What is warehouse logistics

While warehousing is a business which has been around for a long time and applies to multiple different industries, modern technology has allowed many new businesses to use it to improve their operations and supply chains. Warehousing is the process of storing physical inventory for sale or distribution. Warehouses are used by all different types of businesses which need to temporarily store products in bulk before either shipping them to other locations or individually to end consumers. For instance, many e-commerce businesses will purchase products in bulk from their suppliers, who ship them to their warehouse for storage.

When an end customer then places an order from the eCommerce site, the business—or its third party fulfillment provider—picks and packs the product from the warehouse and ships it directly to the customer.

In fact, the market has doubled in the last decade as businesses around the world invest heavily in their supply chains to get goods to consumers and businesses faster and more efficiently. Most physical retail businesses have limited space in their stores to hold inventory but still need to keep up with demand. Having additional inventory available in nearby warehouses helps ensure they are always able to restock their stores during high volume times like the holidays, even if their suppliers are in other countries and are slow to produce and ship new product.

While a warehouse is technically any building which stores physical products regardless of the purpose, a distribution center is more specifically a type of warehouse designed for fulfilling orders for the purpose of distribution to other businesses or consumers. Distribution centers, therefore, need to be designed for not only compact storage, but also efficient picking, packing, and shipping. Warehousing is an essential part of the supply chain for most types of businesses which deal in physical goods.

This could be consumer businesses holding a product which eventually makes its way to an end retail customer, or it could be business to business B2B companies storing products which eventually make it to business customers. For retail and eCommerce businesses, warehousing allows the purchase of wholesale goods in bulk which may not fit in a physical retail store or yet be purchased by an end consumer online. Large bulk orders allow these businesses to negotiate lower prices with their suppliers, thus improving their margins when selling to customers.

They can also keep inventory available as demand fluctuates to ensure products stay in stock. It is, therefore, an essential element in warehouse logistics management. Goods handling results from the interaction between operators, machines, racks and working methods involved in moving, storing and controlling materials. You should choose your storage system based on the following criteria:. These machines can also affect the layout distribution due to , for example, the height they reach or the width of the aisles in which they operate.

Picking processes have a considerable impact on certain warehouse logistics strategies. These include the movement and extraction of products from the racks as well as order sorting, consolidation, packing and dispatch.

The organization of picking is one of the major areas of work in warehouse logistics. There are many different methodologies, depending on the following factors:. Within warehousing logistics, stock management is the area tasked with regulating and optimizing stock levels in the installation. To do this, computer programs that accurately track inventory movements are usually used.

This identifies the various stages a product goes through in the warehouse and, thus, provides you with comprehensive control over material flows.

In the daily management of an installation, both the logistics staff and merchandise in stock are exposed to a series of risks. It is a commercial building where goods or raw materials are stored for us in production or for sale. A warehouse provides a central location for receiving, storing and distributing raw goods or finished products.

The warehousing aspect of a business covers a number of elements such as unloading, receiving and checking inbound goods, storage, order picking and handling returns. So what is logistics? There are two sides to logistics, the inbound and the outbound flow of goods. Ultimately though, logistics is about the flow of goods both raw and finished in to, and out of a warehouse.