Today’s consumers want and expect near-instantaneous delivery of their merchandise and to that end, retailers and affiliated fulfillment centers must be top of their warehousing and logistics games. Businesses are well aware of this trend in commerce and meeting the demand requires a highly organized, streamlined warehouse operatithat inspires team energy driven toward a commgoal.
What is warehousing anyway?
In various iterations, warehousing has been around for generations and while its foundatiprinciples remain the same, related solutions have seen enormous changes. Everything from urbanizatito ubiquitous online shopping has tremendous impacts the warehousing world and in fact a robust warehouse and logistics process is a key component in business supply chains
Simply state, warehousing is the storage of goods before they are sold. Sounds easy enough but warehousing the “right way” requires laser-sharp organizatishipping and receiving sides to ensure safe and secure product storage; a system of quickly locating any item in the building; and tracking of arrival, quantity, future orders, and other applicable information.
With the majority of today’s commerce taking place online, many products must be stored until purchase. When Joe or Lisa clicks the Buy butta vendor’s web page, a signal is sent to the warehouse or fulfillment center and worker (human or robotic) hightails it to the correct location, pulls the item, and prepares it for shipment. The same general scenario applies to traditional retail purchases, but product is shipped to physical stores for pickup.
In all cases, the best warehouse operations are overseen by a seasoned inventory manager with hands-experience and a sharp eye for what makes a strong and productive team. He or she will also be adept at leveraging technology to make the most of every element of the logistics arena.
Three of the most important components of a top-flight warehousing logistics operatiinclude warehouse management, operations, and management systems.
Warehouse management
Technically defined, warehouse management comprises the daily executiof overall facility operations including managing all staff from front office to custodians, hiring and training of staff, inventory and equipment management, safety procedures, and vendor relations. This is a very active positiwith many moving parts that evolve with growth and company demands. Some daily tasks include ensuring safety protocol is followed, performing warehouse audits, managing shipping of inventory, and obtaining required transportatidocuments.
Warehouse operations
Operations in a warehouse facility include everything related to the tracking and movement of product. Typical tasks include receiving and locating products into specific storage locations throughout the facility, labeled with easy-to-find identificatimarkers or codes.
Management systems
Warehouse management systems, WMS, is a dedicated software to help manage a warehouse’s daily operations. The software includes specially designed tools to help oversee and manage inventory movement while saving time and money. This type of solutiallows insight into all activity at the facility and helps create optimal inventory tracking, distributiof work, shipping, and product tracking.
Establishing an efficient warehousing solutisaves you money while meeting customer demand and internal company parameters.
For more tips warehousing logistics, contact Overflo at (800) 626-061600 or overflo.com for a free quote.