Warehouse Processes

Storage and Warehouse System - Process Improvement - Flow Process Chart Based Industrial Engineering - Module Lessons

146. Warehouse Industrial Engineering - Introduction

147. Warehouse Processes

148. Automated Storage and Warehousing - Storage Operation Improvement in Engineering Processes

149. News - Information for Storage/Warehousing Operation Analysis

Warehouse Science Book

https://www2.isye.gatech.edu/~jjb/wh/book/editions/wh-sci-0.96.pdf

Warehouse Processes

Warehouses deal with numerous processes.  They help in managing the order rates and in cost- control. They are also the main activities that take place at a warehouse. Companies gain an edge over their competitors as efficient warehousing services always mean better order fulfilment and, in turn, customer satisfaction. 

1. Receiving

The first process that takes place in a warehouse is the receiving. As the name suggests, this is the step in which the product reaches the warehouse. The workers are supposed to cross-check the items that have been received and ensure that they are of acceptable quality and quantity. It may be stored in the inventory(for the long-term) or the main storage area(for the short-term) based on its requirement. 

Once the inbound items are received, it is the responsibility of the warehouse to keep it safe until the order goes for dispatch. 

Warehouses must ensure that there is no overcrowding of goods. 

Procedure for raw material receipt - Illustration

Procedure

Warehouse head or designee shall receive communication from supply chain department about the supply of raw material to the manufacturing facility.

On arrival  of the vehicle, security department of the facility shall inform to warehouse supervisor about the arrival of material. Security person shall collect the documents from the transporter and handover to the warehouse department. The documents shall be material invoice, certificate of analysis, Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS).

The documents received from the supplier should possess the purchase order number on the document to ensure receipt of correct material at the time of receipt.

On receipt of the documents, warehouse person shall check the documents against purchase order,   vendor approval status and supplier approval status  in the Electronic Material Management System

Material manufacturer’s address on Certificate of Analysis (CoA), and container label must be matched with approved vendor list. While checking the address, company name, plot number, address, street name, pin code and all other minute details should be checked and ensure compliance.

In case of material manufacturer as well as supplier, details of manufacturer as well as supplier with address must have to be in line with the approved list in the received documents.

In case of material manufacturer’s address is not mentioned on CoA or container, batch number on CoA shall be verified against batch number available on container label. Batch number should be matched with each other and full address in-line with approved vendor list must have to be match with either CoA or material container label.

Once all documents found compliant, warehouse personnel shall allow the vehicle to enter in the factory premises. At a time only one vehicle shall be attended by warehouse person. The vehicle shall be taken to the receipt bay. It should be placed in such a way that vehicle should not be open in open roof.

Vehicle should be verified for its cleanliness, smell and other kind of materials in the vehicle.

Vehicle should available in clean condition; it should not have any abnormal smell and condition, it should not have received with any poisonous chemical, poisons, insecticides, food material etc. vehicle inside condition should be dry.

Material shall be unloaded on the receipt bay. In case of multiple batches received, it shall be unloaded batch wise on clean pallets.

After unloading the material, warehouse personnel shall de-dust the materials outer surface of each container with vacuum cleaner or clean dry duster.

Material pallet should be verified at the time of receipt. It has to ensure that the wooden pallet should not have preservative treatment of halogenated-phenolic compound (Reference https://www.fda.gov/drugs/guidances-drugs/questions-and-answers-current-good-manufacturing-practices-buildings-and-facilities). Pallet certificate must have to be acquired at the time of receipt ensuring above requirement.

The received material shall be transfer on the company’s  pallets. Material pallet shall be taken into the material movement air lock. Before taking the material into the airlock and while opening the door of airlock, air curtain shall on to break air movement from outer side to inside and to prevent the contamination.

Material shall be ensured as per material receipt checklist. The checklist shall contain following information:

Purchase Order

Certificate of analysis from the manufacturer, Approved Vendor and supplier

MSDS

Storage condition of material

Cleanliness of vehicle

Smell of vehicle for any abnormality

Spillage of material in the vehicle

Possibility of Material contamination because of any other means.

Material should not accompany food, harmful chemical such as pesticides, controlled substance etc.

Integrity of the seal

Seal number of container should be matched with serial numbers provided by manufacturer when they have dispatched the material from their facility

The integrity of the containers

Container physical condition – material container should not have any damage

Pharmacopoeial grade

Material labeled for complete address of manufacturer

Data logger must have received with cold chain materials

Pallet certificate to ensure that the pallets are not treated with halogenated-phenolic compound

Pre-sterilized material must have to be verified for sterilization evidence as applicable i.e. Gamma eradiation evidence, ETO (Ethylene oxide) etc.

