LSCM 360—Warehousing Management, pp. 197-219 (Note: Protective Package and Materials Handling, pp. 153-196, follows)
Warehousing provides storage for longer time periods. Consider products that need to be aged before using, or special collections such as business documents, hospital records, artwork, libraries, household furniture, court evidence.
Distribution center provides “assortments,” usually for retailers, but also for manufacturers who need a variety of inputs. Emphasis on rapid order-filling and “throughput” (product amounts entering and leaving facility in a given time-period).
Both provide transportation savings by permitting truck-load (or car-load or container-load) quantities to be moved (at lower transportation cost per pound or per ton) on either the inbound or outbound leg, or both.
The distribution center (a more specialized warehouse) provides the “regrouping function” (pages 22 and 199):
sorting out (into homogeneous groups)
accumulating (bulk-making)
allocating (bulk-breaking)
assorting (into assortments)
Private warehouse (owned or long-term leased by user), p. 201.
high fixed costs (regardless of volume)
requires high volume and stable demand
provides greatest control over products & conditions
reduces flexibility to change locations
management challenges: union contracts and OSHA regulations
Public warehousing (short-term renting), p. 200.
all costs variable with volume during a time-period (e.g., month or quarter)
provides flexibility of location and services (repackaging, pricing, assembly, recalls)
Special high-security types: bonded (similar to insurance) storage and field warehousing (issues receipt as collateral). Products won’t be shipped until fees or taxes are paid.
Contract (third-party) warehousing, p. 203: long term (3-5 yr.), mutually beneficial, unique and tailored warehousing and logistics services (e.g., packaging & transportation), one client, shared risks, control as specified in contract.
Costs: lower than private, greater than public storage.
Design: Figures 3 and 4 aren’t so great. In general, “use common sense” (again! p. 204)
Consider quantity & character of products handled. E.g., on-line orders vs. retail orders.
Consider purpose: storage vs. distribution.
Special note: Cross-docking, receiving products (usually in bulk) and allocating them to many vehicles going to many destinations, without placing the products into storage (usually within 1 to 3 days). Book says pallet loads are cross-docked (Figure 5); my observation is individual cases instead. Savings: one handling plus time in storage.
Trade-offs (in design): space, labor, mechanization.
Product profiles: physical and popularity. Fast-moving products should be near each other, saving pickers’ travel time. To save storage space, use narrow aisles (requires more expensive lift devices).
Fixed slot location: assigned to SKU. Variable slot location: computer remembers locations randomly selected.
Build out or up: equipment costs go up with height.
Scheduling order-picking vs. replenishment (same time or different).
Separate receive and shipping docks or one? Can be separated by time.
Labor vs. mechanization and automation (computer controlled). Automatic Guided Vehicles. Requires high volume to be feasible.
Picker-to-part vs. Part-to-picker systems (e.g., carousels). Text says travel time is “the crux of order picking” (p. 210).
Degree of computer information systems: paperless, automated voice technology.
“virtual warehouse” uses others’ warehouses instead.
Non-storage space needs (see p. 211)
Next link: retail storerooms (may not exist; some use spare trailers for backup inventory).
Equipment concerns:
Pallet racks (why? so new pallets don’t rest on top of older pallets).
Warehouse Management Systems (p. 213): software that “control the movement and storage of materials within an operation.” Expensive, but provide better utilization of a facility.
Employee Safety: forklift drivers, back injuries, training: “It costs more to recruit, train, and replace a worker than to provide a safe environment.”
OSHA (p. 214)
Waste materials, dunnage.
Fire hazards.
Hazardous materials: shown on shipping documents. Answer what is being stored, why, where and how it is being stored.
Security: against theft, terrorism (ammonia). Formal hiring process, physical devices (fences, cameras), fewer handling, fewer doors.
Sanitations
Stock controls: accuracy of records and orders filled.
Protective Package and Materials Handling, pp. 153-196
PRODUCTS: bulk vs. unitized
Bulk: not individually packaged; free-flowing or loose; moved by pumps, shovels, conveyors
other attributes: density (pounds per cubic foot), perishable, live, labeled (e.g., fabric and care)
Hazardous (see shipping documents and signs): explosive, flammable, poison, radioactive, corrosive. Affects routing (e.g. travel through a downtown area)
Environmental protection: dust, vapors, spillage, recycling packaging materials.
German example: packaging can be taken back to seller.
