Supply chain 2B

Question 1.

a) The role of warehouse in DHL Company’s logistics strategy.

Warehousing can also be defined as assumption of responsibility for the storage of

goods. By storing the goods throughout the year and releasing them as and when they
are needed, warehousing creates time utility (Mullar, 2016). There is no denying this
fact that warehousing services play an important role in the storage and exchange of
goods in DHL Company. Warehousing services simply provide enough space to store
finished goods, store of goods in transit, inbound functions that prepare items for
storage and outbound functions that consolidate, pack and ship orders accordingly. The
professional warehousing services can provide important economic and service benefits
to both the business and customers. The DHL warehouses saves as central location
storage space, increase stock visibility, focus on customer satisfaction and reduction of
employee theft.

Central location storage space

DHL warehouses provides a central location for receiving, storing and distributing
products. When shipments have arrived at the final destination, it’s a responsibility of
DHL to handle the goods transfers. Once the shipments have been transferring to the
warehouse, they will sort the products and dispatched to the temporary address. Once
it’s time to move items, each order is retrieved, grouped, packaged and checked for
completeness before being dispatched to their new destination.

Increase stock visibility

Professional warehousing and transportation services actually utilize advance

applications and strategies to manage their stock and provides DHL with accurate
insights of its inventory. By utilizing all these automatic inventory keeping application,
they can track shipments and able to analyze historical performance data. This real-time
data allows a company to see what’s happening in its shipping operations.
Focus on customer satisfaction

The processes in between procurement and shipping can be long and complicated but
with the help of the professional logistics and warehousing services, DHL can easily
able to deliver the cargo to the local and international address in a real time. The proper
management of transportation and inventory can ensure high delivery performance and
consistent customer satisfaction.

Reduction of employee theft

DHL have to know how to organize inventory in order to reduce employee theft. At
least $15 billion dollars are lost to theft each year (Winfild, 2015). Many of these thieves
are working on the inside. It’s easy for an employee to steal goods from the warehouse.
Warehouse managers have even been known to start their own business reselling
stolen items. DHL has learnt on how to organize inventory so that it knows exactly what
it have, where it is kept, and who bought it. That eliminates the ability to steal from its
business. More so, is that DHL can track how well its employees are performing. This
helps to increase productivity in the workplace and lead to positive competition.

Conclusion

Warehousing services simply provide enough space to store finished goods, store of
goods in transit, inbound functions that prepare items for storage and outbound
functions that consolidate, pack and ship orders accordingly. The professional
warehousing services can provide important economic and service benefits to both the
business and customers.

b) Warehouse procedures and operations that ensure warehouse efficiency.

Shipping has become the number-one cost in fulfillment and requires constant review
and change to keep costs in line or minimize increases. The cost of labor is increasing
in many markets as more of them implement a $15 minimum wage or escalate toward
it, and Amazon keeps raising its rates higher, now up to $17 per hour in the current
COVID-19 crisis (Barry, 2020). There are warehouse procedures and operations that
ensure warehouse efficiency which are layout of the warehouse, receiving, put away,
material handling equipment and picking.

Layout of the warehouse

To facilitate a good flow, it is important that internal warehouse layout must be

associated with external warehouse layout. Congestion outside the warehouse, caused
by parking area constraints can also affect all warehouse activities. So it is very
important to manage warehouse layout efficiency both in terms of internal and external
space to ensure that potential bottlenecks will not impact warehouse productivity. There
are also other factors to look out for the layout of a warehouse which are future storage
requirement, adaptability flow of warehouse and types of raking.

 Receiving

Receiving area are the most active area fill with activity almost all the time. Any potential
bottleneck cause in that area, might have a bad impact towards the operation work flow.
Applying a standard turn for each transporter to enter the loading dock, may reduce
congestion. It might be time consuming, but it gives the advantage for the receiver to
clear the receiving area before the next transporter comes in. It can also reduce the
chance of mistake during receiving as the checker would not be made to rush while
checking all the incoming stocks.

