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Factors affecting warehousing efficiency: A case study on increasing efficiency and cost savings

By [Name of Student]

Course

Professor

[Name of Institution]

February 14th, 2022

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Table of content

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...3

Background………………………………………………………………………………...4

Warehousing Operations………………………………………………………………….. 5

Purpose of study……………………………………………………………………………6

Research topic…………………………………………………………………………….. 7

Significance of the study…………………………………………………………………...7

The objective of the study………………………………………………………………….7

Limitations of the study…………………………………………………………………….8

Data and search terms……………………………………………………………………... 8

Sélection…………………………………………………………………………… 8

Methodology……………………………………………………………………………….9

Research design and procedures…………………………………………………………... 9

Miscellaneous information…………………………………………………………………9

Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………….10
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Introduction

Warehousing is considered to be one of the essential aspects of an organization. It generally is a

storage building that stores the organization's materials, deals with handling, and protects the goods

from damage. The main task here is to move the organization's goods from the warehouse to the

customers with ease. All big organizations have their own warehouses for storing their goods safely

and shipping them from there. Therefore, warehouses need to be managed properly to make sure the

goods are stored well and dispatched on time. Warehouse management is essential and it must be

efficiently taken care of to keep distribution in the organization successful. Inefficient warehousing

can affect the business greatly (Atieh, 2016). Stocking and material handling is commonly known to

be part of warehousing. There aspects are one of the main functions that take place in the

warehouse. When we talk about warehousing, it includes more things apart from just handling

goods. A big part of warehousing includes concerns about the storage of goods and information

processing the effectively. (Pane, 2018). The information of the parcel has a delivery date, a

supplier, a quantity and weight, production place or date, an identification, etc. Thus, it is important

to efficiently handle goods and their information to avoid disturbance and chaos. Having proper and

managed control of the inventory can keep the task moving smoother (Kucera, 2017).

For an organization to run the business’s warehousing effectively it is crucial to have management

that takes proper care of stock, money, and inventory, the capacity of the warehouse, and managing

placement of goods in a proper manner. As technology evolves, and constant changes take place,

organizations to need to advance with the technological development (Atieh, 2016). What could be

done by 20 workers in the past can now be done less and more efficiently? Therefore, to keep up

with the competition, organizations are working on keeping the efficiency and productivity of their

operations up to the mark (Razik, 2016). Like any other aspect of business organization, warehouse

activities should also be based on business aims, strategies, and competitive demands. There have

been studies conducted in the past discussing the operations and various perspectives of
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warehousing. The studies have been on storing goods, packing and delivering goods, etc. These

studies have given room and information for future studies on warehousing. However, there are not

many studies addressing the increasing efficiency and cost-saving of the warehouse (Hao, 2020).

Awareness of warehousing and how to improve its aspects can better the customer service and

customer experience. This study attempts to achieve that with the help of a case study (Yener,

2019).

Background

The warehouse has been a distribution place for organization’s goods for many years. The process

of taking care of incoming goods, storing goods, and tracking their delivery and distribution is

warehouse management. Since the 1990s and 2000s, a lot has changed in the business industry. The

business changes have encouraged warehouse managers in adapting new ways and growing with

technology (Hompel, 2006). After World War 2 several changes took place like expanding the size

of warehouses and improving methods of storing goods. As the production of goods increased

throughout the industry, the need for more efficient warehousing was also required to improve and

advance. Warehousing is an essential part of the supply chain. Warehouse activities in the past were

paper-intensive but this has changed into a software system. This is said to be warehouse

management system software. This system helps managers in tracking their goods while storing and

dispatching goods (Yan, 2008). These systems can be as advanced as required. Improving picking

of orders, logistics, and monitoring of inventory are some other things that can also be improved

with the management system through software (Connolly, 2008).

As we move past the mid-1990s, several changes have taken place in warehousing and its

operations. There have been various trends growing such as the use of the internet, rise in global

trade operations, etc. After the twenty-first century, there was an increase in production and the

industry had to cope with new methods of distribution (Shah, 2017). These changes also changed
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the buying habits of consumers through global competition and communication technology.