Recyclable vs. reuse (beverage container example: plastic, aluminum, glass).
Four strategies:
1. reduce about of packing materials (risk of damage during shipping).]
2. use environmentally friendly packaging materials; question about labeling “recycled content.”
3. reusable containers; caution for food packaging. Some success in shipping auto parts in reusable racks.
4. support recycling efforts of others.
Scrap disposal: sell or landfill; example of a pallet shredder (p. 161).]
Metric system, especially for exports. Example: wine.
PACKAGING
building-blocks concept:
smallest (consumer package at retailers; usually rectangular; often promotional, also protective from shoplifting)
inside 1-2 cubic foot boxes for manual carrying; protective
Protective
1. enclose products, keep from touching or being touched by other products or people
2. restrain from moving
3. separate contents
4. cushion from vibration, shock
5. support weight from other packages
6. position contents (e.g., heaviest on bottom of package)
7. weight distribution
8. identifying labels
9. tamperproof
10. consider safety of the package
Figure 7, p. 167, example of advice from Fibre Box Association.
Initials: SU, KD, BMC
Size limit; e.g., l, w, h 75 inches: larger sizes less strength.
What does “Cubiscan 100” machine do? calculates package cube and density
Do packaging requirements affect transportation rates? “may be one element of negotiation” but shippers generally did not reduce their packaging because of risk for damage in transit.
Package testing: vibrations, dropping, horizontal impacts, compression, temperatures & moisture, rough handling. Example of testing a new type of pallet (p. 171)
To protect, need to know: severity of environment, fragility of product, characteristics of packaging materials.
Labeling: consider words or numbers vs. pilferage. Scanner-readability may be required. Examples in Figure 14 (p. 174) or shipping, receiving and mixed labels.
Compliance labeling (complies with buyer’s requirements)
Labeling may be by RFID chips (a.k.a. smart labels)
UNIT LOADS
handling more items at a time, e.g., stacking boxes on pallets so they can all be lifted at once by a forklift truck.
Alternative to pallet: slip sheet—same size but not as tall, saves space. However, requires special equipment and shelving, not racks.
What to do with used pallets? Return them to a pallet pool (collection point). Special case: Chep USA furnishes blue plastic pallets, maintains its own pallet pool, big in grocery industry.
Goal: strong pallet, no nails, under 50 pounds.
“Palletizer” or robot for stacking or unstacking cases onto pallets.
Advantages of unit loads: mechanized movement, security. Disadvantage: quantity on a pallet is too much for many retailers, who need a case or even a pallet-layer of cases. Example of pallet of several products called a rainbow pallet.
Example of breaking down pallet loads using gravity conveyors. Mention of FIFO inventory retrieval system: first-in, first-out.
INTERMODAL CONTAINERS
critical dimension: width 8 feet.
height: 8 ft. or more (so watch stacking heights on RR cars)
length: 20 ft. (TEU), 40 ft. (FEU), other
“Both ocean carriers and railroads have developed methods of handling two or more containers at one time, thereby reducing the number of individual lifting and storage moves.” Rarely seen, although they do move more than one at a time over long distances.
Variations on the usual dry-cargo container (see p. 182)
temperature controlled
liquid
flatbed
with auto racks
open sided
Usually not used for air freight (too heavy); some made of aluminum for air freight.
Equipment loading (p. 183): example of computer generated load plan.
space filled with bracing or inflatable dunnage bags to prevent damage from vibration, centrifugal force, pitch, roll, retardation.
Special term: weighed out, meaning the load reached its weight limit before the container was filled. Still need the load to be distributed evenly throughout the container.
Back to building-blocks: multiple container rates, or multiple carload rates. E.g., for 15 cars of grain (equal to one river barge load).
MATERIALS HANDLING
Major difference is packaged vs. bulk
Example of bagged rice and bulk rice in same load.
Another example of a ship that weighs out with iron ore but cubes out with coal or grain.
Ignore “angle of repose” (not a big deal)
Other special cases: liquids and gases.
24 material handling principles (pp. 188-189): be familiar with first 10--
1. orientation principle: how and why system operates, relation to other systems, limitations.
2. requirements principle
3. integrated system principle
4. standardization principle
5. just-in-time principle
6. unit-load principle
7. minimum travel principle
8. space utilization principle
9. ergonomic principle
10. energy principle
Examples shown of early airplane refueling and unloading coal cars (pp. 191-192)
2. re