Put Away

Put Away refers to the process of keeping any goods in the Final Position of the
Warehouse for storing. It is a process from receiving the item at the location of the
warehouse and then carrying it to the final position where products of this kind are
stored. Locating free locations (put-away) is a key capability of a warehouse
management system. Put-away is normally thought of as the process of moving
received inventory from the dock, kitting area, or production department to a storage
bin. The put-away process is also used to relocate inventory within the warehouse and
to replenish dedicated storage bins with inventory from a reserve storage bin. Any time
inventory is being placed in a storage bin it is being put away.
Material Handling Equipment

Material handling equipment is mechanical equipment used for the movement, storage,
control and protection of materials, goods and products throughout the process of
manufacturing, distribution, consumption and disposal. Good materials handling is
important because it will help the business in many ways.

Picking

Picking or order preparation is one of a logistic warehouse’s process. It consists in

taking and collecting articles in a specified quantity before shipment to satisfy
customers’ orders. It is a basic warehousing process and has an important influence on
supply chain’s productivity. Mixing multiple SKUs in the same bin location reduces
picking productivity. Batch and cluster order picking strategies are used in warehouses.
Travel time can easily account for 50% or more of order picking hours. By combining
orders into a single travel instance the time spent travelling is greatly reduced. Order
picking productivity improves if an operator picks from one out of every 100 pick
locations will be slower than if the operator picks from one out of every 10 pick
locations. Warehouse efficiency will also improve when items are assigned to the
correct storage media.

Conclusion

Warehouse plays a crucial rule in integrated supply chain operation and make a positive
contribution. The appropriate operations function in a warehouse not only improve
customer service, but also bring profit as well. To ensure perfect operation of a
warehouse, a good layout planning and work flow should be implemented. Purchasing
team should also develop delicate program for supplier measurement and establish
good relationship with all suppliers to ensure timely and abundant supplement.

c) The technology that support warehouse operations

Technology in all sectors of the economy is progressing at a rapid pace. To keep up,
DHL warehouses need to be equipped with the technologies that allow them to keep up
with manufacture, production, and consumer demand. A smart warehouse is automated
for improved productivity, efficiency, and accuracy, and the solutions that are
implemented give flexibility and capability to the employees and their processes. Take a
look at the technologies DHL should be using in its smart warehouse, with discussion
on how to keep them flexible, functional, and effective.

 A Warehouse management system

A WMS should comprehensively consolidate all of DHL critical warehouse data into one
easily accessible platform, to give select members of its supply chain a full view of its
workings, lightning-fast reporting, real-time statistics, and accurate planning capabilities.

Automated picking tools

DHL worked with several companies who progressed through the stages of pick
technology evolution from paper to RF - and seen huge productivity and accuracy
improvements. In high-volume, high-labor cost distribution centers, picking is either
performed or aided by using material handling equipment like put-to-light, automated
storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), and goods-to-man.

DHL warehouse can benefit from near-perfect picking rates with the inclusion of
automated picking elements into its warehouse. There are a variety of different tools
within this grouping, like voice automated picking and pick-to-light and WMS is designed
to streamline its warehouse operations. It improves picking by making it faster,
improving labor allocation and reducing human error. 

Automated Guided Vehicles

AGVs are an efficient mechanism of ramping up DHL storage and retrieval process,
input-away, loading, and stock-take. AGVs are self-guided and can include forklifts and
pallet carts, which follow digital paths through the facility to load and unload pallets,
boxes, and other containers. These vehicles can be implemented in DHL warehouse
without a complete revisiting of its layout and systems, with the ability to add and
expand the AGV complement as required, in line with the growth of the business. 

Automated inventory control platforms

Motorola reported in 2018 that 41% of warehouse facilities still relied on this manual
cycle-counting process. This method, while tried and tested, is notoriously prone to
errors in data, transcription, and consistency, and can cause immense disruption in DHL
operations. When DHL implement an inventory control platform with the requisite use of
asset and inventory tags, these platforms allow it to automate stock counting, with data
synthesised quickly for real-time, accurate reporting that can be accessed remotely.

