Essay Example on Maximise Warehouse Space: Material Handling & Storage Solutions

Organizations or businesses that carry inventories experiences the issues related to space at some points in their operational processes. Therefore, it is necessary for businesses to understand to create or make the most space for goods and the assets available in the company. The material handling and the storage of equipment make an important part of making or creating the most spaces in the company or business. Saving warehouse space in a business set up determine or explains the capacity that is required in the storage processes. Therefore, an organization or a business entity should consider the utilization and working capacity. Without the understanding of the working capacity and utilization, the business may be involved in the operational processes towards making equipment and layout decisions. On the other hand, saving the warehouse space can explain how choices that relate to the slotting ad pick faces influence the utilization and the working capacity. Saving the warehouse space often involve the coverage of equipment options and choices for the aisle widths. Establishing a narrow aisle can lead to space savings. However, there is a need for one to consider that the choices they are making or the decisions that are being made are right for a given facility. Through the consideration of the narrow aisle, the warehouse space-saving can cover lower costs. The efficient space-saving technique is to ensure the automation and the retrieval processes in the warehouses. The above activities are possible in different ways. One of the best approaches is to use carousels and vertical lifts because they can assume the unused overhead space and turn it into a productive or efficient storage space. An organization can free the warehouse footprint through the application of carousels and vertical lifts, and besides, reduce the floor space that can then be dedicated for storage services. Some other benefits of warehouse space-saving are that it brings the stored items to an ergonomically located counter; a situation that may enhance productivity. The process of saving space can be undertaken through the application of software system that optimizes inventory control management. The saving of space may involve a wide range of part as well as materials; there should be a lockable and a secured storage environment of the business inventories.

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Warehouse space savings requires Inventory management is a composite procedure, especially for big organizations. However, the basics are often the same irrespective of the type and size of an organization (Ang and Lim, 2019). In the process of inventory management, goods or items are usually delivered into the receiving area in a warehouse in the form of components or raw materials and after that placed into shelves or stock areas. The above scenario is usually evident in larger organizations. However, in smaller companies, the goods or items may go directly to the stock areas instead of passing through the receiving locations.

On the other hand, if the business is a wholesale distributor, the items or goods may be finished products instead of components or raw materials. For the manufacturing companies, the assets are usually pulled from the stock areas and taken to the production areas or facilities where the processing take place into finished products. At the end of the processing, the finished goods are then put the stock areas where they stay before shipment. Alternatively, they may be taken or shipped directly to the customers (Anken, Gagliardi, Renaud & Ruiz, 2011). The inventory management applies a variety of data to track processed goods as they move from one stage to the other including serial numbers, lot numbers, the number of products, and cost of products as well as the dates when they pass through the processes. Inventory management applies various methodologies to ensure the right amount of goods to fulfill the demands of customers and operate profitably. Therefore, the task may be inherently complex when organizations want to deal with numerous stock-keeping units that can mean the use of multiple warehouses.

Good warehouse management is a critical success factor for business strategies. Besides, good management of warehouses can lead to a competitive advantage in the long term period. In most cases, the aim of warehouse management is to be able to p optimize the use of equipment, space, and the management of human resources. A well-managed warehouse will ensure maximum accessibility to each of the items and in the end reduce the administrative costs. An effective warehouse needs to be organized so that each operator can quickly or speedily find the required item and continue to prepare for the order without errors. The above process can increase customer satisfaction and also, optimize order preparation and the delivery times. For the businesses, the warehouse spaces are integral part of sales and production processes, it can, therefore, have an economic value that is tied to the infrastructure, invested capital and dedicated resources that businesses need to manage the best minimized related costs. In the modern operating system, warehouse management is usually complemented by the use of the warehouse management software that is capable of facilitating the optimization through the provision of an electronic representation of the space utilized based on the goods database. In the process of inventory management, the software system enhances the quick picking actions as it eliminates usual lengthy and tiresome searches that are carried out by the operators. Even though some firms apply the cross-docking techniques rather than the warehouse system, some companies apply the above technique to manage space in the warehouses. Cross-docking refers to the process where goods from the manufacturing plants or suppliers taken to various customers in the market. The goods can also be distributed with marginal or lack of storage time. The cross-docking often take place in the docking terminal where there exist dock doors and trucks. The doors and the trucks are usually on two sides, the outbound and the inbound with the minimum space for storage. Cross-docking elaborates the procedure for obtaining products from the inbound dock and after that shifting them to the outbound transportation docks.

