A guide to warehouse management

Distribution logistics system encompasses a broad range of activities concerned with the efficient movement of finished products from the end of production line to the consumer. There are two main areas under this, these are: Order fulfilment and Warehouse management. 

Let’s understand what is warehouse management and it’s importance. 

Warehouse management has lots of inbound functions that prepare items for storage and outbound functions that secure, pack and ship orders. These provide important economic and service benefits to both the business and its customers. A warehouse and storage provides a central location for receiving, storing and distributing products. As the inbound shipment arrives, products are identified, sorted and dispatched to their temporary storage location.

 

Warehouse and storage is not a static thing, but rather a process that includes security measures and maintaining an environment that preserves the integrity and usefulness of the items. Each order is first retrieved, grouped, packaged and checked. Once they are done with this process then the product gets dispatched.  It is a part of logistics management system and a component of supply chain management.

Tracking systems and communication between product stations is involved in the warehouse management process. This second main area of distribution logistics system, deals with the receipt, storage and movement of goods to the final customer. 

Value adding operation:  

The objective of logistics management system is to reduce cycle times and over all inventories, lower costs and most importantly, improve customer service. Warehousing provides a means to have the right product available at the right place in the right time, doing these increases the utility value of goods. Operations such as order consolidation, order assembly, product mixing and cross docking that take place within the warehouse structure also add value to the overall logistics system. 

Economic advantage:

Through consolidation operations, outbound delivery costs are cut for both the business and its customers. Instead of shipping items individually from multiple sources, items are delivered to a central warehouse, packaged together and shipped back out as a complete order, thus economic benefits are realised.