After products have been received and passed a quality inspection, they need to be stored so that you can find them when you need them. This process is called putaway. The spot where you store a particular product is called a location. One section of a warehouse might have small locations for light items; another area may have large locations on the floor for heavy items.
After products have been received and passed a quality inspection, they need to be stored so that you can find them when you need them. This process is called putaway. The spot where you store a particular product is called a location. One section of a warehouse might have small locations for light items; another area may have large locations on the floor for heavy items. This type of division is called slotting. To minimize the distances that people will travel, distribution centers should be laid out so that the products shipped most frequently are closer at hand and those shipped less often are farther away.
The inbound material is first received at the default receipt location as specified during the warehouse layout. The next step is for the warehouse worker to move the registered quantities from the receiving location to a regular storage location. Warehouse operations typically require that the quantities be moved from the receiving dock to the regular warehouse storage, so that the subsequent picking processes can occur. This is known as put-away process and it refers to all the processes that happen between receiving goods from vendors and having them all put away into their assigned places. Having a put-away process simplifies the tracking of storing items, reduces the risk of misplacing or losing items, and keeps your warehouse clean and organized.
Inventory should be considered available or unavailable for certain operations. For example, inventory should be unavailable for orders until putaway is complete. As soon as putaway is complete, the inventory should become available for orders automatically, without any intervention from users.
To facilitate this tracking, different Inventory Statuses are assigned to inventory. The Inventory Status of the inventory changes at different stages like when inventory is received, when inventory is awaiting inspection, when inventory is moved to storage etc. Inventory Statuses can also be associated with zones, for example, when product moves to QC zone, its Inventory Status changes to the Inventory Status associated with the QC zone, which may indicate that the product is undergoing QC. Items are available for sale After the inbound process is completed, items become available for sales and other outbound and internal operations.
Move requests are created to ensure that inventory is moved from one to location to another, within a warehouse, in an automated manner. These are not representative of transfers between warehouses, which are actual shipments.
Warehouses re-slot forward pick zones every season to utilize the most cost-effective and efficient locations to store inventory. Slotting is performed based on the velocity of the items. Slotting ensures that items with highest velocity are placed in locations belonging to the Golden zone. Locations in the Golden zone are easily accessible. Therefore, the picking efficiency of the picker is increased when picking inventory in this zone.
In the normal course of business, customers are likely to return orders from time to time due to various reasons and business should design processes the manage and accept such returns. A well designed returns management process can reduce costs and issues associated with returns or exchanges.
One of the most important decisions when running a warehouse is its layout. Warehouse layout defines the physical arrangement of storage racks, loading and unloading areas, equipment and other facility areas in the warehouse. A good layout aligned with the business needs could have a significant effect on the efficiency.
Warehouses can be places where piles of packed or loose products occupy space. If left disorganized, it will become very challenging to identify products for packing or picking. Hence, proper organization of warehouse is very important. Warehouse labeling systems eliminate this problem by making sure products are easily identified and managed during the warehousing and shipping process. Labeling is the most functional and cost-effective way to keep your warehouse organized and operating efficiently.
When a customer wants a product that has been stored in the warehouse, the same need to be picked off the shelf (or off the floor) and get it ready for shipping. Depending on how big is the warehouse, picking can take a while. (Many distribution centers cover more than 1 million square feet.). Hence, warehouse order picking methods are an important aspect within any warehouse.
Inventory is money, and hence businesses need to perform physical inventory counts periodically to make sure that their inventory records are accurate. The traditional approach to conducting inventory counts is to shut down a facility during a slow time of year to count everything, one item at a time. This process is slow, expensive, and (unfortunately) not very accurate.
What is the difference between Warehouse Management & Inventory Management?
The terms “inventory management” and “warehouse management” are sometimes mistakenly used interchangeably as they both deal with operations and products of industries. Despite their few similarities, there are many notable differences between warehouse and inventory management systems.
Overview of Third-Party Logistics
Third-party logistics (abbreviated as 3PL, or TPL) is an organization's use of third-party businesses to outsource elements of its distribution, warehousing, and fulfillment services. A third-party logistics provider (3PL) is an asset-based or non-asset based company that manages one or more logistics processes or operations (typically, transportation or warehousing) for another company.
Resource Planning is the process of planning for expected workload and determining the number of resources required to complete each activity in the warehouse. There are many types of warehouse positions, and they also vary by the employer, the scale of operations and location. Discussed here are generic positions applicable to warehouse management processes.
Types of Order Picking Methods in the Warehouse
There are many different types of picking in a warehouse and each one works as a customized solution for each business. Depending on the size of your warehouse and inventory, the manpower you have on hand, and the number of customer orders made each day, there may be certain methods that are more efficient for you than others.
When products arrive at a facility, there need to be a defined process to let them in. The process for accepting inventory when it arrives is called "Receiving". Any warehousing operation must be able to receive inventory or freight from trucks at loading docks and then stow them away in a storage location. Receiving often involves scheduling appointments for deliveries to occur, along with unloading the goods and performing a quality inspection.
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