WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTION FUNCTIONS

Information on Specific Functions

There is much written on the subject of warehousing and distribution management, however, there is not as much information available on the specific functions found in today's warehouses and distribution centers. This is partly because there is so much variation in how technology and floor space is applied and utilized, and many business do not want to discuss how they do things because they feel they would be giving away their competitive edge.

This is true to a point, however, there remains a need for someone wanting to learn more about how a warehouse or distribution center functions to know what takes place inside. It is for these motivated, inquisitive people that we offer the following set of articles. Our goal, as logistics consultants, is to share an overview  of what we have learned with those who are interested in exploring this great industry.

The Role of Technology

As technology has developed, companies are able to see their supply chain with greater visibility than they were able to see just 5 years ago. RFID, satellite tracking and communicating, advances in WMS/ERP systems, and many other advances have made the job of knowing what you have, where it is, and what is on its way to your distribution center easier. Warehouses are not as prevalent as they were in the past because of this visibility. Unless a company needs to stage merchandise for later sale, there is less and less need for this costly holding area. Depending on the size of the warehouse, or distribution center, many of the following functions exist:

  •   Receiving, which includes appointment scheduling, receipt of Automatic Shipping Notices (ASN’s) and checking in and verifying the merchandise.

  •  Putaway of received goods

  •  Cross Docking of received merchandise to a waiting outbound trailer or container.

  •  Flowthru, the process of unloading a trailer/container onto a conveyor and routing it immediately to a waiting outbound trailer/container.

  •  Order processing, which includes ‘bomb’ing the order, picking case lots, full pallets, or single items known as ‘repack’. This picking process can be directed by picking to labels within a module, or it can be directed by the Radio Frequency (RF) system that sends a message to the picker telling him or her where to pick next.

  •  Repack order filling using some sort of Computer Aided Picking System (CAPS), which may include Pick-To-Light (PTL) systems.

  •  Replenishment, where forklift, hand truck, viper, or other pallet handling equipment drivers move products from deep storage to the picking slots in the main modules.

  •  Inventory Control/Quality Assurance (ICQA), which watches the flow of orders for problems and resolves them using any number of methods including cycle counts, Warehouse Management System (WMS) reports, and physical audits of pallet locations to ensure that products are where the system has been told they are located.

  •  Merge Operations, where an operator manages the ‘merging’ of several conveyors coming from the various picking modules onto one or more confirmation belts that confirm to the WMS what has been picked.

  •  Shipping, where outbound trailers of containers are loaded with the products that have been picked.

  •  Error handling, where items that the system cannot confirm are picked correctly are sent for human intervention and problem resolution.

  •  Traffic, which includes transportation and yard management, where the movement of empty and filled trailers and containers are managed. This process includes managing the fleet of empty trailers and containers in the yard, moving trailers and containers into and out of the loading docks, routing and dispatching the trailers to the customers, handling back-hauls and communicating with the various customers and internal departments on trailer/container needs.

All of this activity is managed using a series of computer-based systems including Warehouse Management Systems, Transportation Management Systems, Yard Management Systems, and Enterprise Resource Management Systems. Some of the brand names include Red Prairie, Manugistics, EXE, and others. 

If you have a question that is not answered here, feel free to contact us.

We are also available to consult with your company in logistics areas and have extensive experience in distribution management and problem resolution