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.
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