Production warehouse

Warehousing is an integral part of every logistics system that stores products (raw materials, parts, goods in process, finished goods) at and between point of origin and point of consumption. Warehouses must be continually re-evaluated to ensure that they are consistent with both market’s demands and management’s strategies.

Types of warehouses:
*distribution warehouse or
*production warehouse

A distribution center is a warehouse in which products from one or more suppliers are collected for delivery to a number of customers.

The function of a production warehouse is to store raw materials, work-in-process and finished products, linked to a manufacturing and/or assembly process. Raw materials and semi-finished goods are delivered to a nearby production plant, and finished goods are received from this plant and can be directly delivered from the warehouse to customers or to other warehouses.

Raw materials and finished products may be stored for long periods, this situation increases when the incoming goods of raw materials is much larger than the production rate, or when the production rate exceeds the customer order quantity of finished products.

In production, ideally, raw material should arrive at a manufacturing facility just when it is needed and then immediately processed, the resulting products should be fabricated and assembled without delay, and the final finished products should be immediately shipped to their customers; in this situation (what could be termed pure “Just-In-Time” or JIT) there is little need for buffering or storing materials.

Production warehouse

What are the basic functions of warehouse?

Warehousing has three basic functions, namely: movement, storage and information transfer.

The first major function, movement can be further divided into four handling activities: receiving, transfer, order selection and shipping. Warehouses receive shipments in bulk from several sources and using an automated or manual sortation system put together individual customer orders and ships them directly to the customers.

Warehouses also do the inspection and quality controls, which are an extension of the receiving process and are done when suppliers are inconsistent in quality or the product being purchased is heavily regulated and must be inspected at all steps in the process.

The second function of warehousing, namely storage, can be performed on a temporary or a semi-permanent basis. To achieve economies of scale in production, transportation and handling of goods, it is often necessary to store goods in warehouse and release them to customers as and when the demand occurs. The form of storage will depend on the size and quality of the items in inventory and the handling characteristics of the products or its container.

While the third major function information transfer occurs simultaneously with the movement and storage functions. Not only does the movement and storage of goods have managed in warehousing, but the information that goes along with the movement and storage also has to be managed.
What are the basic functions of warehouse?

What is facility management?

Facility management is a business practice that encompassed multiple disciplines optimizes people, processes, assets, and the working environment to support the delivery of the organization’s commercial objectives.

It is an essential business function; the facility manager is a business manager and should be placed at the same level as the managers of human resources and information technology.

It ensures that the customer's facility is in optimum operational condition and that they are receiving services in a prompt and organized manner.

Facility management, commonly, abbreviated as FM, is still a fairly new business and management discipline in the private sector. In the public sector, however it has been practiced as post engineering, public works or plant administration for many years.

When facility management is practiced properly, the following benefits accrue to the company:
*Facility plans match company plans.
*Space is available when and where it is needed.
*Capital expenditures are planned and controlled.
*Employee productivity is maximized.
*Costs are minimized, sometimes avoided and always predicted.
What is facility management?