8 Types of Warehouses And Their Functions
The modern supply chain, which includes multiple stages of activities like storage, manufacture, and distribution of commodities, includes a warehouse as one of its key elements.
The Warehousing Management Institute (2008) defines a warehouse or warehousing space as a place where inventory is kept before being processed further.
When a firm purchases a warehouse, it means that its production output is significant enough that it needs to control the flow of items coming in and going out. As a result, the warehouse is a solution for managing a company's production availability effectively and efficiently.
What experts say about Warehouses?
Warehouse is a building used to store building goods used to store merchandise, so a warehouse is a place used to store goods in the form of raw materials, semi-finished goods or finished goods.
Warehouse is part of all logistics systems that play an important role in serving customers with the minimum total cost possible.
Types of Warehouses Based on Company Needs
There are several types of warehouses that are grouped based on company needs according to Warman in his book, namely:
1. Operational Warehouse
The Operational Warehouse is used to store raw materials and spare parts which will later be used in the production process
2. Equipment Warehouse
A warehouse used to store production-related equipment is known as an equipment warehouse. Equipment is anything that is utilized in the production process but isn't included in finished products because its primary purpose is to help with the production process.
This product will be delivered back to the equipment warehouse once the production process is complete. The equipment storage facility is often near to the assembly line.
3. Departure Warehouse
The departure warehouse is a location where finished goods are kept. Distributors or retailers will receive deliveries from this warehouse. This storage facility is sometimes referred to as a finished goods warehouse.
4. Seasonal Warehouse
When the operational warehouse and departure warehouse are both full, a seasonal warehouse is created. Typically, the factory rents this warehouse from a different party for a specific amount of time rather than owning it.
Types of Warehouses Based on Their Roles in Supply Chain Management
Warehouses have several important roles in supply chain management. There are several types of warehouses, namely:
1. Manufacturing plant warehouse
Receiving and storing supplies, retrieving materials, storing finished goods in the warehouse, internal warehouse transactions, and delivering finished goods to the main warehouse or to customers directly are all transactions that take place in this warehouse.
2. Main warehouse (Central warehouse)
Receiving finished items (from the production warehouse, the factory, or suppliers), storing finished goods in the warehouse, and delivering finished goods to the distribution warehouse are all transactions that take place in the central warehouse.
3. Distribution warehouse
The activities performed in a distribution warehouse include receiving finished items (from a central warehouse, factory, or supplier), storing goods after they have been received, retrieving and preparing goods for shipment, and delivering goods to customers. The distribution warehouse can occasionally serve as a central warehouse as well.
4. Retail warehouse
Warehouse that has a system store that can sell goods directly to consumers.
Warehouse Function
Warehouse functions can be categorized as follows:
1. Storage function (storage and movement)
The most basic function of the warehouse is a place to store goods, both raw materials, semi-finished, and finished goods. The goal of management is how to use space as optimally as possible to store products at a certain cost.
2. The function of serving customer requests (orders)
The warehouse is where logistical activities are concentrated because it is where products are received from producers or suppliers and requests are fulfilled from branches or customers. The warehouse contributes to service delivery by assuring product availability and a manageable order cycle.
Using this approach will result in lower costs as manufacturers' shipments can be sufficient with the number of trucks or box cars that are made on a regular basis. by holding a specific quantity of stock.
3. Distribution and consolidation function (distribution and consolidation)
This distribution function makes the warehouse an extension of sales and marketing in ensuring the delivery of products and information to customers as a point of sale. This function is created as a result of the characteristics of transportation costs.
Shipping in bulk is economically cheaper than shipping on a smaller scale. In certain systems, distribution and consolidation functions are the main functions of the distribution warehouse.
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