Properly
organising a warehouse layout is critical to optimising operations and
minimising the unnecessary movement of materials. By strategically optimising
the storage of products according to demand, organisations can significantly
improve productivity, reduce the time required for order fulfilment, and
ultimately enhance customer satisfaction.
Implementing
efficient stock management practices plays a pivotal role in driving the
overall success of a warehouse operation. Critical considerations when deciding
on an appropriate storage system include:
- The
nature and characteristics of the products and unit loads held.
- Ensuring
efficient utilisation of the available warehouse space.
- Quick
and easy access to stocks carried.
- Compatibility
with information system requirements.
- Maintenance
of stock condition and integrity.
- Warehouse
staff health and safety.
- The
costs of a warehouse system.
The Importance of Evaluation
Evaluating
storage system capital costs is crucial, as it implies going beyond the
fundamental equipment required to establish the storage system. Additional
costs that must be brought into consideration include:
- Fire
protection.
- Security
of inventory.
- Staff
health and safety.
- Workforce
needed to operate a warehouse.
- Information
management systems.
- Availability
of space or land.
- General
building services.
One
way of classifying storage systems could be:
- Bulk
storage for solids, such as silos, bunkers, and stockpiles.
- Loose
item storage, ex-casting and fabrications held loose on the floor.
- Pallet
storage systems.
- Small
item storage for individual items or small unit loads.
- Nonstandard
unit loads such as long lengths of metals or conduits.
Efficient
stock management relies heavily on strategically placing items in a warehouse
according to the demand for inventory, but not to the detriment of causing
congestion when accessing the inventory to replenish pick-face locations or
picking inventory for order assembly and dispatch.
The
crucial objective is to reduce the distance that products must travel within
the warehouse from storage to dispatch and maintain the free flow of materials
without congestion. This plays a pivotal role in the speed and effectiveness of
storage, picking, and general material handling processes within the facility.
Locating
inventory within a warehouse is critical in ensuring a smooth and productive
stock management system and workflow. By minimising the travel time of products
and reducing congestion, the efficiency and speed of storage, picking, and
material handling operations can be significantly improved, leading to a more
streamlined and effective dispatch of orders.
Selecting Manufacturing and Distribution Storage Systems
Customers’
demands significantly affect an organisation's strategic manufacturing or
distribution system choice. The speed and efficiency of these systems are
directly influenced by the level of service required by customers. An
organisation must respond operationally to meet customer needs and the expected
service level to satisfy customer expectations.
An
organisation's ability to meet customer needs and expectations hinges on
adequately selecting and utilising the correct storage system and equipment. By
considering the efficiency of material handling flows and the suitability of
storage systems, an organisation can enhance its overall performance and ensure
the highest levels of customer satisfaction without incurring unnecessary
additional costs.
Making
well-informed choices about storage systems is crucial to meeting customer
requirements, sustaining a competitive advantage in the market, and maximising
an organisation’s sales, turnover, and profitability.
Material Handling System Mapping
The
layout of manufacturing or distribution systems is greatly influenced by the
dimensions of the building, encompassing its width, height, and length. At
times, the design of manufacturing and distribution systems may be limited by a
building's dimensions rather than tailored for maximum materials handling
efficiency to shorten travel distances and manufacturing, order picking and
assembly efficiency and effectiveness.
Hence,
it is crucial to meticulously contemplate the selection of a building to ensure
that it harmonises with the organisation's goals and objectives for its
manufacturing or distribution systems. The characteristics and pagination of
products received from suppliers will mean that certain types of storage
equipment will be more suitable than others. The primary inputs into deciding
the kinds of storage and distribution equipment that are suitable will be the
characteristics of products in terms of their:
- Height.
- Width.
- Depth.
- Weight.
- Retail
unit quantity.
- Supply
unit quantity.
The
storage system should support product examination, positioning in the primary
pallet storage racking area, restocking in the pick-face racking, and then
picking and shipping for customer delivery.
Product Pagination
The
effectiveness of the sales order picking and dispatch process is significantly
impacted by the correlation between the dimensions and pagination of the
product's external transit packaging upon arrival from the supplier. This
correlation must be considered when procuring the right size of storage
equipment to guarantee maximum efficiency in sales order picking and dispatch.
In
this situation, it is crucial to ensure that the storage facilities in a
warehouse's main pallet racking area can accommodate pallets received from
suppliers. In contrast, the racking in a warehouse's picking area should be
able to store a pallet of boxes that will be assembled into customer orders
without the need for pallets to be split down during the replenishment of
pick-face locations.
Suppliers
must deliver pallets containing the products boxed, as an organisation's
customers will receive them, to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of
warehouse order picking and dispatch operations. The palletised product obtained
from the supplier should match the quantity required to replenish the pick-face
location.
It
is also important to note that the units sold and dispatched to the customer
should be individual, indicating that the pallet received from the supplier
would be sufficient to fulfil a high volume of customer orders. Compatibility
among the storage equipment used across warehouse zones is imperative for a
warehouse's seamless and efficient operation.
This
compatibility is vital in facilitating product delivery, storage, picking, and
dispatching. A slight incompatibility in one warehouse zone can disrupt the
overall product flow. The interruptions may lead to increased costs and present
possible dangers to the well-being and security of staff.
For
instance, if boxes in a warehouse picking area cannot be stored in the
designated racking and are left in the aisles, it can create a potential trip
hazard for individuals accessing the area for picking purposes. Therefore, it
is crucial to prioritise compatibility among the storage equipment types to
maintain a seamless flow of products throughout a warehouse.
Additional
articles can be found at Materials
Management Made Easy. This site looks at the flow of materials to assist
organisations and people in increasing the quality, efficiency, and
effectiveness of their product and service supply to the customers' delight. ©️
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