IoT Implementation

The Internet of Things is the overarching concept, not an individual item that informs
how you control all the moving parts of warehouse. The IoT can help DHL warehouse to
reduce risk and avoid mistakes or accidents that can create losses in the supply chain
by early detection. Sensors in the warehouse can monitor temperature, moisture, and
other conditions. Data coming from shipping conveyances, vehicles, and the products
themselves can be combined to reduce theft, counterfeiting, diversion, and spoilage.
Whether automated or manual, the IoT system synchronises all of the data in an easy
way to access network, helping to optimise the inventory control, with double the impact
if integrated with an automated inventory control platform, labor planning, and customer
experience through streamlined processes and improved turnaround time.

Conclusion

A smart warehouse is automated for improved productivity, efficiency, and accuracy,

and the solutions that are implemented give flexibility and capability to the employees
and their processes.

d) Warehouse performance control and cost management

There’s a positive link between customer retention and warehouse efficiency (Bowels
2016). When DHL warehouse efficiency slips, its customer retention rate will reflect that.
When the customers choose to go with other competitor who delivers product faster, the
bottom line will take a hit. Inefficient warehouse operations can lead to long waits and
inconveniences, which are the top reasons customers will stop buying from the
company. While DHL may not have the budget to fully automate the warehouse, there
are a number of things it can do to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs.
Optimize warehouse storage

More consumers are shopping online, which means a greater demand for suppliers and
a growing need to expand inventory. In addition, a 2018 study shows that customers are
demanding more personalization and customization options in the products they buy.
More product variants means increased inventory as more SKUs are added to the
warehouse. While warehouse square footage space does not cost as much as other
commercial property, it’s not always easy to expand. Setting up a second fulfillment
location or expanding an existing one can be costly. Instead, it should first optimize the
space it have. Build storage upward and see if it can add extra storage aisles by
minimizing the distance between aisles. One way to do this is to create alternating one-
way aisles instead of two-way traffic aisles.

In addition to getting more storage from your warehouse space, this can greatly improve
the efficiency of stow and pick:

 Equipment handlers can access the aisle on either side of the aisle while picking
or stowing
 Minimizes equipment collisions with one-way traffic
 Minimize travel time from aisle to aisle
 Improves warehouse safety by eliminating the need for employees to exit
equipment

Optimizing the design and flow of the warehouse can significantly increase storage as
well as productivity and performance. Most small businesses do not have the capital to
sink into costly warehouse planning systems. However, this can optimize the
warehouse space and performance with a pen, some paper, and some time to look at
the warehouse in a new way.

Give customers more pickup and delivery options

The company can reduce warehouse costs and shift the burden of inventory by moving
product downstream to retailers. Major retailers have started shifting the burden of
inventory to retail outlets. Target, for example, revealed that 15% of its online purchases
are marked for pick up in-store. If the company have retail locations that can provide
fulfillment then allow the customers to do local pick up.

Improve pick and stow routes in the Warehouse

One of the biggest resource consumers in warehouses is the amount of time spent by
pickers moving between orders and locating product to be picked. In fact, labor
constitutes about 65% of the operating budget for the average warehouse and studies
show that order picking counts for roughly 60% of a warehouse’s labor cost. DHL can
reduce a good chunk of that overhead cost by implementing a warehouse management
system. When implemented, this system records all product data and its location in the
warehouse. As the warehouse receives products, the system will direct where those
products are placed.

In addition, a good warehouse management system will optimize the walking path for

pickers. Based on product variables and incoming orders, the system will provide
pickers with an optimal route through the warehouse from product to product. This
greatly reduces the time spent walking and searching for product which is a drain on
budget as well as employee energy.

Upgrade mobile technology in the warehouse

Most businesses understand that technology can improve efficiency and increase order
handling speed. That all equates to cost savings, but only if it is using the right
equipment that’s up to date. The 67% of warehouses plan to use mobile devices to
manage inventory in the future (Barry, 2020).

Most people think of barcode scanners when they picture warehouse mobile devices.
However, the employees can also use smartphones and tablets loaded with a WMS
software, like Logiwa, to receive pick orders and optimal picking routes. Ergonomically
designed handheld devices may have a leg up on other mobile devices. Besides
helping the employees avoid injury, they can perform many of the same functions. They
also come equipped with RFID scanners, cameras, and touchscreens. That is a
significant cost savings when the firm calculate the costs associated with processing
order returns, shipping costs, labor related to customer experience, customer credits,
and more.

