Efficient And Safe Warehouse Management: Processes And Developments

Main Findings and Recommendations

Items are stored in warehouses mainly to protect them from various damages. The damages can be caused by many factors such as harsh weather conditions, poor handling during movement and many other factors. To improve the productivity and management of a warehouse to be a world class warehouse there are process and developments which have to be done  such as: Having efficient and safe packaging and labelling of the items in the warehouse. Installing reliable and efficient material handling systems. Ensuring that the warehouse meets the Occupational Health and Safety measures to limit the number of injuries. Put in place appropriate warehouse management information systems. Come up with reverse logistics operations systems and allow room for expansion and future development of the warehouse.

The packaging which is provided in the warehouse is aimed at protecting the items being handled in the warehouse from any form of damage. The form of the package being offered in the warehouse is sufficient enough to limit the damages on the items being moved (Hamberg, 2016, p. 245).

 Pallets.

For the purpose of maximising the storage capacity of the warehouse, the warehouse was designed in such a way that the items can be easily stored on the pallets. By having the package system which allows a given number of items to be efficiently and safely stored on

The type of packaging which is to be used in the warehouse has sufficient information so that it makes it easier to identify the contents in the package and the barcodes which can be used together with the RF technology in the warehouse for identification purposes. The packages to be used in the warehouse have specific dimensions which allow them to be stored easily on the pallets.

Efficient Packaging

Space and weight were the main concerns during the provision of packaging. The packaging which are developed include small aluminium containers which could provide adequate protection to the items. The paperboards and plastic were considered because of their lightweight and ability to offer enough protection to the items. Corrugated cardboards are also used in the warehouse due to their strength, recyclability, and lightweight (Hamberg, 2016, p. 457).

Conveyor systems

The conveyor systems are used to move items to the right positions and at the right time with minimal damages. The conveyor systems are known to increase the efficiency while reducing the cost of handling materials in the warehouse through the easy flowing of materials within the warehouse and at a much faster rate.

Efficient and Safe Packaging

Industrial carousels systems.

The industrial carousels systems are installed in the warehouse to pick, pack and fulfil orders within the warehouse. They are known to increase the productivity and reduce space wastage within the warehouse by bringing the components and parts to the order picker or assembly worker. The carousels system in the warehouse enhances the product storage density, picking, and security.

There are various types of carousels systems in the warehouse such as:

• Automated vertical carousels
• Vertical lift carousels
• Horizontal carousel

Reciprocating conveyors and vertical lifts.

This system is used in the warehouse due to the many benefits which are associated with it such as;

The advanced safety features which the system is equipped with to protect people and other types of machinery.

Its low cost of installation and maintenance as compared to the elevators.

Its ability to utilize the new and modern installations within the warehouse.

Its ability to transport skids, pallets, and cartons of different shapes and weight (Prasad, 2013, p. 243).

Safety of the workers was one of the factors which were greatly considered during the design of the warehouse. The injuries and accidents which occur in the warehouses are preventable. Once they have happened, they come with very serious consequences. Such as the; legal actions and compensation for the workers. Some of the ways through which the occupational health and safety can improve are discussed below.

Choosing an experienced provider.

The first step to ensuring safety in the warehouse is choosing an experienced provider to assist in installation. The safety and health of the workers in most cases are placed in the hands of the provider. The provider who was chosen for the construction and installation of the warehouse was very experienced regarding to the safety in the warehouses.

A well-designed inventory.

Size, shape and the weight of the items to be stored in the warehouse was greatly considered in determining the style of racking to be adopted in the warehouse. Due to that, it is ensured that the pallet racking will accommodate the proper object and weight capacity to reduce the probability of falling items and injuries. The pallet racking was done in such a way to ensure that it was to be easy to retrieve the items from the rankings. Larger and heavier items are placed on the lower shelves to minimize the lifting injuries.

Assembly and maintenance of the warehouse.

There is enough spacing between the aisles to allow the forklift to pass and transport items. It is ensured that the racks are not exposed in any way to dampness or any other element which may affect the structural integrity of the warehouse. Appropriate lighting is provided in the warehouse to allow better visibility in the working stations. There are also capacity signs which are installed in the storage for references purposes.

Material Handling Systems

A sprinkler system is also installed in the in correspondence with the rack structure. All the workers who will be working in the warehouse will be informed the location of the emergency exits, fire extinguishers, hazardous material logs, and emergency response equipment because emergency preparedness is very essential in ensuring safety in the warehouse.

Acquiring used racks

Some of the pallet racks in the warehouse are second, and a lot of care will be taken when acquiring them, the signs that the racks have been repaired will be keenly checked to ensure that the repairs which were done are acceptable.in most cases the rust of the racks can be hidden by paint due to that cross-examination of the second pallets will be done to ascertain their strength before they are used.

Forklifting safety.

Most of the injuries in the warehouse are associated with the improper use of forklifting or untrained operators. The operators who will be operating the forklift are licensed and experienced operators to minimize the injuries associated with fork lifting (Prasad, 2013, p. 172).

The warehouse has an aisle for the storage and the retrieval of operations between different organs. This results in the creation of dead spaces in the cases where there are no such operations. When the racks are moved and set up spaces for material handling only when their operations are in progress. The dead space which is created can be used for the storage (David, 2014, p. 76).

A wide range of technology and experience from the information system to the material handling has been included in the warehouse management systems. The management system which is used in the warehouse is cable of;

Reducing the inspection errors which are committed. The handy wireless terminal read the ITF codes, which are again checked against the data scheduled for arrival, in that way the accuracy of inspection is increased.

Simple control. By using this management system, the management of the warehouse is simple and plain which in turn contributes to the enhanced efficiency of the warehouse operations.

