Warehouse and Warehouse Planning

Only in this case one can count on the company's profitable work, when the production lines and shops at any given time are sufficiently provided with raw materials, and the sales department with finished products. Avoid downtimes, if you competently approach the planning of the warehouse in the enterprise. This issue is considered in several areas of logistics, the task is studied in some detail, so with a thorough assessment of the issue, you can create an exemplary warehouse, excluding downtime. I must say that warehouse planning is inherent in all modern successful companies.

Features of warehouse work planning

Careful planning of the warehouse involves the consideration of all aspects of the activity of the premises. Particular attention is paid to the time intervals allocated for various operations. It is the careful work with time that allows, through production planning to the warehouse, to supply all the necessary positions, to ship goods from it not only efficiently, but also flexibly enough. At the same time, all orders in the internal information system are taken into operation. With the correct planning of the warehouse, shipping and taking positions take quite a bit of time, due to which the standards set in advance are observed.

The main goal pursued by the planning of the warehouse of spare parts, products, exclusive ceramics, whatever - is the transformation of the organization into a strong competitor in the market, which is achieved through effective activities that benefit the economic entity.

Where do we start?

Regardless of whether a warehouse plan is planned for a wholesale enterprise or if it is necessary to work only with storage points for retail companies, the approach has common standards. It all starts with an assessment:

• Turnover;
• The level of service;
• Cost of stocks;
• Volume of purchased items.

To whom to entrust?

As professionals in the field of logistics say, it is better to plan the location of the operating and auxiliary warehouses for a specially formed team for this task. To this end, the Human Resources Department forms a project team, and the Documentation Turnover Department pays particular attention to the working processes in the enterprise that are active at the moment and documents them.

Quite often, aspects of fire safety when planning a warehouse force not only to review plans for how to arrange the offices inside, but even completely reorganize the warehouse. In addition, such processing allows to rationalize the premises, to make it more in accordance with the standards of our time and the specifics of the field of activity of the organization. It is common practice when planning a warehouse at the sawmills, factories, other manufacturing enterprises to update the equipment, machines and equipment used in the storage system. Recently, the most frequent option is the installation of automated systems that reduce labor costs and reduce the likelihood of errors due to human factors.

What should I look for?

When planning the warehouse of finished goods, production stocks or other resources, it is necessary to pay attention to a number of general important aspects. In particular, the workflow begins with an estimated calculation, but gradually the working group studies more and more small details, so planning covers all working moments.

It is necessary to thoroughly work on planning the work of the warehouse, not missing any important aspects. However, the results should be such that at the end of the work they could be implemented without much difficulty. In order for such planning to reflect in detail the actual state of affairs in the company, it is necessary to have an up-to-date complete information base reflecting all that is happening inside it.

In turn and in detail

Planning the work of a warehouse is a thorough assessment and miscalculation of a variety of options for the organization of the premises. Each of the projects proposed by the working group is evaluated by the selected expert and submitted to the company's management for review. This helps to decide in favor of the most successful solution.

Planning of the logistics process in the warehouse begins inside and gradually "moves forward" outside. This means that at first the working group studies the issues of inventory, equipment, technological solutions used within the warehouse, designs the movement of material flows , and only then selects a building in which all this can be realized with minimum cost and maximum efficiency. However, at the opening of a new building, the planning of the logistics process in the warehouse is not complete. It is necessary to familiarize all working personnel with the developed information system, and also to support the workflow in real time. This means that several responsible specialists are selected from the working group of designers. Their task will be to control operations within the warehouse, measure the quantitative performance indicators and develop options for improving the implemented project, and in the future - a complete reorganization, taking into account changing conditions.

Project: what and how?

Planning a warehouse always involves a detailed study of the project, which includes:

• Formulation of the goal;
• Analytical activity;
• Development of a plan;
• Realization of the conceived;
• Work start.

Warehouse planning: everything is interconnected

The planning process is usually divided into several stages, but they take into account the interrelations between them. This means that the stages are not consistent, but parallel. So, at one point in time the working group deals with the issues of storage, transfer of material stocks, choice of premises and technologies, machines. At the same time, the stage is needed to achieve a balance between these aspects.

All components are interconnected. Remembering this when planning a warehouse, competent specialists always control how the change in one aspect affects the others. The most effective approach is considered iterative, when a series of consecutive actions is formed, repeated every time, as soon as at least one indicator is changed.

Planning: what happens?

Work begins with preliminary planning, during which an approximate model is created. It is developed, guided by the budget estimates, the direction of the project. The data known at this stage allows us to formulate the solutions on which the subsequent actions are based. But the further, the more accurate information should be used.

The next step is to forecast the amount of resources necessary for the correct operation of the enterprise. To do this, you need to have a budget estimate and have a fairly accurate idea of the direction of the project. After this, you can start detailed planning.

In detail and in small details

When the working group reaches the step of detailed planning, according to the standards accepted in logic, it works with the following stages:

• Selection of a place for a warehouse;
• Planning of internal and external territories;
• Study of premises inside;
• Analysis of the need for technology, equipment;
• Forecasting the capacities of personnel, warehouses;
• Planning of individual operations.

How not to miss anything

It is important for the working group to monitor the movement within the projected warehouse of information and materials. One of the reliable ways to not miss anything is to document all business processes, and also to model information flows and all processes within the enterprise. Additionally, functional descriptions can be worked out. This is most effective when using specialized databases.

