Pictured - United Kingdom Warehousing Association

Viewpoint 19I am frequently told when visiting companiesthat to date the warehouse has notbeen a priority for them and that they haveinvested in all parts of the business exceptthe warehouse, which is no longer operatingefficiently nor meeting the needs of thebusiness. On further inspection that samewarehouse will probably hold too muchinventory (including obsolete stock), will nothave a fully functional WarehouseManagement System (WMS), will haveeither out of date or no Standard OperatingProcedures (SOPs), will have an outdatedlayout and more than likely have outdatedhandling equipment.These issues are a result of other parts ofthe business having investment and revisedstrategy to improve products, systems andoperations without giving any thought to theimpact on the warehouse, other than that itwill have to cope with whatever is needed.Remember; think of everything within thesupply chain that impacts the warehouseoperation, or that the warehouse operationhas an impact on. For example; procurementstrategy will have a direct impact oninventory holding (and therefore spacerequirements) and sometimes even thelocation of the warehouse; new productintroduction will directly impact the type ofinventory and could also directly impact thewarehouse processes, layout, equipmentand handling requirements; sales and marketingcampaigns create seasonal peaksand directly impact the flow of product andtherefore the resource requirementsthroughout the warehouse; and the mostcommon of all being IT strategy to implementa new ERP system, which has limitedor no WMS functionality and simply has astock level function. Any of these examplescan have a negative effect on warehouseperformance and consequently a direct negativeimpact on order fulfilment and customerservice levels being achieved.The warehouse operations need to have visibility ofthe whole business and be part of the overall andon-going logistics and supply chain strategy, withcause and effect being identified with each changewithin the supply chainThe warehouse operations need to have visibilityof the whole business and be part of theoverall and on-going logistics and supply chainstrategy, with cause and effect being identifiedwith each change within the supply chain.However there is little or no point in integratingan out of date or inappropriate warehouseoperation into the business strategy.Continued on page 21www.ukwa.org.uk August 2012