Monitoring progress in real time. This management system can monitor the progress of the warehouse regarding the inventories, changes in orders and emergency shipment (Tinnirello, 2013, p. 564).

Identifying and reducing cost. The management system allows the operators of the warehouse to easily measure their operation time which makes the analysis of logistics easier (Hamberg, 2016, p. 83).

Reverse logistics operations

Return operations in most warehouses are taken to be an inherited problem, but in the case of the designed warehouse I applied the best industrial practice to gain competitive advantage by;

Occupational Health and Safety Measures

All the items in the warehouse must be identified, assigned to a given customer or an account and then to be physically sorted to be processed. Because some of the items in the warehouse might be discarded or kept back for chargeback’s, in the warehouse, not all the items are entered into the electronic inventory, some of them must be repacked and then accounted for manually against the electronic inventory. After that credits are then issued at a later time and in most cases for some part of the return (Reeves, 2016, p. 292).

Specialized returns systems which are to be included in the warehouse can;

Separate the accounting processes from the physical processes and be able to allow physical and accounting realities. Can distinguish the physical disposition and return reasons. The former describes why customer returned the item. The latter which is submitted in most cases describes the physical state of the item. The credit clerks who will be working in the warehouse must understand at all times the return reasons. Warehouseman must also understand at all times the reason for disposition (Mundy, 2014, p. 116).

The return process also in the warehouse will be controlled through the ‘’Return Authorization’’ in this system the pre-approved returns can be approved quickly, therefore, simplifying the return identification process.

Data collection and flow.

Appropriate data collection and flow have a great impact on the reverse logistics operations.

Handheld scanners: Just like the RF equipment the handheld scanner has greatly proven to be very important in the warehousing sector. This technology will be incorporated into the warehouse to aid in the reverse logistics (Ackerman, 2014, p. 526).

Interface into the accounting systems: In the warehouse, any data which will be collected regarding the returned items will be made available to the accounting system to serve as the foundation for credit processing. This kind of data flow ensures that credits are issued after the returned item has been inspected (Mattison, 2016, p. 212)

Warehouse and stock security measures

There are some security measures in place to ensure that the security of the warehouse is achieved for the high valuables stored as well as during the delivery and receipt of the items as discussed below.

During the process of hiring the workers, the reference checks will be used more so in the recruitment of the staff who will be working accessing the areas storing high-value goods. There are many surveillance cameras which are put in place to monitor the activities of the warehouse in that way it will be much easier to compact any form of vice in the warehouse (Cuzzocrea, 2012, p. 340).

Warehouse Management Information Systems

The loading and offloading bays of the warehouse are separate from the staff parking this is to make it easier to monitor how the goods are received or discharged from the warehouse. Mixing the loading bays and the staff parking can result into a very serious conflict because the long trucks which supply the materials to the warehouse require quite big space for turning that can result in accidents if mixed with the cars of the staff (McDonald, 2015, p. 654).

The total number of doors into and out of the warehouse are minimized as much as possible to make it easy to monitor the flow of goods in and out of the warehouse. The bushes and other foliage which can act as the hideout of thieves are greatly reduced to ensure that there is no point he thieves can hide to carry out their activities (Zimányi, 2016, p. 67).

There are many developments put in place in the warehouse to ensure that the warehouse can be able to cope up with the competitive technology and commerce in future such as:

Electronic Data Interchange.

This system which is installed in the warehouse allows the sharing of the different document which has a shared format between different computers. The EDI will be used in the warehouse to do the following;

• Purchase orders
• Carry out warehouse stock transfer receipts
• To offer warehouse inventory advice

There are many benefits which will be gained from the EDI system such as the easy flow of information between different organise of the warehouse (Dixon, 2014, p. 17).

Radio frequency identification.

This includes the use of Radio waves to feed information between the tags which are attached to the stock and the readers that can pick the signal. Some of the benefits which are associated with RFID includes the greater stock visibility and transparency which will greatly reduce theft (Hamberg, 2016, p. 1)

References

Ackerman, K. B., 2014. Practical Handbook of Warehousing. 4th ed. Chicago: Springer.

Cuzzocrea, A., 2012. Data Warehousing and Knowledge Discovery: 14th International Conference, DaWaK 2012, Vienna, Austria, September 3-6, 2012, Proceedings. 3rd ed. London: Springer.

David, T., 2014. Progressive Methods in Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence: Concepts and Competitive Analytics: Concepts and Competitive Analytics. 4th ed. Paris: IGI Global.

Dixon, D. C., 2014. Development of Public Warehouse Business. 2nd ed. London: Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Policyholders Service Bureau.

Hamberg, R., 2016. Automation in Warehouse Development. 2nd ed. London: Springer Science & Business Media.

Mattison, R., 2016. The Data Warehousing Handbook. 2nd ed. London: Lulu.com.

McDonald, K., 2015. Mastering the SAP Business Information Warehouse: Leveraging the Business Intelligence Capabilities of SAP NetWeaver. 4th ed. Chicago: John Wiley & Sons.

Mundy, J., 2014. The Microsoft Data Warehouse Toolkit: With SQL Server 2008 R2 and the Microsoft Business Intelligence Toolset. 1st ed. Chicago: John Wiley & Sons,.

Prasad, D. K., 2013. Data Warehouse Development Tools. 3rd ed. Texas: Dreamtech Press.

Reeves, L., 2016. A Manager’s Guide to Data Warehousing. 1st ed. Berlin: John Wiley & Sons.

Tinnirello, P. C., 2013. Systems Development Handbook, Fourth Edition. 2ND ed. London: CRC Press.

Zimányi, E., 2016. Advanced Data Warehouse Design: From Conventional to Spatial and Temporal Applications. 2nd ed. London: Springer Science & Business Media.