Identifying the Gaps

The management of warehouses in an attempt to save space is often associated with some basic tenets that the management should take into consideration. Some of the problems associated with warehouse management include accuracy, efficiency, cost control, safety, security, and cleanliness. These problems or shortcomings, therefore, lead to the creation of gaps that leaves people with more questions than answers. The underlying problems when it comes to them] management of warehouses are complex and dynamic, a scenario that leads to the creation of major problems for the management and the warehouse managers in different industries.

In most cases, distributors need to deal with the trade-offs as a result of resource limitation, a situation that often leads to the underperformance in major or essential functional areas. In the current business operation system, warehouse managers face different challenges of maximizing the performance as they try to balance the trade-offs under specific conditions. Conventionally, warehouse workers have been likely to handle different products at different times as a result of the nature of warehouse processes undertaken by a company. The above tendency often tends to linger on in the current practices. One of the processes in the warehouse is where workers tend to pass similar tickets through several or multiple hands.

In some instances, the above redundant procedure is considered time-consuming as they lead to an increase in the costs of labor. The application of the barcode technology can streamline the warehouse processes, a scenario that can lead to the reduction of the redundant processes while maximizing the utilization of resources. In an attempt to save space in warehouse management, there is the need for the automated system, a trend that can compel the warehouse managers to maintain the up-to-date systems in an attempt to achieve the desired results. In most cases, the effective use of the available space is an essential factor in warehousing. In the current business operation processes, most businesses face the problems of space. The inefficient use of the available storage as well as the inadequate storage space is some of the common problems in warehouses that have poor facility layout. Today, most of the businesses have poorly configured warehouses which should be a major cause of worry for the inventory managers as well as the organizational stakeholders due to inherent potential of negative impacts on the profits.

In the current operational systems, most of the businesses still lack the adequate measures or approaches that can be undertaken to enhance warehouse space-saving. Besides, there is a lack of enough studies to show the forms of warehouse management that can enable companies or businesses to save on space. With the dynamism in the market and the production processes, businesses require the modern system of warehouse management to ensure that they utilize the spaces available adequately. In other wants companies need to have a dynamic system that economizes the spaces available for storage. However, with the constant changes in the volumes of products and demands of goods in the market, there are always challenges in designing the warehouses to suit the dynamic nature of the operational processes. Therefore, there is a need for the optimal layout factors that can economize both the vertical and floor spaces available for use. A good layout of the storage space need enhance the application or use of labor and equipment, the accessibility of all the items as well as the security of goods produced and the tools of work. The constant changes in the warehouse management make them more insecure as there is lack of standardized operation procedures that can enhance safety.

The warehouse managers often face challenges with fluctuating demands, a scenario that makes it difficult to put up a standardized warehouse management system. The fluctuation on sales due to the recent global financial crisis led to the increased problems in warehouses as a result of the increased inventory levels. Even though the above crisis did not impact all the industries, the problem continues to highlight challenges associated with the warehouse management as well as the gaps that exist when it comes to the management of goods or items in these warehouses.

Current Industry Trends

The current trend in warehouse management incorporates the transport management system that would ensure efficient and timely delivery of items and equipment for the purposes of managing the warehouse spaces. In the modern system of operation, with the increased production of goods, as well as the increase in the number of equipment, it is necessary to integrate the transportation systems with the warehouse management to enhance saving of space in the industries. Currently, across different industries, electronic commerce, as well as other business to business transaction capabilities, have greatly altered the operation in the supply chain management. The technology has enhanced the exchange of information at an unprecedented scale, usually at a pace that is too fast for normal consumption. In the current operational system, the companies are becoming equipped to utilize data from warehouse management systems which consist of information on customer or suppliers inventory levels as well as the key customer ordering patterns (Derhami, Smith & Gue, 2019). The above systems are essential fac...