Essay on "satisfactory site? Modern warehouses, similar to manufacturing"

Essay 48 pages (17589 words) Sources: 38

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Unwanted merchandise is taken out of stock and returned back to the original manufacturer through the process of an authorized level (Bizmove, n.d.).

A proper unit control must entail maintenance of control over pending orders so that delivery dates are met or adhered to ensure that retailers do not receive merchandise that they did not order.

3. What size facility is needed -- both floor space (sq ft) and volume (cubic ft)?

The size of warehouse that is needed for an operation is determined based on the maximum quantity, in terms of volume and tonnage, of supplies to be purchased and stores at any given time. This quantity is often based on the number of beneficiaries, the type of distribution system, the lead-time needed to replenish the warehouse, and the frequency of distribution (e.g. weekly or monthly). When determining the storage requirements, only 70% of the entire warehouse surface capacity should be regarded as actual available storage space. The remaining 30% is utilized to provide passageways, proper ventilation, repackaging areas, and handling space. Furthermore, it should be noted that it is often either impractical or downright impossible to fill a warehouse to the roof, and it is not recommended. Thus, the storage capacity of a warehouse should be determined at a level at least a metre below the height of the warehouse ceiling. Moreover, to avoid damage to the merchandise, or the risk of goods toppling over, only a few items can and should be stacked at a height of over 2.5 metres. When calculating the warehouse capacity it should be understood that no added weight than what has been mentioned within the contract can be loaded in warehouse floor space (WFP, 2013).

Theoretical capacity is the real physical capacity of the space that has been reserved for storage. So for a non-complicated warehouse with a layout of a thousand pallets in various locations, all of the following proportions 40" x 48" x 72," its theoretical capacity would be one thousand full pallets or 80,000 cubic feet (since each pallet is 80 cubic feet). This is referred to as storage capacity, for the reason that it is linked to the storage characteristics and specific inventory and not all of this capacity is utilized. If there is a cube information setup or a Warehouse Management System (WMS), space utilization reports can be run to determine the theoretical capacity being utilized. If this is a case-pick system, when making a utilization report to prove to the company's executive how "full" the warehouse is, it maybe calculated that the warehouse is under 70% utilization. This leads us to the working capacity (Piasecki, 2012).

Based on the characteristics of storage and inventory configurations, 70% utilization may in fact be "full" (the 70% being discussed is just an example and not an industry standard). One warehouse may run up to 90% while another may be just at 60% based on the storage and inventory configurations. Inventory characteristics include things such as the physical size of items, the number of items, the amount it can carry, and the characteristics of outbound and inbound orders. All of these work within the confines of the storage configurations or settings. For instance, consider the one thousand pallet example, and assume this is a full-pallet-in/full-pallet-out system. If the warehouse is made up fully out of selective pallet racks, and has a steady stream of outbound and inbound volume, there should be not issues with running at 90% or more utilization (Piasecki, 2012).

However in case the same inventory had been stored in the form of floor loaded bulk storage with pallets stacked 3 high in lanes that range from four to eight deep, there may be a struggle to reach and maintain even a 60% utilization. That is because in the selective-rack case, whenever a pallet is removed from a certain space within the warehouse, that particular pallet location then becomes available for another item. However, in the floor-stacked example-assuming lots or items cannot be mixed in storage lanes- there will be a need to wait until the entire lane is completely emptied out before storing something else in it. Going back to the selective rack example and changing the system from pallet pick to case pick, our cube working capacity would be cut since we would then have so many spaces occupied by partial pallets (Piasecki, 2012).

4. An optimum system for locating items, so your employees will know where to put them when they arrive, and find them when they're needed?

"Universal Product Codes" or UPCs became very popular immediately when they were released into the market. Nowadays they are found almost on each and every product on supermarket shelves. In the same fashion as barcodes, UPC codes formed a link between the digital and physical worlds, providing any person with a barcode scanner the ability to access instantaneously the data that is contained in that barcode. Similar to all initial barcode formats, UPC codes were in one dimension (1-D)-meaning the information carried was also in one direction. 1-D codes may be enough for carrying small amounts of data such as numeric codes, however as the digital world became more complex, it was realised that there was need for bar codes capable of carrying even more data. One solution that was designed and implemented was the stacked barcode, which as the name implies contains stacks of 1-D codes piled on top of each other. These stacked barcode scans store a lot of information, however they were found to be difficult to read at time since they could grow very large. So as to have a barcode that was easier to read but still capable of holding a large variety of character types and a huge amount of data, the 2-D barcodes were innovated (Atteberry, 2015).

"Universal Product Code" or "UPC" bar codes have slowly been replaced by "Smart Labels," which are also known as "Radio Frequency Identification" or RFID tags. RFID tags are smart codes since they can relay information to a networked system, thus tracking all products that are placed on a shopping cart. These tags connect to electronic scanner located in the shopping carts and thus the scanners detect every item in the cart and ring up in real-time. The electronic scanner or reader is connected to a large computer network that will send the information of the goods in the cart to the retailer and the product manufacturers. The bank will then be notified and the due amount be deducted from one's account. No lines, no waiting. RFID tags are helping track goods globally. Numerous manufacturers utilize the tags to track the location of all products from initial preparation to the time the product is put on a shopping cart (Bonson & Fenlon, 2015).

UPC's are generated by a firm known as the Uniform Code Council (UCC). A manufacturer applies to the firm for permission to enter the system. The manufacturer then pays an annual charge for that particular privilege. In return, the UCC gives that manufactures a six-digit manufacturer identification number (manufacturer ID) and provides guidelines on how to utilize them. One can see this number in any standard twelve-digit UPC code. The UPC code is in two parts: the human readable twelve-digit UPC number and the machine readable barcode (Brain, 2015).

A person employed by the manufacturer, known as the UPC coordinator, is responsible for assigning item numbers to products, ensuring that the same code is not utilized for more than one product. This also ensures that the codes of products that are no longer being produced are retired. In general, every item sold, including different size packages, requires a different code. The last digit of the UPC code is the check digit. This digit acts as a control for the scanner to check if it is functioning properly (Brain, 2015).

5. Which of the three options would be best? Why? Explain.

Of the three systems discussed above, the barcodes are the best. Barcodes can not only be scanned by electronic scanners but also by Smartphones. Common models such as Android, Blackberry and iPhone Smartphones all have the capacity to read even the common 2-D bar code formats, helping clear perhaps the biggest obstacle to the widespread adoption of 2-D bar codes. Smartphones make sense of this seemingly unintelligible pattern of squares and lines on the grounds that the bar code itself was created from scratch using a scanning process as rapid and as accurate as possible (Brain, 2015).

Bar codes are the best because:

Low error rates - recognition and transcription errors are banished. Manual entry through the keyboard, for instance generate about 10 errors for every 1000 keystrokes. The optical barcode, on the other hand, suffers only a mere one error for every 10,000 scans.

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