Create an inventory review process

DHL may be getting product out to customers more efficiently than ever before, but that
is not reducing the amount of time product lingers in its warehouse. According to Supply
Chain Digest, companies are still holding on to more inventory, likely related to the
increase in the number of SKUs being stocked each day. Optimize the inventory by
looking at metrics. Audit the inventory and identify the inventory that is not moving.
Metrics to monitor include:

 Average days to sell inventory

 The inventory turnover rate of products
 The return on investment and how it diminishes based on how long it hold the
product
 Gross profit of products thus, price minus cost to make, hold, and sell the product

Holding inventory for too long eats at profit margins and costs more money. Find a way
to move those products and/or eliminate them from your inventory.

e) Diagram relevant to warehousing operations

Complex flows

There are warehouses with different working areas, depending on the types of product
and their consumption. They normally have intermediate handling areas and can require
various operations that in turn need flows of a certain and at times great complexity.
This diagram shows an example of this type of facility and the loading movements that
occur there.
Each flow added to the working system represents an additional cost when it comes to
calculating the overall cost of the process within the warehouse. The greater the division
of the unit loads, the greater the impact on costs. Picking operations account for the
largest proportion of the total warehouse costs up to more than 60%. This is why the
design of these areas is of such importance.

f) A recommendation to improve any warehousing process

Nearly every business that deals with the distribution of physical products has wrestled
with warehouse space limitations at some point, trying to make the best use of it,
especially successful companies that are constantly growing out of room in their
warehouses and storage areas. When there is not enough storage, inventory can easily
encroach on working space, and efficiency drops.

Optimize Upwards

The number one reason why companies run out of warehouse space is simple,
available space is not being optimized and maximized. In many cases, better use of
vertical space is all that is needed to create more storage, thus freeing up areas that
could better be utilized for receiving, packing, re-packing, unpacking, hand-assembling,
sorting, or any number of related tasks. There are many types of shelving and bins
available as well that could better store smaller items more effectively, rather than have
a few items taking up a whole pallet of space, only a bin may be necessary.

Develop a Lean Inventory System

When companies grow, it just makes sense to try and keep everything needed under
one warehouse roof. Ideally, that is true, however, as complex as some business
operations are, reducing or eliminating non-essential material and stocks, and just
keeping what the company needs on-sight, creates a more efficient system of operation.

To accomplish this, companies of all sizes utilise packaging and warehousing services,
such as leasing warehouse space when needed, or outsourcing warehousing services
such as hand assembly, re-works, pick/pack, container unpacking, labelling, sorting and
distribution, to name just a few.

Question 2.

a) The resources that the organizations requires to ensure efficient warehouse

operations.

With so many factors to balance, considerations to weigh in every decision, and

pressure from stakeholders on all sides to be more productive, minimize expenses, and
maintain a smooth supply chain flow, it is no surprise that there are many articles and
resources outlining best practices for warehouse operations to be used by DHL.

Use automatic data collection.

People writing numbers on pads of paper or keying strings of numbers into a keyboard
is a bad sign,’ McKnight, (2015) says. The benefits of automatic data collection via bar
code and radio frequency identification are well-established, including increased
productivity and accuracy and lower labor costs. But plenty of companies still have not
implemented automatic data collection.
Use mobile computers

DHL should not rely on manual data entry processes instead it should use mobile
computers with bar code scanners or RFID readers at the receiving dock to immediately
identify products on arrival. This helps get product off the dock quickly and eliminates
nearly all the errors associated with manual receiving. This includes identification,
counting, and data entry errors. With scanning and RFID technology, DHL can avoid
the mistakes that wreak havoc with inventory accuracy and eat up time and resources
to fix. And that means the warehouse staff can focus on processing customer orders
more quickly.

 Promote information visibility company-wide

The Best in Class point to an extensively proliferated warehouse visibility

infrastructure that allows them to share information throughout their operation and
across the company. Another respondent points to visibility as a means to improvement.
A senior vice president in supply at a large retailer indicates that faster information
access to critical users coupled with extended shipping-receiving hours, led to a
decrease in cycle times between 11-20%.

