Warehousing in the supply chain
The warehouses are often owner operated or subcontracted to third-party logistics providers. These warehouses fulfil the following roles:
Raw materials storage
These warehouses store raw materials and components either the purpose of"> on the brink of the point of extraction or on the brink of the manufacturing point. Raw materials must be held so as to make sure continuous production. These materials include plastics, precious metals, sand, aggregates, etc.
Intermediate, postponement, customization
or sub-assembly facilities These warehouses are wont to store products temporarily at different stages
in production. These centres also are wont to customize products before final delivery to the customer.
Postponement and sub-assembly activities can include the following:
● specific labelling or packaging being changed or added, eg for store ready items or printing in different languages;
● computer assembly to incorporate different graphics cards, memory chips, software, etc;
● product bundling for promotional activity;
● country-specific items being added like electrical plugs
Finished goods storage
These warehouses store products ready purchasable, on behalf of manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers. They provide a buffer or safety stock for companies, enabling them to create up stock in preparation for brand spanking new product launches, expected increases in demand and to deal with seasonality.
Consolidation centres and transit warehouses
Consolidation centres receive products from different sources and amalgamate them for onward delivery to the customer or onto an assembly line. This can include just-in-time centres where automotive parts are delivered to a warehouse where they're brought together and sequenced for delivery onto the assembly line. They can even be retail stock consolidation warehouses where products from different suppliers are consolidated for onward delivery to the stores. Rather than deliver part-loads to the Retail Distribution Centres (RDC), manufacturers
deliver to those facilities where their stock is consolidated with other suppliers for onward delivery to the RDC. These differ from cross-dock centres therein product can remain within the centre for a period of your time awaiting call-off from the final destination. Many of these consolidation centres are operated by third parties.
Transhipment or break-bulk centres
Transhipment centres receive products in large quantities from suppliers and break them down into manageable quantities for onward delivery to varied locations.
Cross-dock centres
Cross-dock centres are seen as being the longer term for warehousing. Efficient consumer response and quick response within retail require operations to be ready to move goods quickly through the availability chain. Cross docking requires deliveries into these centres to be already labelled and prepared for onward delivery. Here the items are identified and consolidated with other deliveries, ready for despatch. Items should remain within the warehouse for as short a time as possible. Same-day receipt and despatch is the target. Although companies are starting to realize the efficiency of cross docking, there are variety of barriers to a successful introduction. These can include warehouse management systems support, internal control systems, reliability and cooperation of suppliers and carriers, warehouse design and unsure demand. Cross-dock warehouses or transhipment centres also are utilized in outlying geographic areas to transfer products onto local, radial distribution
vehicles. This transhipment process can happen either inside or outside the warehouse. Typical cross-dock products are perishable items like fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, which require to be rushed through the availability chain.
Sortation centres
Sortation centres are utilized in the most by letter, parcel and pallet distribution companies. Goods are collected from all parts of the country, delivered into hubs or sortation centres, sorted by zip or post code, consolidated and delivered overnight to their respective distribution areas for onward delivery. Today’s retailers also are moving towards automated sortation centres with pallets being de-layered on entry, the utilization of mini-load systems for temporary storage and retrieval and eventually automated pallet build on exit.
Fulfilment centres
The growth of e-retailing has seen an increase in the number of customer fulfilment centres. These warehouses have been designed and equipped specifically to manage large volumes of small orders.
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