Week 3 - Warehouse Operations & Equipment Flashcards
What are the three main functions of warehouse management?
• Receiving
• Storage & process
• Despatch
Two main resources for warehouse management
• Physical resources - equipment and systems
• Human Resources - labour
Who are the different parties involved in warehouse management? (6)
• Operations - in charge of the equipment
• Procurement - in charge of the raw materials
• Finance - concerned with the financial impact of warehousing
• Logistics - concerned with getting the product in from suppliers and out to the customer
• Human Resources - concerned with looking after the people
• Sales - looking to drive customer demand up
Why do we have warehouses? (2)
• Help to deal with any inefficiencies such as lead time in production, lead time in delivery and reduce risk created by opposing objectives from different supply chain parties
• To meet customer demand
What are the 3 types of warehouses that are needed?
• Type 1 - Raw material and component warehouses
• Type 2 - Work-in-progress (WIP) or finished goods warehouses
• Type 3 - Distribution centres, fulfilment warehouses, local warehouses
What are the 7 different warehouse types?
• Bonded warehouses
• Distribution centres
• Cross docking warehouses
• Component hub
• Special commodity warehouse
• Bulk storage warehouse
• ‘cash and carry’ warehouse
What is a bonded warehouse?
Is where goods are held in-bond without having to pay government duties until the product actually leaves the warehouse e.g. alcohol and tobacco
What is a distribution centre? (3)
• Holds minimum items
• Performs a high percentage of value-adding and focuses on maximising profit impact of meeting customers’ delivery requirements
• Example is supermarkets such as Tesco - they take in full loads of stock for a large variety of products
What is a cross docking warehouse? (3)
• Products arrive in bulk and is broken down and mixed in the proper quantity of products for customer shipment
• Little to no storage
• Products are not taken into individual shops
What is a component hub?
Is where components are stored prior to final assembly
What is a special commodity warehouse? (2)
• Handles one kind of a product, usually agriculture
• Examples are: meat or transport of a resources such as nitrogen
What is a bulk storage warehouse?
Provide tank storage of liquids or open/sheltered storage of dry products such as coal and sand
What is a ‘cash and carry’ warehouse?
Provides storage of bulk products which can be purchased such as Costco
Evolution of warehouse management
What are the 4 industrial revolutions?
• 1st 1784: mechanical production, railroads, and steam power
• 2nd 1870: Mass production, electrical power, and the advent of the assembly line
• 3rd 1969: Automated production, electronics and computers
• 4th Now: Artificial intelligence, big data, robotics, and more to come
How does a typical warehouse operate? (4)
• Good come inbound from suppliers and are then put away
• These then become WIPs
• Order picking and packaging then occurs
• And the order then goes outbound to the customer
What are the 3 key concepts of warehouse operations?
• Stock keeping unit (SKU)
• Barcode and RFID
• Warehouse management system (WMS)
What is a stock keeping unit (SKU)? (4)
• Records the characteristics of each product stored in a specific place
• They allow for greater accuracy in warehouse’s available inventory
• They allow for greater traceability of product references at different supply chain stages
• They increase as you go down the the supply chain
Real life example of the use of barcodes and RFIDs
Delivery drivers scanning and asking for a signature when they deliver your product
What are the components of a warehouse management system? (5)
• Inventory management
• Receiving & put away
• WI-FI & bar code system
• Location management
• Reporting management
What are the three different warehouse operation layouts?
• A straight flow operation
• “U” flow operation with conveyors
• “L” flow operations with conveyor
What is the benefit of having chute and roller conveyors?
Saves on having to use machinery to move products from one point to another in a warehouse
What types of warehouse transport equipment are used for for moving stock around the warehouse? (6)
• Pallet trucks
• Walkie stacker
• Platform truck
• Lift truck
• Reach truck
• Sideloader
What are the different ways of storage in a warehouse? (5)
• Block stacking
• Pallet racking
• Mobile racking
• Push back racking
• Drive-in racking