At the same time it is not recommended to start work with the bay-barrack. According to the assessment of professionals, it is necessary to make a business plan in the calculation for at least five years, but many world-class scientists agree that for a more or less stable firm the plan should cover the next decade. At the same time, it is necessary not only to take into account existing trends, but also to forecast the change in demand, the direction of improvement of the enterprise.

We spend: much or little?

In most cases, warehouse planning takes up quite a bit of finance - no more than 15% of all costs associated with creating a new warehouse, but usually even less. But this is not a reason to underestimate it! It must be remembered that the pre-planning phase is the time when the work team collects the maximum possible amount of data. If you can not accumulate the necessary amount of information, this will soon lead to a slowdown in work and increased costs, as well as reduce the efficiency of the team responsible for planning.

Warehouses are different

Speaking about the planning of warehouses, it should be noted that these can differ significantly from each other. It depends on a number of factors. Trade enterprises, for example, have different levels of technical equipment, differ in organizational features and approach in the field of technology. This means that such premises are planned in different ways, that is, it will be prudent to introduce the classification into groups.

Main criteria:

• Position relative to material flows;
• Functions assigned to the warehouse;
• Assortment of positions;
• technical features;
• mechanization;
• number of floors;
• Organizational management forms;
• transport.

Theoretical aspects

When planning, the working group creates a project in which, with the exact implementation, the goods are in the best available position relative to the consumer (the buyer). At the same time, the plan is divided into two parts: the sites on which the reserves are stored, as well as the sites reserved for other purposes. It is believed that the most rational ratio of these plots is 2: 1, that is, the areas used for storage should be twice as large as those intended for auxiliary tasks.

When planning warehouses, they try to apply only the most rational methods of stacking, placing stocks, while positions relative to each other are positioned in such a way that there is no other influence and spoilage due to unwanted neighborhood. Nearby try to place such goods, for the movement of which you can use a similar technique.

General warehouse

It can be described as the most common type of warehouses in the trading companies of our country (and not only). In this warehouse there are zones:

• Production, where the predominantly performing work operations;
• The auxiliary, used for the maintenance of containers, pallets, containers;
• Technical, where a variety of devices and communications are installed. Here also include storerooms, workplaces of repairmen;
• Administrative, household.

The features of the technological process, of course, greatly affect the structure and layout of the territory for storage. Already at the design stage, the working group forms a complete list of premises necessary for a particular warehouse, and also displays a proportional ratio of areas to each other. At the same time, they strive to organize a continuous workflow, divided into streams that do not interfere with one another.

Warehouse: how to choose?

Choosing a room, many solve the problem quite simply: figure out what area is necessary, rent a suitable building. Rarely do companies seriously calculate the future, especially small ones. But you need to understand: the interests of the company can change rapidly.

In recent years, there are more and more opportunities to cover sales markets, inaccessible for another year or a couple of years ago, but at the same time, competition has grown, working conditions have changed. These aspects have an impact on the leasing industry. Therefore, a company that does not want to spend money in vain should analyze the future and only then make a decision in favor of a particular option.

Features of the question

The first thing that is worthy of attention in this matter is the geographical position of the territory that has become interested. Probably, it will be necessary to transport the positions between the warehouses, if the company has several buildings, and these costs must be taken into account in advance. The more expensive logistics costs, the higher the enterprise will have to make a price tag, which ultimately can lead to a potential buyer going to a competitor. This is an incentive to reduce logistics-related expenses.

But with industrial warehouses the situation is a little easier. Usually the enterprise equips all the warehouses on the territory of the factory, the factory, which reduces the cost of money and time for transportation of positions. But the actual problem remains the choice of the optimal size. The most difficult task is planning the distribution, supply warehouses. In either of the options, the working group predicts the costs associated with the opportunity under consideration, the company's revenues, calculates the ratio between them, to understand how much the warehouse will be beneficial to the enterprise.

What will you have to spend?

First of all, the costs associated with transport are estimated. These investments are considered to be original, here they include work on the creation, repair of roads, purchase of transport, construction of facilities for idle time, repair of cars. In addition to this category are the costs associated with sending and delivering items.

Another item related to warehouse planning and the implementation of the plan into reality is construction itself. Also, operational expenditures are predicted in advance. This group of investments includes money that went to equipment. Do not forget about repairs, utility bills, wages. The evaluation of these expenditures should be prepared already at the planning stage.

More is better. Or not?

In general, a large warehouse is more profitable than a small one. It is customary to estimate the storage costs per tonne: per ton of goods stored. Since the value is the smaller the room is larger, it can be assumed that large warehouses are always preferable to small ones. At the same time, the consolidation of several small warehouses located in different locations in the possession of the company in one large warehouse will provoke an increase in transportation costs, since the delivery will become less profitable. But the presence of small warehouses is a step towards the buyer, as the cost of transportation is reduced, the delivery time is shortened. On the other hand, there are more expenses associated with the erection of objects and their use (communication, personnel).

How to find the golden mean? Experts recommend to evaluate the following aspects:

• Density of competition;
• Proximity to the buyer;
• Proximity to the suppliers of raw materials;
• Standard of living in the region;
• Possibility to staff the warehouses;
• The planned level of wages;
• Transport capacities;
• taxation;
• profit.

Additionally, they analyze whether a potential warehouse will be located near a railway, a large city, specify the cost of land, the complexity of obtaining permits. A careful analysis of these factors helps to identify which option is more profitable: the creation of one large warehouse or several small ones.