Weigh the material for gross weight. The weight of gross weight should not be differing from 2.5 % of the weight specified on the container.

Once the material is taken into the air lock, air clock shall be closed. Material shall be de-dusted using vacuum cleaner or lint free duster.

When receipt of material any discrepancy with respect to above point is noted, record the same in the checklist. Inform to the warehouse head and Quality Assurance (QA) person.

In case of condition of material is not acceptable, QA person shall reject the material by affixing the rejected label on the specific container or entire consignment depending on the situation.

The identified defect can be classified as follows:

Critical Defects: Damaged container and material is spilled, material exposed to the environment, missing seal, less than acceptable tolerance.

Major Defects: Outer container is damaged or deformed but inner bag found intact.

Minor Defects: Containers with dent surface but integrity is maintained.

Record the rejection in material discrepancy note and it shall be signed by warehouse and QA person. Depending on the types of defect, material can be returned to vendor after completion of documentation.

In case of material is rejected and cannot be sent to manufacturer back immediately, it shall be stored at appropriate storage condition as per label claim.

When receipt of material, if any label found torn but information is intact, the label can be laminated with lamination film to keep the material label information intact.

On satisfactory verification of material, material inward entry shall be done in the material management software.

In case of material outer container found damaged but inner container is intact, inner bag shall be transfer to new similar container (material of construction and specification of the container should be same. Label from original container should also be affixed to new container.

Once the material inward done in the material management software, it shall be labeled with quarantine labels and placed at designated location.

While entering the information in the material management software, care should be taken to ensure that correct information is entered and second person shall verify the information for its accuracy.

Batch number and expiry date are critical information for the traceability and validity of the material.

Expiry date shall be entered in the system as follows:

Allocate the expiry date based on date specified on CoA and container label.

If the expiry date is not specified and other terminology is used by material manufacturer such as valid up to, best before, use before, this information shall be considered as expiry period of the material.

In case if the container does not have expiry period but re-test period only, the retest period shall be considered as expiry. In such cases, the expiry date can be extended when manufacture provide supporting stability data to support shelf life extension. Such cases should be handled through appropriate QMS tool.

In case of cold chain material, it is required to ensure that material received along with data logger. The data shall be downloaded and reviewed for any excursion. If temperature excursion is noted, the event shall be investigated and recorded. Impact of excursion shall be evaluated before it is release for use.

While receipt and transfer of material which is sensitive to static electricity/ static charge, adequate measure such as earthling of container should be done before material handling.

In case of any exposure of material to human, instruction provided in the MSDS should be followed till the medical help is arrived.

2. Put-Away

Put-away is what takes place after the receipt. The received products are supposed to be put in a storage place, and this process is called put-away. It is done by the put-away staff who receive a notification about this requirement on the receipt of the inflow. Proper planning of this process helps in the appropriate use of the storage space and the safety of the workers.  Only after the goods are stored in the correct location and accounted for, the process is considered complete. The size and weight are considered primarily while deciding the storage place. 

Slotting and space management systems are softwares that reduce manual hard work by automatically assigning storage spaces to product based on the requirement. 

3. Picking

Picking is the costliest process of warehousing. In this process, the goods are collected for the fulfilment of customer orders. The accuracy of this procedure is essential for complete customer satisfaction. Making sure that the right order makes it to the correct delivery location on time is vital. For this, picking the correct goods on time is critical on the warehouse’s end. 

There may be two proceedings after the pickup. One may be simply sending it off to the packing table for dispatch, while the other is where the picked goods are allotted to specific group orders or individual orders. Often, orders are picked up as soon as they are received, known as the real-time ordering system, while sometimes specific pickup times are preassigned and several orders are dispatched on those particular time in waves.

Put walls, put-to-light systems, goods-to-person systems, and cross-belt sortation systems are new technologies being implemented with the advent of online shopping. They help in the proper handling of small bulk orders. Essential technologies such as mobiles and wearables allow the workers tally their lists wirelessly and more efficiently. 

Improvement of Warehouse Order Picking Activity - Research and Models

7. Kitting/Dekitting

The kitting process includes collecting all items of an order individually into a single box or “kit”. It is followed by packing them together instead of picking and packing each item separately. Hence, the company creates a single unit in the inventory. 

