The Warehouse Designing Challenge Essay Example for Free

The W arehouse Designing Challenge try onWarehousing is a critical node in the network of logistics anxiety. Warehousing primarily involves the activities centered on receiving and dispatching materials and supplies coming into and going out of the presidency. Other materials much(prenominal) as work-in-progress, consumables and others are also held and managed by the store. incumbent developments in lean manufacture, just-in- quantify and other similar inventory reduction approaches go continued to depress inventories and may in deed change the focal point of where the place in which the inventory is held, more probable pushing it back up the fibril of interpret. In fact, the emphasis has now shifted for warehousing, and now it focuses on facilitating unperturbed flow of goods to the clients, concussion the expediency standards requirement of clients, incorporation of activities such as postponement, which is a value adding bodily process as a right smart of reduc ing stock keeping social units (SKUs) and the number of harvest-festival lines in a dust as salutary as raising the dynamism in meeting customer needs (Rushton, Oxley and Phil, 2000). universe a critical and busy part of an organization, there are some issues to do with warehousing that an organization needs to take care of lest the operations of the warehouse malfunction and consequently disrupting the entire supply chain, which normally has a ripple effect on the entire operation of the organization. These issues concern the actual function and solicitude of the general day to day operations of a warehouse. The problem and challenges for the design a resource optimizing warehouse still is a complex task to logistics designers. The strategic issues concerning the design of warehouses are discussed in this paper.Designing a warehouse Warehouses, distribution centers and stores take for to operate as integral component elements within the supply chain. Hence, when cathode-ray oscilloscope up these facilities, the key decisions must be determined by overall logistics strategies for price and renovation. The following factors have to be considered in setting up the facilities Product and Market base stability Long-term projections of how the product range may develop together with long-term market expectations for growth will very much influence on the location and size of a warehouse facility, including the space that should be set by for potential future expansion.The esteems made in this stage will ext set aside to impact on the organisations perceived needs for flexibility in future, which consequently endure influence on the level of applied science to be adopted and the type of warehouse to be built. Type of goods to be handled by the warehouse The goods that an warehouse fecal matter handle allow finished goods , raw materials spare parts, and work-in-progress in a span of material sizes, types, amentaceous lives and other characteristics that may be set by an organization.The range of units to be handled could be from undivided teensy-weensy items to packages, sacks, palletized loads and on up to containers of ISO certification. Special requirement s for humidity and temperature mould most promising have to be met, and all these requirements will have absolute impact on the level of technology to be adopted. Location, type of facility and its size the detail role of a warehouse in a supply chain together with content, the role and location of any other facilities in the in the chain will directly determine or at least influence the size and design capacity as well as the type of operation of a warehouse.The need for inventory reduction, customer base, core of inventory , overall service level and time compressions in the supply chain should be critically adverted into in making decisions concerning location, type and size of a warehouse to be built. Whether the warehouse should be operated by the organizatio n as an own-account or outsourced to a third party to run it is yet a nonher consideration that should be made. Inventory and its location there rises a question within the supply chain of not only in what locations to hold goods but also what goods and in what quantities to hold (Donald, Waters, 2003).The options that could be available could include distribution centers designed to cater for specific parts of the product range or specific markets, specific geographic areas, or regional centers for distribution of fast moving product lines, and a strategy of dimension slower moving lines in the national distribution centers only. Customer base, service levels and product range are the factors that will influence the choice. Choice of unit load the choice of loads-roll or cage pallets, tot bins, pallets-will have significant weight in determination of the characteristics as well as the nature of the goods passing along a supply chain.This clearly encompasses a wide range of produc ts, pack types and services, and unit quantities (Rushton, et al, 2000). ). This may look like as a routine factor that is less subject to strategic influences and more to in operation(p) influences. Within the warehouse however, it can influence the sizing and choice of storage bodys as well as handling equipments. Further, in a wider context, it will affect vehicle loading and unloading as well as vehicle role and eventually the entire transport operations (Ross, 2004).Warehouse Design social function The basic principle of good warehouse design is to first of all define the overall requirements of the system and by carefully analyzing data, come up with a design that incorporates equipments and methods which most closely match those requirements. However, a n overriding prerequisite exists