What should one keep in mind when developing a warehouse strategy? How do you go about developing one?
Good Answers (1)
Dax R.
Lean Six Sigma Consultant and Process Designer
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Hi Melanie:
You have received good responses here - I think I will just take the 'suite' approach:
First of all let's take a look at the highest level of decision: Why do we need a warehouse? Is it to cross dock, is it to create hubs and spokes, is it to centralize storage?
Once we have the answer to that, we can start getting into a lower level strategy: Location, Transportation Access, Transportation Route, and Area of Service. From this strategy we can look into how many SKUs each locations will keep, and derive the size of the warehouse required from it.
The next level down would be finding actual available warehouse area that fits our purpose, our size, and our budget.
The next level down would be the actual operational layout of the warehouse plus what system you are going to use to manage the warehousing process.
That's it in a nut shell. Let me know if you have further questions, I am glad to help.
Regards,
Dax
More Answers (6)
Bob B.
President, RVB Systems Group - Barcode / RFID Systems - Data collections systems, custom software development
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#1 priority - your budget. We sell an inventory tracking system for $895. Learn more at the link provided.
Links:
What's in your warehouse?
How long is your supply chain?
What terms are you offering clients?
What's the unthinkable that you can think of?
Links:
Doug L.
Lambert Consulting
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It takes 20 years to answer that question. So hire someone who knows as a consultant.
Eric W.
Senior Network Engineer at Hill Top Information Technology
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Sounds like you need an ERP system. I would suggest contacting an SAP consultant. SAP may be a little pricey, but I've seen a great many poor implimentations of bad MRP / ERP business systems. The real problem is as these companies grow, it becomes more and more difficult to rip out the bad system, and it really ends up costing them down the road. I've even seen a few companies fail because they bought into cheap business systems.
Go with SAP and avoid these solution providers with 1-engineer, 50-sales staff. Don't drink the Kool-Aid, don't fall for it, or you'll be paying for your mistake forever.
Also, when you disregard my advice and drink the Kool-Aid anyways, do a lot of research on whatever product your thinking of going with. Google it to death, look up everything. It's like buying a used car; you're going to get screwed, but maybe if you do some serious homework, you'll get screwed a little less.
First of all: Today is a great time to buy a warehouse (real estate is low)
Second: If that's not the reason, reconsider what you're getting into.
Third: WAAS (Warehouse As A Service) If you store taxed or dutied goods at a licensed warehouse you pay import duties only when it leaves the third party US facility (Prices are about $5.00 per pallet per month.) 24 Hrs. Accessible, Insured and Inventory Management Screen is provided for you.
Paul B.
General Manager at Dynamic Machine Design
Best Answers in: Engineering (1), Product Design (1)
Are you warehousing your goods? Remember in that case, inventory is actually a liability, so think Just In Time. Either way the most important thing about material handling is don't. Every time a hand touches and item it costs money, so get as much automation as possible. If your system is big enough you can build a complete Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS). You can automate to the point where the product comes in on trucks, is inspected for accuracy and never gets touched again until your outgoing devlivery people hand it to the customer.