Through this process, the time taken to complete each order is reduced. The staff can avoid unnecessary efforts on processing items individually. Thus, the process of order fulfilment and inventory becomes easier. Companies gain a competitive edge due to the increased worker productivity and efficiency brought about by the kitting technique. Since this process is completed in one go, the scope for error in completing an order is reduced. The time and material wasted on packing each item separately in boxes is saved since the workers can now pack one custom box directly.

The dekitting process is an exact opposite of the kitting process. All the items that are part of a kit are de-assembled and placed separately in their designated places. 

4. Packing

Packing is the process of preparing the picked items for shipment. Workers have to pack these items and ensure that they are safe even after they leave the warehouse. Goods are placed in boxes or poly mailer, and specific packing material is added along with a label. The various batch item and manufacturing codes should be added while packing using stickers. The box must be lightweight, easy to carry and handle. 

The warehouse activities require quality assessment at each step. Choosing the appropriate kind of packing material and method is necessary based on the product’s need. Specific codes should be used to trace the goods back to the systems to prevent theft and misplacement. Accumulation of goods from different warehouse sections to complete certain orders is also carried out while packing. 

Specific softwares analyze the already existing data present in the system to determine the appropriate packaging for the particular goods. These have helped optimise the packing process.

5. Dispatching

The principal governing factor for the dispatching process is the time of delivery. Based on that, the operations manager plans the packaging and dispatch procedure. If this process is not carried out, it will lead to delayed delivery times.  However, at the same time, a balance is necessary. If goods are packed too ahead in time, it may lead to overcrowding of conveyor belts or similar structures. Whereas a late dispatch may lead to late deliveries. 

6. Shipping

Shipping is the first step for the product on the path to reach the customers. In this process, deliverymen categorize and group the orders. They are supposed to take the shortest routes for the shipment. Along with this, they have to deliver the right order to the designated customer at the proper address. Also, they ensure that the product stays intact with no damages on the way. The best way to manage this is by packaging the goods for shipment near the shipping docks.

Many times companies use outsource their shipments. They hire certain shipment companies to take the orders from the warehouse to the customers. Businesses arrange for methods to track their orders while they are on the way to their destination.

Labour management systems, shipping applications and devices are the methods that companies can use to optimise the shipping procedure. Computerised systems help improve efficiency and reduce the burden on human labour. 

8. Casing

Casing is when goods are picked up directly while stored in their cases from their respective storages. Mostly, fragile items are stored in such cases. Companies devote parts of their warehouses towards picking up these cases along with the goods. 

Traditionally, casing has been considered a job for manual labour however now it has been modernised. The use of automated conveyor belts has been prevalent for the transfer of large cases.

9. Inventory Tracking

Inventory Tracking is the process of accounting for all items stored in the inventory of the warehouse. An inventory mainly consists of the stock of goods already present in a warehouse. While tracking, one has to consider the inflow and outflow of the items based on the previous and new orders. Hence, it is like a consolidation of information regarding all goods present in a warehouse. Two important components of inventory are – time and speed of inventory inflow or outflow. 

One can take two approaches while carrying out inventory tracking – serial or lot tracking. 

Serial tracking – Used for expensive items that are sold in lesser quantities.

Lot tracking – Used for budget-friendly items sold in large quantities.

Several softwares that help in such management have been developed recently. These softwares may work on ERP systems or stand-alone systems. 

Warehouse managers play a significant role in inventory management. 

10. Value-Adding

 In this process, the warehouse company adds certain features as final touch-ups. It can be a complex process as several different products may be a part of an order and need separate touch-ups. At the same time, there are goods made of several components whose value-addition process becomes even more complicated. Through this process, they aim to increase the revenue or even decrease the cost of production. 

11. Returns

They are  to be prepared for returns by allocating space for returned items in the warehouse. If products are damaged and need to be discarded, accounting of the same is necessary. However, if goods are in shape, they may be recorded  and simply put up for reuse or resale.

 It will account for the extra expenses on return processes such as picking, repair, repacking etc. Software and technology have helped in this process as they reduce manual error as well as labour. 

12. Reporting and Analytics

An essential part of the warehouse process is the reporting or recording of all happenings in a warehouse. Starting from the arrival or receipt of the order to the shipment followed by the return procedure, all should be accounted for. There should be a proper database for all the inflows and outflows of the warehouse, along with the costs incurred. It helps in estimating how many resources and labour the company may require. All transactions and payments must be recorded and tallied. 