According to a survey conducted in 2004 on warehousing management, warehousing has become

hard. The company is moving forward by investing in technology and improving its tracking of

goods and increasing efficiency (Hompel, 2006). Therefore warehousing organizations are now

working harder in being more than just a storage place for company goods. They are working on

providing various services and functions by transforming themselves into 3rd party logistics. Apart

from these, there are transport management systems, voice-activated packing, and receiving of

orders are some other warehousing trends (Connolly, 2008). The vote-activated system helps

workers at the warehouse to speak with the WMS and makes the process much quicker. On the

other hand transport management system has helped in providing with details and delivery time of

goods. There are constant improvements in warehousing taking place. The warehousing industry

has also used methods to improve and maximize their methods and profits for the organization.

Also adding services to improve customer services and efficiency (Hompel, 2006). Warehousing

will continue to be part of supply chain management until there are customers and manufacturers

(Connolly, 2008).

Warehousing Operations

The main operation or activity in warehousing is storing goods properly and keeping information

on where they will be kept and when they will be dispatched. Items at the warehouse are of various

sizes, weights, and shapes. This also acts as a problem while storing goods. Therefore goods need to

be managed accordingly. It must be managed in a way that fits items effectively. Management uses

data analysis and OLAP (online analytical processing) technologies to improve operations. These

technologies help organizations gain a competitive advantage by eliminating overgrowing data that

is collected in databases for better decision-making. Specifically, warehousing includes a few major

activities (Kucera, 2017). These are receiving goods and their information, transferring goods,

handling and storing of goods, packing of goods, and lastly dispatching of goods with relevant
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information. Materials that arrive at warehouses are loved to their location, this part is called

handling. Organizations are now minimizing the time used to retrieve orders by shipping goods

with high turnover to the nearest location. To avoid issues later orders should be checked one last

time before shipping (Pane, 2018).

Packing of goods also takes place at the warehouse building. Effectively packing at the warehouse

can be cost-effective, ease the warehouse process, protect goods, etc. With the introduction of bar

coding and automation tech labor of many organizations has been reduced to half. In today’s fast-

moving technological world, warehouse operations can be improved by efficient use of automatic

data collection and software use. Barcode and software collaboration has made data collection and

data accuracy better (Razik, 2016). This has reduced labor work and cost and improved customer

service. The software has enhanced warehouse operations by providing scheduling and controlling

tools. Though the software does not help with the physical work, they ease the task relating to

warehousing. Warehouses need to have a sequence of storing goods in which the workers can pick

orders. Many organizations only limit warehouses to store their goods and to dispatch goods to the

customers. This way of utilizing a warehouse often leads to the shutdown of the warehouse.

Therefore, it is emphasized by researchers and experts to have a proper management system in the

company. Effective management can improve inventory storage and dispatching needs of the

warehouse. Changes in warehouse management should be well communicated before

implementation (Pane, 2018).

Purpose of study

Warehouse management has been a huge part of keeping the organization’s operations running.

There are major factors that affect warehouse operations and their efficiency (Razik, 2016). The

main purpose of this particular qualitative study is to discover factors affecting warehouse

efficiency. The study focuses on factors like increasing the efficiency of the warehouse and cost
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savings at the warehouse. The findings of the study are meant to provide a deeper and more

comprehensive understanding of warehouse operations. The research has been done by taking into

consideration studies from various authors who have provided their work to ease future research on

warehouses and their aspects (Yener, 2019).

Research topic

Factors affecting warehousing efficiency: A case study on increasing efficiency and cost savings.

This research topic encourages further understanding and awareness of the factors affecting

warehouse efficiency.

Significance of the study

This paper’s objective is to explain and discuss processes to improve warehouse management,

especially cost-saving and efficiency at the warehouse. The study essentially relates to warehouse

operation, analysis of these operations, and how to improve them. The study will help understand

how to improve and efficiently manage warehouse tasks. It was important to examine issues faced

during warehouse management (Pane, 2018). Warehouse managers need to improve their

operations to better their organizational performance (Hao, 2020). This study provides attention

needed to promote cost-effective operations and collective information on factors affecting these

operations (Yener, 2019).

