WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT AND PROCESSES

INTRODUCTION

The logistics system basically consists of two main processes. The first is processes in which products, information and other materials are in motion, while others are processes in which the materials are inactive. The logistics functions where the product and information are moving and flowing are the transportation and distribution functions, the warehouse transfer center and so on. The mobility of materials at points is not the issue.

(Soruce: Görçün, 2016)

Today, there is a growing need for handling equipment that will provide flexibility and ease of use that will speed up the flow of materials for a variety of reasons, such as the need for short response times to demand, increased product variety. The characteristics and effectiveness of the handling systems affect the general structure of production facilities and other logistics functions. The more the handling equipment slows down the flow of material in the logistics process, the lower the efficiency and performance of the system. The fact that the handling equipment does not allow the operations to take place at the required rate causes the customer requests to be unable to be met and the service level to be low.

Warehouse management tries to reach the following objectives by organizing activities in the warehouse.

Ø  Increase the efficiency of warehouse space

Ø  Increase the utilization efficiency of warehouse equipments

Ø  Stick to the warehouse plan

Ø  Providing access to the highest level of all merchants

Ø  To ensure the protection of all goods

Warehouse types are as below;

Ø  Unit Warehouse

Ø  Bulk warehouse

(Source: Topoyan, 2009)

1.      Types and characteristics of handling equipment

Shipment of materials within the supply chain is an activity that does not create added value in the supply chain but is required to continue the operation of the supply chain. Handling can contribute to the performance of supply chain functions in creating added value for the product in the supply chain.

Major equipment used in warehouse are as the below,

1.1              Coveyors

Conveyors are one of the handling equipments that produce the most suitable solutions in work flow systems where the material flow is constant. Different types of conveyors may be preferred depending on the characteristics of the cargoes to be transported.  One of the conveyor types is a corrugated conveyor. These allow materials from different units to be brought together at specific points, as well as allowing different materials from a particular point to be separated. Since such conveyors can be upgraded, they can be transported between floors.

            1.1.1    Roller conveyors

            Roller conveyors are hand handling equipment designed to transport lighter loads. It has mostly wheeled feet and can be adjusted in distance. In such equipment, depending on the weight of the cargo, the movement of the cargo is provided.

                        1.1.2    Belt Conveyors

            With belt conveyors, the movement of loads on an uninterrupted band system is ensured and the back and forth movement of the band is realized by a power equipment. Besides these, magnetic conveyors are used for transportation of metal products.

2.      Packing equipment

Packing equipments are the equipments which make palletizing automatically and faster in response to manually preparing pallets with arm power. Palletizing is more systematic with these equipments and can be realized in short time. Palletizing equipment also allows handling to be more efficient.

3.      Stacking tools

Stacking vehicles, warehouses, production facilities etc. of packages and pallets. They are the means used to move within the fields and to stack them in certain areas. A large number of stacking vehicles can be used in operations as well as forklifts that are powered by luggages within the stacking vehicles. Arm-powered vehicles are called manual stacking vehicles, while forklifts and the like. Heavy stacking vehicles can be defined as stacking vehicles.

Forklifts located in stacking vehicles are vehicles with high lifting and carrying capacity. Forklifts can have bifurcated baffles that can stack on high shelves. In the same way, there are types of these vehicles that can hold loads up to 40 meters. Increasing the horizontal movements of elevator forklifts reduces the efficiency of the handling operation.

The order picking process starts with the work order from the operator who is going to be used after the car is finished, and ends with the intermediate order loading after the operater has finished the picking work. Order collection is to be consigned to a different type of product to be shipped to the customer. (Source:  Homple, Schmidt, 2007)

One of the vehicles used in the handling is the automatic stacking vehicles. Automatic stacking vehicles are defined as AGV vehicles. With the use of automatic stacking devices and automatic and electronic systems without an operator, the processes are systematized and the vehicles can perform the stacking operation without the user by using the computer infrastructure.

4.      Storage Management

Storage management is one of the most important functions of the supply chain management that determines the performance of the supply chain in terms of service level. Depolaries are processes in which products are stationary or have minimal movement. From the perspective of logistics and supply chain management, the total cost increases as the flow rates of products and other moving elements decrease. For this reason, warehouse management processes are high value added operations for supply chain management. As long as warehouse management is a requirement for the supply chain, it can be expressed as a function to be referred to. 

The products brought to the warehouse are divided into classes such as X, Y, Z according to the duration of stay. With this method, different areas are reserved for each class product. At the same time the warehouse can be used more effectively. Depot settlement of products according to their cycle times reduces the factors that can slow down the product flow rate.
(Source: J.A., White, 1996)

5.      The importance and function of warehouse management

Warehouse management has various functions and tasks within the supply chain. Depots are areas where a number of functions such as storing, joining, decomposing, changing form, performing certain level of assembly processes are performed in the process of supply chain management.  Warehouse is a bridge between customers and producers. The different qualities of orders make it possible for producers to meet different demands with the help of warehouses. Some of the customers prefer products in higher volumes and quantities, while others can claim smaller quantities. The producers can balance the small and large volume orders through the warehouse.

One of the economic benefits provided by warehouses is the diversification of products. Diversified cross-shipment is the process of diversifying products and dispatching requests together to meet the needs of more than one customer. The stock levels of cross-shipment products do not have primary qualification, and it is important that more products arrive as soon as possible.

(Source: Sehgal, 2009)

Benefits realized from strategic warehousing are classified on the basis of cost and service. No warehouse functionality should be included in a logistical system unless it is fully justified on some combination of cost and service basis. Ideally a warehouse will simultaneously provide economic and service benefits.   

Five basic economic benefits are;

Ø  Consolidation and breakbulk,

Ø  Sassortment,

Ø  Postponement,

Ø  Stockpiling,

Ø  Reverse logistics, (Source: J. Bowersox, J. Closs, Cooper, 2002)

6.      Conclusion

Warehouse management aims to store firm's goods efficiently and completely and to be able to be reached in the shortest time without losing time to the desired product in the warehouse. Tools, shelves, pallets and software programs play an important role in warehouse management. Warehouse management also enables inventory counting to be done quickly and completely, as well as helping the senior management to quickly calculate the cost of raw materials, auxiliary products and manufactured goods to the firm. Firm management can thus easily calculate the list of malfunctions in the non-moving, slow-moving and moving states of the depot by means of software. It has been explained how wrong it will be to see warehouse management only as a place where goods are kept.

REFERENCES

Yrd. Doç. Dr. Mert Topoyan, Tedarik zinciri yönetimi, taşımacılık yönetimi, depo yönetimi,2009

       Michael Ten Homple, Thorsten Schmidt, Warehouse Management: Automation and organization of warehouse and order picking system, Springer Berlin, 2007

      Tompkins J.A., J.A. White, Y.A. Bozer, E.H. Frazelle, J.M.A. Tanchoco and J.Tervinoi Facilities Planning john Wiley and Sons, New York, 1996

      Vivek Sehgal, Enterprise Supply Chain Management Integrating Best in Class Processes, John Wiley and Sons, New Jersey,2009

       Donald J. Bowersox, David J. Closs, M.Bixby Cooper, Supply Chain Logistics Management, McGraw-Hill Press, Boston, 2002

      Yrd. Doç. Dr. Ömer Faruk Görçün, Örnek Olay ve Uygulamalarla Tedarik Zinciri Yönetimi. 3.Baskı, Beta Yayınları, Istanbul, 2016