Warehousing and Inventory Management Warehouse Space and Layout Planning

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Warehousing and Inventory ManagementWarehouse
Space and Layout Planning
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Basic Warehousing Decisions

• 1. Ownership (rent, lease or build)
• 2. Size and number of warehouse
• 3. Where should warehouses be located?
• 4. How much capacity is required?
• 5. What type of warehousing layout is
• appropriate?

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Warehouse Space Planning

• What is the one thing you always run out of
• in a warehouse?
• The answer is space....................

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Warehouse Space Planning

• 1. Determine what is to be accomplished
• 2. Determine how to accomplish it
• 3. Determine space allowances for each
• element required to accomplish the activity
• 4. Calculate the total space requirement

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Two Major Activities Require Space Planning

• 1. Receiving and Shipping Activities
• 2. Storage Activities

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Space Planning for Receiving and Shipping

• The most important functions of a warehouse
• take place on the receiving and shipping
• docks.
• Unfortunately, these are also the most neglected
  areas of the warehouse.
• How then do we plan the space requirements for
  shipping and receiving?

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Methodology of Space Planningfor Receiving and
Shipping

• 1. Defining the materials received and shipped
• 2. Determining dock bay requirements
• 3. Dock bay configuration
• 4. Manoeuvring allowances inside the warehouse
• 5. Buffer and Staging area requirements
• 6. Dock-related space requirements

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1. Defining the Materials Received and Shipped

• An excellent tool Receiving and Shipping
  Analysis Chart (RSAC)

Columns 1-5 define what is to be received or
shipped Column 6 size of shipment Column 7 when
the receipts and shipments will occur Columns
8-9 list the types of carriers Columns 10-11
handling methods time required for
loading/unloading
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2. Determine Dock Requirements

• Determining the requirements for the receiving
  and shipping dock bays
• How many dock bays are required?
• Frequency of activity
• Carrier inter-arrival time and service time
• Guessing
• Waiting-line analysis
• Simulation
• How should the dock bays be configured?
• Types of vehicle at the dock bay

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3. Basic Dock Configuration
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Consolidation
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Consolidation
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4. Manoeuvring Allowances Inside the Warehouse

• Space needed to enter and exit the carrier and to
• travel between the carrier and the receiving
  buffer area or the shipping staging area
• Area occupied by the dock leveling devices
• An aisle located between the back edge of the
• inside dock leveling device and the receiving
  buffer
• area or the shipping staging area
• Required width 6-8 feet for manual handling and
  nonpowered material handling equipment and 8-12
  fleet for powered material handling equipment

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5. Buffer Staging Area Requirements

• The receiving buffer area
• serves as a depository for the materials unloaded
  from the carrier
• perform thorough check-in and inspection
• The shipping staging area
• serves as an accumulation point for the
  merchandise that comprise a
• shipment
• perform packaging, unitizing or verifying the
  customer order
• Determining the amount of the buffer/staging area
  
• a matter of the degree of control over the dock
  area
• based on how much area is required during the
  surge periods
• Existing facilities by analyzing historical
  shipping patterns
• New facilities ask the anticipated suppliers
  and users based on the anticipated surges in
  activity
• Aisle space within the buffer/staging area

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Receiving and Shipping Area
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6. Determine Dock-Related Space Requirements

• Office Space
• Receiving hold area
• Trash disposal
• Empty pallet storage
• Truckers lounge

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Space Planning for Storage Activities

• 1. Defining materials to be stored
• 2. Choosing a storage philosophy
• 3. Space requirements for alternative storage
• methods

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1. Defining the Materials to be Stored

• A useful tool Storage Analysis Chart (SAC)

Columns 1-5 define what material are to be
stored Columns 6-8 how much is to be
stored Columns 9-12 how the materials are to be
stored
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2. Determine Storage Philosophy

• 1. Fixed location storage
• each individual SKU is always stored in a
  specific location, and
• no other SKU may be stored in that location, even
  though that location may be empty
• 2. Random location storage
• any SKU may be assigned to any available storage
  location

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3. Determine Alternative Storage Method
Space Requirements

• 1.The space requirements are directly related to
  the volume of material to be stored, and
• 2. The use-of-space characteristics of the
  alternative
• Aisle allowance
• Honeycombing allowance

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Aisle Honeycombing Allowance

• 1. Aisle allowance is the of space occupied by
  aisles
• It is necessary within a storage area to allow
  accessibility to
• the material being stored
• The amount of aisle allowance depends on
• the storage method, which dictates the no. of
  aisles required, and
• the material handling method, which dictates the
  size of aisles
• 2. Honeycombing allowance is the of storage
  space lost
• It occurs whenever a storage location is only
  partially filled
• with material and may occur
  horizontally and vertically
• The unoccupied area within the storage location
  is honeycombing space

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Honeycombing Space
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Objectives of a Warehouse Layout

• 1. To use space efficiently
• 2. To allow the most efficient material handling
• 3. To provide the most economical storage in
• relation to costs of equipment, use of space,
  
• damage tomaterial and handling labour
• 4. To provide maximum flexibility in order to
• meet changing storage and handling
  requirements
• 5. To make the warehouse a model of good
• housekeeping

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Layout Planning Methodology

• Layout planning methodology consists of two
  steps
• Generate a series of warehouse layout
• alternatives
• Evaluate each alternative against specific
• criteria to identify the best warehouse
  layout

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Generate Alternative Layouts
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Evaluate the Alternative Layouts

• 1. Popularity Philosophy
• 2. Similarity Philosophy
• 3. Size Philosophy
• 4. Product Characteristics Philosophy
• 5. Space Utilization Philosophy
• Conservation of space
• Limitations on use of space
• Accessibility of material
• Orderliness

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New concept in warehousing
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Virtual warehouse

• Discussion of the implication of virtual
  warehouse in MSC

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Q A