Next, another process is that of analytics. Proper assessment of the functioning of the warehouse is necessary. Whether the workforce is efficient and fulfilling their duties and jobs has to be checked. 

13. Damage control

Ensuring that the goods stored in the warehouse are protected from all damage is necessary. To fulfil this responsibility, warehouse staff should store all goods based on their size and weight. Specific protection racks should be provided for fragile goods. At the same time, staff training to manage all accidents should be carried out before recruitment. A clean and hygienic environment is also necessary to prevent damage to food products or perishable goods. Warehouse services should also consider the weather of their location and build infrastructure accordingly.  Lighting should be well maintained so that no errors or accidents may take place.

Stretch wraps and safety traps are also used to prevent goods from damage.

The efficiency with which the above processes are carried out is the responsibility of industrial engineers. 

https://www.to-increase.com/business-productivity/blog/improve-the-efficiency-of-warehouse-processes-why-and-how

https://www.wonolo.com/blog/how-to-improve-warehouse-operations/  Interesting 51 tips with links to twitter messages

https://stockarea.io/blogs/13-key-warehousing-process/

https://www.mmh.com/topic/tag/Warehouse_Operations

https://legacyscs.com/warehouse-and-distribution-center-11-best-practices/

Implementation of technology in warehouse operations

https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1572242/FULLTEXT01.pdf

https://www.codelessplatforms.com/blog/27-automated-processes-improve-warehouse-operations/

Warehouse Management: A Complete Guide to Improving Efficiency and Minimizing Costs in the Modern Warehouse

Gwynne Richards

Kogan Page Publishers, 03-Jun-2014 - Business & Economics - 448 pages

Gwynne Richards' highly regarded and best-selling text on warehouse management is a complete guide to best practice in warehouse operations. Warehouse Management examines how to operate an efficient and cost-effective warehouse. It provides guidance on using the latest technology, reducing inventory, people management, location and design. Covering everything from the latest technological advances to current environmental issues, Warehouse Management provides an indispensable companion to the modern warehouse. The text considers key aspects of warehouse management, including cost reduction, productivity, people management, and warehouse operations.

In addition to providing updates on future advances in warehouse management, Gwynne Richards tackles the key issues that are challenging today's managers, including pressure to reduce lead times, increase productivity, reduce cost, improve customer service, reduce environmental impact, and maintain health and safety standards.

Offering comprehensive direction on all aspects of managing a warehouse, Warehouse Management is an ideal guide and detailed reference book for anyone looking to gain a real insight into warehouse operations.

In this 2nd edition of Warehouse Management, there are more case studies, photographs as well as extensive accompanying online resources, such as PowerPoints and video links.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=oimhAwAAQBAJ

https://6river.com/expert-tips-on-improving-warehouse-efficiency-productivity/

https://scm.ncsu.edu/scm-articles/article/improving-your-manufacturing-operations-using-warehouse-automation

https://ie.binus.ac.id/2016/02/02/eleven-ways-to-optimize-your-warehouse/

https://www.anylogic.com/modeling-operations-at-pharmaceutical-distribution-warehouses/

https://www.ijitee.org/wp-content/uploads/papers/v9i1/A9176119119.pdf

https://www.inderscience.com/info/inarticle.php?artid=81962

The Warehouse Management Handbook

Jerry D. Smith

Tompkins Press, 1998 - Business & Economics - 980 pages

Completely revised to reflect recent developments ranging from ADA requirements to re-engineering, benchmarking and cycle-time reduction, this book provides advice on planning, equipping and managing every aspect of the warehouse operation. It includes such topics as: changing technologies; specific planning data; valuable implementation guidance; and new case studies from such companies as Abbot Laboratories, Rubbermaid, Ross Stores and Sara Lee.

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=oHkA15BCY9MC

https://www.reliableplant.com/Read/28481/Industrial-Facilities-Processes

https://www.ijert.org/design-of-industrial-warehouse

https://scholarworks.uark.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=3675&context=etd

https://www.camcode.com/asset-tags/warehouse-operations-best-practices/

http://pppro.cefet-rj.br/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IJLSM260304-REIS-et-al.pdf

https://www.storage.summitsteelinc.com/blog/improve-warehouse-efficiency/

https://www.penskelogistics.com/solutions/warehousing-and-distribution/warehouse-operations/warehouse-labor

https://www.ehstoday.com/industrial-hygiene/article/21916191/warehouse-ergonomicstips-and-techniques-to-decrease-injury-risk