which is, for whatever level of technology or deign that is adopted for a accompaniment project, a fast, accurate and effective information system to monitor and drive the operations is a n end result.The following tones make up the design process i). Definition of system requirement and design constraints the design requirements for distribution depot operation or a warehouse after taking into considerations such as likely business developments and potential forecasts for future growth, are likely to constitute desired service level to be achieved, required throughput and storage capacities, specified facilities such as quality , packaging and others.the constraints in this stage could include but not limited to time, for instance the facility could be set a date by which it is to be running financial limits such as limit on cost per unit throughput or capital expenditure, among others. ii).Define, obtain, and analyze data specifications for the most appropriate location and type of warehouse to be built can be obtained from various sources, for example through conducting a research base on the companys size, structure and the nature of business it engages in, fa irly reliable information can be adduced from the data collected and from this a n effective design of a warehouse developed.A firm can also decide to outsource the warehouse designing professionals who are more likely to develop for it the most resources optimizing warehouse than any other person. Iii). Establish what unit loads that will be used this will be a decision concerning the appropriate unit loads that are to be adopted, and include stillages, Skid sheets, pallets, tote boxes, roll cage pallets, and garment rails. The choice of unit loads to be handled directly influences the ability t utilizes space efficiently and the choice of equipment.The customers may impose the dispatch unit loads with suppliers imposing the unit loads their material supplies arrive at clients premise as well. The warehouse designer should therefore put these factors into consideration when designing the most appropriate for the processes to be carried out. Benefits of unit loads include movement m inimization, standardization of equipments, material security, as well as minimizing the time it takes to load and unload vehicles.Wooden pallet is the most common unit load (Ross, 2004). iv). Postulate original methods and operations the primary processes that will take place in a warehouse, must be accomplished together with how they will be performed. The communication and information requirement should also be determined. Considerations of which systems, paper or paperless, will be used also need to be emphasized, with the kind of warehouse attention system in mind. v).Calculate staffing levels this requirement for operating staff is closely related to the requirements for mobile equipment, and in legal age of cases will fallout of the calculations. The staffing costs should enable full costing of the warehouse to be made. vi). Prepare thinkable sites and building layouts this encompasses all the component of warehouse processes both inside and outside the building. After t his stage comes the terminal stage whereby the design of the warehouse is turned into a physical facility. Management of Warehouse and informationThe blanket(a) responsibilities of managing distribution center or warehouse include good control, effective planning, as well as optimum resource use in the drive to achieve the objectives of the operation. The aims of an effective operation includes meeting the service level requirements operation that is cost effective use of resources in an effective and efficient manner, safe operation, meeting the requirements for safety and in work environment and maintaining the integrity of stock (Rushton, et al, 2000).The operating cost for any individual component in a warehouse mainly depends on the nature of the industry and the nature of the particular warehouses operations among other factors. The dominant costs have though been found to be staff and building costs. Two key factors that managers and designers should put more emphasis on ar e the utilization for building space and proper design and management of systems for picking orders. ConclusionThe adoption of computer establish information systems in the management of material supplies, such as just-in-time approach, which have enabled up-to-theminute information on stock location and availability to be accurately provided, have in a big way challenged the need to have warehouses and holding stock. Even with the deep integration of logistics and production planning, together with accurate techniques for forecasting demand, there will always be a level of mismatch between demand an d supply optimization in many if not all supply chains.Hence warehouses cannot be eliminated from the supply chain. For this reason, the management of warehouses should be done using the highest level of management techniques in all areas of operations. The fist step is to design a warehouse that will effectively optimize the use of available space in the most economic manner possible. Such an initiative will keep the supply chain slick and hence make an organization to avoid or reduce the operation losses that come with clog up or stalling of supply chains, whose consequences are usually severe.References Donald, C. , Waters J. , Waters, D. (2003). Global logistics and distribution planning strategies for management (4th ed. ). London Kogan Page Publishers Ross, D. (2004). Distribution planning and control managing in the era of supply chain management (2nd ed. ). MA Kluwer Academic Publishers. Rushton, A. , Oxley, J. , Phil, C. (2000). The handbook of logistics and distribution management. VA Kogan Page Publishers.