Amul

Role of warehousing

Warehousing plays a vital role in providing the desired level of service to the customer at the lowest possible cost and is an important link between the producer and the customer. Improving the flow of goods through a warehouse by minimising handling and movement can generate significant and measurable business benefits. The purpose of this course is to provide an understanding of how these benefits can be realised

FUNCTIONS and objectives OF WAREHOUSING

Warehousing aids in equalizing supplies over a period of time. It renders invaluable service to community by performing important functions which are given below:

• It provides the facility of storage for goods. So the basic function of warehouse is to provide storage facility. By ensuring storing, it provides time utility for the products.

• It strikes a judicious balance between the forces like demand and supply and thereby helps in building stabilized price for the product. The goods stored are brought from warehouse at the time of increased demand.

• Warehouse facilitates borrowing from banks and other financial institutions. The goods lying in the warehouse serve as security for short-term loan.

• It is helpful in stabilizing the prices of the product because it always tries to equate demand with supply.

• It provides protection to goods against fire, insects, pilferage and thefts. It helps in keeping

The basic warehousing functions traditionally have been considered to be as follows (Tompkins and White, 1984):

1. receiving;

2. identification and sorting;

3. dispatching to storage;

4. placing in storage;

5. storage;

6. retrieval from storage;

7. order accumulation;

8. packing;

9. shipping

10. record keeping.

In designing warehousing systems it is desirable to maximize

1. space utilization;

2. equipment utilization;

3. labor utilization;

4. accessibility of all materials;

5. protection of all...