Asset tracking

 Asset tracking paired with a warehouse management system (WMS) provides the
automation necessary to maximize warehouse productivity. Smart businesses
understand that controlling inventory, fulfillment and shipping costs is essential for
success. Companies are constantly striving to improve their warehouse operations by
increasing agility, visibility and labor efficiency. This requires use of best practices
combined with a sophisticated Warehouse Management System (WMS) that optimally
manages all resources within the distribution operations while minimizing the total cost
of operation or ownership (TCO).

Data synchronization

Data synchronization improves visibility and streamlines ordinarily labor-intensive data

integration tasks. Central to every supply chain is the common SKU, and its interaction
between the differing systems determines the success of a number of critical business
measurements. The key to harmonising data flow across complex suites of software
applications in any size organisation is to synchronise all data that relates to the
common SKU horizontally or vertically within the enterprise. This approach to
standardising common product data at the system level and having no barriers to data
transformation, is fast replacing labour intensive data integration tasks.

The next evolutionary stage in the trade of data between organisations is where data
repositories are updated with the very latest SKU information directly from suppliers.
This transfer of interoperable data is now at a global and cost effective level, seamlessly
upgrading inventory repositories, eliminating re-keying and reducing transcrepancies. It
is set to become best practice where continuity of SKU information is essential for
WMS, BOS, and POS investments. One source of data makes sense. The result
retailers, suppliers and consumers all become winners. With most companies aiming to
eliminate returns and re-deliveries, reduce supply chain fines or chargeback’s, provide
better invoice matching and stock holding, we might one day be talking about carbon.

Use bin locations

Use bin locations to quickly locate products. The vast majority of distribution software
packages available today utilize bin locations. This allows for immediate, accurate
location of products within DHL showroom and warehouse zones. Many distributors are
leery of taking advantage of this tool because of the perceived need to keep vendor
lines together. Bin locations, in fact, free DHL to locate product based on sales volume,
thereby reducing the number of footsteps required to pick those key items that tend to
show up on a majority of orders. This can be called locating the product by velocity
rank.

Conclusion

Warehouse managers know all too well that the task of managing operations for a
warehouse facility is far from straightforward. Warehouse operations managers are
tasked with ensuring the efficient flow of products in and out of the facility, optimizing
the building’s layout, making sure orders are fulfilled and products are in stock, but not
overstocked. Add ensuring profitability and minimizing overhead and labor costs to the
mix, and warehouse operators have their work cut out for them.

b)

i) Characteristic of different products in warehouse operations.

 Size
 Color
 Quality
 Shape
 Weight
 Fragileness
 Rigidness

ii) Requirements of different products in warehouse operations

 Knowledge about the product

 Space needed by the product
 Volume of the product
 Value attached to the product
 Weight of the product
 Packaging of the product
 Handling of product personnel

c) Inventory control methods used in warehouse operations.

Inventory control is also important to maintaining the right balance of stock in DHL
warehouses. Warehousing and inventory control systems help a business monitor and
track the amount of raw materials, finished goods and work in the process the company
always has on hand. There are several inventory control methods or technics used by
DHL and these are ABC inventory analysis, Economic order quantity (EOQ), First-in-
first-out (FIFO),

ABC Inventory analysis

The ABC analysis is a popular inventory categorization method/technique that often

used in material management and Inventory control. ABC analysis provides a
mechanism for identifying items that will have a significant impact on an overall
inventory cost and it also helps to identify different categories of stock that will require
different management and controls. ABC analysis divides the inventory into three
categories. “A” item is very important or being the most valuable items for an
organization, “B” item is important but of course less important than “A” or being the
intergroup item, “C” marginal important or the least valuables item. By knowing the
important and values it helps warehouse to reduce the time to allocate and put-away.

Economic order quantity (EOQ)

Economic order quantity (EOQ) is a procedure to determine the ideal order quantity
level for stock to be ordered at a particular time. It also a formula that used to determine
the most efficient amount of goods that should be order and carrying cost may be
reduced to a minimum point. A firm should place optimum orders and neither too large
nor to small. The EOQ is level of inventory order that avoid stock-out and overstock and
minimizes the total holding costs and ordering costs.