The objective of the study

 The current study aims to improve warehouse functions and efficiency.

 The study provides a case study recant to the topic to help understand the operations and

analysis of an organization. Solving the problems through case study after evaluating and

understanding the issues in the operations.

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 The main aim is to provide a scientific solution that can assist future studies and research in

further improving various warehouse operations.

Limitations of the study

This current study is based on the qualitative research method. The study is limited to two aspects

of warehousing efficiency and cost saving. As we know warehousing has many functions and

factors that can be combined together to form a much detailed study. Researchers and practitioners

in the future can provide studies that discuss more factors affecting warehouse efficiency. The

research has been done by analyzing the work of other authors. But it was limited to a number.

There can be analysis and study of more researchers added as well for next researches.

Data and search terms

This part of the research helps figure out which sources and studies will be helpful to support our

study. Topics that are related to the research were searched with a relevant keywords on the

database. Applying relevant research terms reduces research to a minimum and filtering these topics

with date can provide limited and specific studies. The terms used to search were: Warehouse,

efficiency, warehouse, cost-saving, warehouse management, factors, and relating synonyms.

Sélection

The first search delivered 511 studies with terms relating to warehouse and warehouse efficiency.

After filtration with the search terms mentioned above 56 results were received. These results were

screened from abstracts and topics. Relevant papers that met the criteria were further studied and

the rest were eliminated (Desai, 2021).

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Methodology

As mentioned earlier, the study is qualitative study. The data collection in qualitative research

includes words, interviews, observations, different records, documents from the past to provide

comprehensive research on the topic (Atieh, 2016). Qualitative research provides a new direction

and better understanding of relevant data and adds more information to the already researched topic

(Shah, 2017).

For the case study of the research, the data collection on the warehouse operations was done from

interviews. From the literature review, concepts were formed for improving the efficiency of

warehousing operations (Razik, 2016). The main objective of adding the case study to the research

was to test the concepts of warehousing operations. The data collection was done from interviews

and already available recorded and studies. The case study will also help in providing information

on organization warehousing operation and system management (Kucera, 2017).

Research design and procedures

Research design and procedures help reach the aim of the study successfully. This quantitative

research’s main purpose is to gain deep and detailed knowledge of the topic and its issues (Yan,

2008). This can be done by collecting the necessary data. The findings of the study were gathered in

written form from various sources and studies of authors (Shah, 2017).

Miscellaneous information

This section will include a bibliography of references that are cited in APA style format. A

description of writing style, necessary appendix, etc

Bibliography
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Atieh, A. K.-A. (2016). Performance improvement of inventory management system processes by

an automated warehouse management system. Procedia Cirp, 41,, 568-572.

Connolly, C. (2008). Warehouse management technologies. Sensor Review.

Desai, R. K. (2021). Impact of diabetes and periodontal status on life quality. BDJ open, 7(1), 1-7.

Hao, J. S. (2020). Adoption of automatic warehousing systems in logistics firms: a technology-

organization-environment framework. Sustainability, 12(12), 5185.

Hompel, M. &. (2006). Warehouse management: automation and organization of warehouse and

order picking systems. Springer science & business media.

Kucera, T. (2017). Logistics cost calcutation of implementation warehouse management system: a

case study. Web of conferences. Vol.134(2017): 18th international scientific conference-

LOGI, EDP Sciences.

Pane, S. A. (2018). Qualitative evaluation of RFID implementation on warehouse management

system. Telkomnika, 1303-1308.

Razik, M. R. (2016). An empirical investigation of the factors affecting warehousing performance

improvement in a supply chain. In 2nd international conference project and logistics, (pp. 1-

17).

Shah, B. &. (2017). A comprehensive review of warehouse operational issues. International journal

of logistics system and management,, 26(3), 346-378.

Yan, B. C. (2008). RFID technology applied in warehouse management system. . In 2008 ISECS

international colloquium on computing, communication, control and management, (Vol.3,

pp. 363-367). IEEE.

Yener, F. &. (2019). Optimal warehouse design: Literature review and case study application.

Computers & industrial engineering, 129, 1-13.