Warehousing in inventory management 1
Warehousing in inventory management
Nahla Adli 20140208
Mayar Al Anani 20140113
Hamzeh Al Rasheed 20130251
Sharaf Saleh 2013279
Warehousing in inventory management 2
Warehousing In Inventory Management
Definition
A simple definition of a warehouse is:
‘A warehouse is a planned space for the storage and handling of goods and material.’
In general, warehouses are focal points for product and information flow between sources of supply and
beneficiaries. However, in humanitarian supply chains, warehouses vary greatly in terms of their role
and their characteristics.
Global Warehouses
The global warehousing concept has gained popularity over the last decade as stock pre-positioning
becomes one of the strategies for ensuring a timely response to emergencies. They are usually purpose
built or purpose designed facilities operated by permanent staff that has been trained in all the skills
necessary to run an efficient facility or utilizing third party logistics (3PL) staff and facilities. For such
operations, organizations use, information systems that are computer based, with sophisticated
software to help in the planning and management of the warehouse. The operating situation is relatively
stable and management attention is focused on the efficient and cost effective running of the
warehouse operation. Numerous organizations have centralized pre-positioning units strategically
located globally. Some of these offer extended services to other humanitarian organizations on a cost
plus operating charges basis.
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Field Warehouses
Field Warehouses are usually temporary in nature. They may be housed in a buildings which was not
designed to be used as a warehouse, in a temporary building/structures, and are often in mobile units
(rub halls, Wii halls) that are little more than a tent in a field. The initial staff may be a casual workforce
that has never worked in a warehouse before and the inventory system is more likely to be paper based.
Often the situation is initially chaotic, sometimes dangerous and coupled with a humanitarian need
which may be very urgent. The management style must therefore be practical and action oriented with
a focus on making the humanitarian goods available as quickly and efficiently as possible, while being
accountable at the same time.
Policies and Procedures
Policies
The policies contain hard and fast rules and regulations that define the general conduct of the
warehouse operation. Examples of the types of policies that organizations will define are as follows:
• organizational specific
• health and safety
• human resources management
• security
• pest control
• warehouse maintenance and cleaning
• quality control
• record keeping and reporting
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• reverse logistics – Return of goods and exit strategy in the event of downscaling or shutting down
operations
• disposal of obsolete and damaged goods.
Procedures
The procedures’ document defines step by step how the activities in the warehouse should be carried
out and clearly defines the processes to be adopted. These can be adopted as ‘best practice’.
The procedures provide visibility of the operations for managers and donors.
However, in creating such procedures, care must be taken to avoid constraining the use of local
initiative which might be required to deal with local conditions. Procedures should be considered as
streamlining the business processes and providing checks and balances. They provide guidance to
warehouse managers and must have some level of flexibility to cater to unique situations. This can be
achieved by limiting the level of detail that the procedures document defines, allowing more flexibility
and/or by arranging ‘dispensations’ to allow departure from the procedures in order to optimise local
performance, especially in emergencies.
The procedures will normally provide the step by step guidance on how to manage each aspect of
warehousing and may cover:
• receiving and issuing of supplies;
• quality control or verification;
• storage of goods;
• how to control stock movement (stock control);
• documentation flow;
• how to detect and deal with stock losses;
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• how rejected material will be managed; and
• how to deal with unwanted material, obsolete and scrap, disposal.
Types of Warehouse Space
• Commercial: in rented building used for business.
• Government or state: such as at the ports or harbours. This is common in emergency situations.
• Transit: for temporary storage of goods destined for different locations and need storage for a very