First-in-first-out (FIFO)

The first in, first out (FIFO) method of inventory valuation is a cost flow assumption that
the first goods purchased are also the first goods sold. A simple principle, yet vitally
important to mention especially if dealing with perishable items. For most retailers, the
last thing you want is always using the newest stock to fulfil orders. This leaves older
inventory sitting in the warehouse and susceptible to damage, decay or passing best
before dates. It is worth making a rule to store new inventory from the back of shelves
and then take from the front automatically enforcing a FIFO system.
Last-in-first-out (LIFO)

Last-in-first-out (LIFO) is a newer inventory cost valuation technique, which assumes

that the newest inventory is sold first. LIFO gives a higher cost to inventory. The
difference between FIFO and LIFO results from the order in which changing unit costs
are removed from inventory and become the cost of goods sold. When the unit costs
have increased, LIFO will result in a larger cost of goods sold and a smaller ending
inventory compared with FIFO.

Just in Time (JIT)

The JIT inventory control technique says that the item will be ordered only if it is needed
for shipping or manufacturing. Most of the company use this technique to increase
efficiency and decrease waste by receiving goods only as they need. The item may be
ordered a few days back depending on the delivery time promised by the supplier. A
mandatory requirement of this approach is the proper identification of each item before
the manufacturer or reseller requires it. Since there can be many goods required by
supplier or manufacturer at any time, each future requirement should be properly
identified and timely ordered.

Cycle Counting

One of the key methods of maintaining accurate inventory is cycle counting. This helps
measures the success of the existing processes and maintain accountability of potential
error sources. There are financial implications to cycle counting. Some industries
require periodic 100% counts. These are done through perpetual inventory count
maintenance or though full-building counts.

Conclusion

A healthy inventory flow enables sale closings, customer shipments, and productive
work for employees. It should be no surprise to find that in many industries, a firm’s
financial performance and position depend heavily on the firm’s ability to manage
inventory effectively and efficiently. In warehouse these inventory control methods help
in how to arrange the warehouse layout, manpower and minimize error for wrong
shipment.

Question 3.

a) How technology interfaces the warehouse with organization’s customers.

Customer demand is one of the clear leading factors driving uptake of automation in
manufacturing warehouses today, as customers expect next-day delivery or at the very
least ever-shorter delivery lead times. In order to achieve this, manufacturers are under
pressure to muster resources at short notice to satisfy demand. Adding to that pressure
is the fact that demand often fluctuates over time, due to seasonality, weather
conditions or unexpected events that result in spikes in interest in a particular product
line. It is difficult for manufacturers to pull people in for short periods, and train and them
up quickly, so that they can respond to these demand spikes in a timely manner. 

In recent years we’ve seen increased pressure on retailers to provide immediate

response and high-quality solutions to their customers’ demands. The online channel is
helping to inspire and excite consumers with half of consumers using three or more
channels and social media becoming more and more influential on consumer behaviour.
Consumers are now less concerned by the acquisition of goods and are more
concerned with the nature of those products and their real value forcing retailers to
focus on quality and customer experience, part of which is the instantaneous availability
of their chosen purchases. The shift in purchasing behaviours has changed the very
nature of the warehousing and distribution industry with e-commerce providers now
almost forming their own sector and third party logistics providers needing to offer return
logistics capabilities as well as tracking abilities direct to the consumer on top of
conventional solutions. The very definition of what many 3PL providers’ customers
demand has now changed so significantly that this alone has had a substantial effect on
the industry and now requires its own specialist solutions.

Development in consignment tracking technology now gives businesses access to

greater volumes of information at much deeper levels than they used to be that
distribution information or stock data. With state-of-art tracking systems, not only are
organisations able to use this data for their own benefit but it is becoming increasingly
popular to allow their own customers to access to certain information. With increased
international trade, many supply chains are growing and now feature more than just one
or two organisations. With tracking information available to all those involved,
communication channels open up and data can flow seamlessly between parties. This
means less time is wasted chasing information because it is all there, logged in the
tracking system, allowing planning to be carried out further in advance and more
accurately.

An almost instant feed of information from a third party logistics provider to their
customer, and then direct to the retailer or final consumer, has become a central part to
many operations and is now a key part of many contracts. With real-time data, data-
sharing becomes easier as the user looking for specific information already has access
to it. Customer service levels have improved as it is easier to effectively respond to
customer queries. With this level of access, it allows for complete transparency between
third party logistics provider and customer, forcing quality levels up and ultimately
increasing customer satisfaction.

