were a dominant part of the urban landscape from the start of the
Industrial Revolution through the 19th century and into the twentieth century. The buildings
remained when their original usage had changed. There are four identifiable types of warehouses.
The cotton industry rose with the development of the warehouse, and all five types were
represented in Manchester in the United Kingdom. Warehouses of that period in Manchester
were often lavishly decorated, but modern warehouses are more functional.
Warehouse allow transport optimization along the supply chain, and allow companies to work
with an optimal inventory (economic order quantity) regarding service quality. For example, at
the terminal point of a transport system it is necessary to stockpile produce until a full load can
be transported. Warehouses can also be used to store the unloaded goods from the vessel.
In industries whose goods require a period of maturation between production and retail, such as
viniculture and cheesemaking, warehouses can be used to store the goods in large quantities.
Canal warehouses
All these warehouse types can trace their origins back to the canal warehouses which were used
for trans-shipment and storage. Castle field warehouses are of this type- and important as they
were built at the terminus of the Bridgewater Canal in 1761.
Pallet racking including selective, drive-in, drive-thru, double-deep, pushback, and gravity flow
Vertical Lift Modules are packed systems with vertically arranged trays stored on both sides of
the unit.
Vertical Carousels consisting of a series of carriers mounted on a vertical closed-loop track, inside
a metal enclosure.
A "piece pick" is a type of order selection process where product is picked and handled in
individual units and placed in an outer carton, tote or other container before shipping. Catalog
companies and internet retailers are examples of predominantly piece-pick operations. Their
customers rarely order in pallet or case quantities; instead, they typically order just one or two
pieces of one or two items. Several elements make up the piece-pick system. They include the
order, the picker, the pick module, the pick area, handling equipment, the container, the pick
method used and the information technology used. [7] Every movement inside a warehouse must
be accompanied by a work order. Warehouse operation can fail when workers move goods
without work orders, or when a stoage position is left unregistered in the system.
Material direction and tracking in a warehouse can be coordinated by a Warehouse Management
System (WMS), a database driven computer program. Logistics personnel use the WMS to
Some warehouses are completely automated, and require only operators to work and handle the
entire task. Pallets and product move on a system of automated conveyors, cranes and automated
storage and retrieval systems coordinated by programmable logic controllers and computers
running logistics automation software. These systems are often installed in refrigerated
warehouses where temperatures are kept very cold to keep product from spoiling, especially in
electronics warehouse where they require specific temperature to avoid damaging the parts, and
also where land is expensive, as automated storage systems can use vertical space efficiently.
These high-bay storage areas are often more than 10 meters (33 feet) high, with some over 20
meters (65 feet) high. Automated storage systems can be built up to 40m high.
For a warehouse to function efficiently, the facility must be properly slotted. Slotting addresses
which storage medium a product is picked from (pallet rack or carton flow), and how they are
picked (pick-to-light, pick-to-voice, or pick-to-paper). With a proper slotting plan, a warehouse
can improve its inventory rotation requirementssuch as first in, first out (FIFO) and last in,
first out (LIFO)control labor costs and increase productivity.[8]
Pallet racks are commonly used to organize a warehouse. It is important to know the dimensions
of racking and the number of bays needed as well as the dimensions of the product to be stored. [9]
Clearance should be accounted for if using a forklift or pallet mover to move inventory.
Modern trends
Traditional warehousing has declined since the last decades of the 20th century, with the gradual
introduction of Just In Time techniques. The JIT system promotes product delivery directly from
suppliers to consumer without the use of warehouses. However, with the gradual implementation
of offshore outsourcing and offshoring in about the same time period, the distance between the
manufacturer and the retailer (or the parts manufacturer and the industrial plant) grew
considerably in many domains, necessitating at least one warehouse per country or per region in
any typical supply chain for a given range of products.
Recent retailing trends have led to the development of warehouse-style retail stores. These highceiling buildings display retail goods on tall, heavy duty industrial racks rather than conventional
retail shelving. Typically, items ready for sale are on the bottom of the racks, and crated or
palletized inventory is in the upper rack. Essentially, the same building serves as both warehouse
and retail store.
Another trend relates to Vendor-managed inventory (VMI). This gives the vendor the control to
maintain the level of stock in the store. This method has its own issue that the vendor gains
access to the warehouse.
Large exporters and manufacturers use warehouses as distribution points for developing retail
outlets in a particular region or country. This concept reduces end cost to the consumer and
enhances the production sale ratio.
Cross docking is a specialised type of distribution center (DC) in that little or no inventory is
stored and product is received, processed (if needed) and shipped within a short timeframe. As in
warehousing, there are different types of cross docks.
Reverse logistics is another type of warehousing that has become popular for environmental
reasons. The term refers to items that are going from the end user back to the distributor or
manufacturer.