Conclusion

Bar code scanning and RFID is about optimising day-to-day activities and operations to
enable a provider to offer a superior service level to their customers. Once in place a
system such as this can reduce amount of labour required to carry out picking and
analytical tasks as well as altering the skill set needed to manage stock. Through a
more data driven approach, operations can be fully optimised because of the ability to
forward-plan and lead times will be reduced due to picking becoming easier to facilitate.
Operations remain much the same in theory but processes become much more time
sensitive and allow for short product life cycles in the warehouse.

b) How data transfer system integrate with warehouse equipment.

A warehouse management system, or WMS, is a software platform that takes over and

automates internal warehouse logistics to make intelligent, real-time decisions that
direct DHL worker movements through the warehouse with maximum efficiency.
Research from ARC Advisory Group indicates that WMS solutions can provide the
single best solution for reducing the cost associated with distribution while
simultaneously improving service.

Like inventory management software, a WMS helps you control and track movement of
materials in the warehouse or distribution center, but with far more functionality and
operational flexibility. Unlike inventory control applications, true WMS software provides
a higher level of control and resource utilization for product movement and storage in
and around the warehouse and DC facilities.

The first WMS were computer applications that provided simple storage and location
functions. Since the early days of WMS, these programs have evolved significantly into
either standalone applications or as an extension of your Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) system that communicates with the database and other warehouse technologies,
such as mobile devices, RFID tags and robotics. The modern WMS has evolved out of
the realization that warehouse employees spend a significant chunk of their time
walking around. The warehouse team also wastes time commuting to-and-from
locations during receiving, put-away, restocking/replenishing, and while loading trucks
and fulfilling orders.

Warehouse management software streamlines these time-consuming tasks by directing

processes like picking, put-away and replenishment along optimized paths that cut out
unnecessary movement and minimize the time it takes to perform each action.
Combined with the ability to direct and validate inventory transactions as it flows through
the warehouse, WMS solutions have the potential to provide major gains in efficiency,
productivity and cost-cutting.

Warehouse management software usually comes in two forms thus, as a standalone

solution or an ERP module, such as the Advanced Warehouse Management module for
JD Edwards or SAP’s Extended Warehouse Management product (SAP EWM). While
expanding the existing ERP may sound attractive, note that these modules tend to be
heavyweight solutions best-fitted for very large enterprise operations that generate
hundreds of million if not billions in revenue each year. These ERP module WMS
systems tend to be highly complex, expensive, and resource-intensive to upkeep. In
addition to paying for components, licensing and setup, the company will have to shell
out money for development time and wages for IT support staff as well.

Conclusion

Warehouse automation comes in many forms, shapes and sizes. The important thing is
to select the right types of automation for the company’s individual needs. While that
does not necessarily have to include physical automation with robots and automated
material handling equipment, such as conveyers, sortations or storage equipment like
carousels and AS/RS solutions, every warehouse can gain operational agility, flexibility
and performance from some level of process automation.

c)

i) The strength of technology used in warehouse operations.

When it comes to warehouse management, constant evaluation and adoption of crucial

technologies is critical so as to improve profitability and stay competitive. Today,
warehouse managers have a wide array of technologies to choose from as they strive to
reduce costs, improve efficiency and streamline operations. They must ensure that
goods, materials and products flow effortlessly by optimizing their warehouse operations
through the use of warehouse technologies.

Over the last few years, machine-to-machine technology, or M2M, has greatly evolved
into more sophisticated systems that help monitor and streamline all automation
aspects of warehouse operations. When combined with warehouse management
systems (WMS), the latest M2M systems are making it easier to control all equipment
within the warehouse that is vital to the order fulfillment process. This technology helps
collect and trade information that provides warehouse managers with actionable
information that can verify operational procedures and expedite decisions.

Every warehouse should consider introducing the latest order fulfillment technology in
the market. Different warehouse technology solutions are available to help maximize
order picking productivity and boost accuracy. There are two main solutions which are
Pick-by-Light and Put-by-Light. These technologies help automate warehouse
processes and offer a more efficient and lower cost solution over manual picking
methods.

New robotics technology has become one of the most sought after technologies for
warehouse management. Leading-edge manufacturers are partnering with providers of
warehouse management systems to create customized software and smart robots that
help manage the movement, storage and sorting of warehouse inventory. Investing
in warehouse robotics technology will highly benefit the business. With increasing order
volumes, numerous products to navigate, highly personalized order packing and faster
shipping requirements, robotics solutions will help you effectively respond to volume
growth and perform more tasks with less labor and at a lower cost.

ii) The weakness of technology used in warehouse operations

While the pros of WMSs certainly outweigh the cons, warehouse managers would do
well to evaluate how well their system works continually. Sophisticated hackers can
crack even the best WMSs, which can lead to significant financial loss. While firewalls
and anti-virus software help prevent such attacks, no system is without flaws that
hackers can exploit.

Digitization also brings the risk that humans may grow a bit lazy when technology is
doing the heavy lifting. While WMS does allow for real-time inventory, facilities should
still conduct regular physical inspections of merchandise to remove broken or non-
conforming products.

Consumers have high expectations from online retailers, and failure to perform regular
inventory inspections may result in customers receiving non-conforming goods from the
same lot. This can create a public relations nightmare, especially if the damaged goods
caused any kind of injury to users.

Some multi-warehouse facilities implement different WMS programs, but integrating

these programs can prove difficult. Higher-up executives, therefore, should require all
facilities to utilize the same programs.
Finally, technology still relies upon fallible infrastructure. Power outages, for instance,
can shut down an entire facility for hours at a time. So, given the rampant pace at which
customers expect to receive ordered products, a single outage can result in scores of
unhappy consumers.

iii) Areas it may be improved to increase efficiency.

To stay in line with best practices, warehouses should implement technology to reduce
errors and increase processing speeds, but even the best WMSs require oversight by
human workers to ensure optimal efficiency. With the right combination of technological
innovation and skilled human input, warehouses can keep customer satisfaction and
company profits high.

Review effectiveness

The firm cannot improve something that it have not actually analyzed. It is important to
gauge if it is using its available resources to the fullest. Is there a flow of goods in and
goods out. Any inefficiency within the chain will impact negatively throughout the whole
process. Quite often this means that to resolve a problem in the system, the whole
system has to be reviewed. It is no use enforcing a new system in one area if something
else is not working correctly.

Warehouse layout

It is an obvious point to make that good warehouse efficiency and the layout of a
warehouse go hand-in-hand, but a well-organised warehouse can quickly become
disorganised and difficult to navigate, which can slow the staff down and lead to
numerous safety hazards. Always keep check on the layout of the warehouse and make
sure the staff are following the correct procedures and sticking to the most efficient
routes.

 Forecast ahead

For most businesses, there are generally times of the year which attract increased
demand for certain items for example seasonal trends like Christmas. A business
software system, which includes demand forecasting, can predict shifts in its items and
adjust the automatic re-ording to fit the demand.

Tracking of products

A business can now get complete tracking and end-to-end traceability of products. By
using latest location tracking technology, Vero tracks the location of the products
through manufacturing, quality control, warehousing and despatch. If the business
choose to track individual items, handheld readers allow it to identify products off-site to
detect counterfeits or access maintenance records. Using an automated tracking
system not only reduces search times, it reduces labor costs and business process
delays. It also ensures quality records are accurate by eradicating errors typically
associated with manual processes.

Keep on top of stock

Overstocking of items is one of the biggest pain points for wholesale distributors, and
many end up writing off large amounts of unsold or expired stock on a regular basis.
Start putting a system in place which shows its stock in real-time, providing reporting to
help the inventory management. Vero uses real time location systems (RTLS) and
automated identification and data collection (AIDC) to automatically track inventory on a
daily basis. This means every pallet movement is recorded so the firm will always be
able to keep on top of any stock issues and maintain FIFO and LIFO procedures.
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Bowels, Y. (2016). Two decades of research and development in transformational

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Mullar, R. (2016). Warehousing management: a contemporary approach. 3rd edition.

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Winfild, K. (2015). Logistics Management. Southern Africa edition. Pitman Publishing.

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