Significance of Warehouses in Supply Chain Management
Discuss about the Optimization Research of Construction Inventory Management.
A warehouse is an important thing in the chain of supply (Business Model Adaptation to Institutional Voids) A warehouse can facilitate The storage of intermediate products and transform them into finished products, could be found at any level of supply It gives room for storage, processing, packaging and distribution of goods. Products to be stored are paused in a warehouse under which its facilities suit the goods to be stored in the warehouse. (Tajti (Thaythy, 2014). Goods are stored in the warehouse where they are delivered after someone places an order through the online means and goods are paid on cash at delivery. MSC is the number one shipping company with efficient warehouse operations and also E-business operations in the world .MSC transports all kinds of goods ranging from food, clothes, utensils and electronics among so many others. An international transaction via this mode is also made easier, what one has to do is go to the internet, search their website and order for their services. (Supporting business process analysis via data warehousing, 2011).
Warehouses play significant role in all stages of supply chain management. For example, the manufacturers of goods receive raw materials, work-in-progress goods and spare parts from the suppliers which the store in the warehouses. The manufacturers after manufacturing finished goods send them to shipping companies like Mediterranean Shipping Company which again store these goods in the warehouses (Chen, Lu and Xu, 2012). Thus, the warehouses play significant role in the supply chain management as storage facilities of finished goods.
Throughout the supply chain, goods have to move from one place to another and that means that there is or there are modes and means of transport used to make goods reach their desired destinations (MAPREDUCE RESEARCH ON WAREHOUSING OF BIG DATA, 2018). First of all, goods move from the suppliers to the warehouse and then the goods are distributed to various middlemen or individual customers (Atieh et al. 2016). All this is done using a variety of transport means and modes. Intermodal or multimodal forms of transport are whereby two or more modes of transport are used to transport a container or goods. It could be through air, water, roads or railway. In this case, MSC services don’t always end at the port. Once the goods reach the port, they are taken to the warehouse for storage and dispatched later to their destinations, either by road, rail or air (Katunze et al., 2017). In addition to that, once the goods are in the warehouse, they are ordered for by different customers some of whom could be from the shipping country or living far away from the company which means that by the time the goods reach them, at least two modes of transport will have been used. Say for instance, someone orders goods from another country and wants the goods to be delivered as first as possible.
Intermodal or Multimodal Forms of Transport
The goods will be transported by roads until it reaches the airport, from there, the goods are flown to the destination countries through air (Chen, Lu & Xu, 2012) Therefore, one can note that more than two means of transport could be used depending on the context and situation. This is the intermodal or multimodal choices of transport. The choice of the intermodal or multimodal matters to the performance of the MSC supply chain for example, when goods have been ordered from outside country and are urgently needed, air transport shall be needed to supplement the road transport that is used at some point of transportation. This will help the Company avail its goods to the consumer without creating any demand shortage. Choosing road transport could also be a way of cutting transportation cost. The business shall be able to save money for the future and betterment of the business. The following image shows the multimodal intermodal forms of transport. According to Fichtinger et al. (2015), warehouse management systems play a significant role as far as making goods available to consumers are concerned. The exporting and shipping companies use software and data base management system to manage their stocks. The apex management of both shipping companies and the companies owning warehouses form strategies to manage the flow of goods in and out of warehouses. This ensures that there is neither excess of finished goods nor neither shortage of finished goods, both of which leads to financial losses (Hertog et al. 2014).
When goods are ordered from manufacture who is the supplier to a company in different area or location, they are shipped and brought to the warehouse first once they have been taken account of organized and put in order for supply, become the inventory of which the warehouse has to manage(Sui, Gosavi and Lin, 2010). According to Qu, Bekta? and Bennell (2016), intermodal systems of transportation of the goods are used to transport the goods from the harbor to the destination. The intermodal freight transport system enables transport of a large number of containers. The mode of transport used can be rail, road or sea. The intermodal system of transporting provides bulk transport facilities and is hence more economical. Moreover, this technique reduces damage or loss of freight which again reduces financial losses of the transporters (Xu, Cheng & Huang, 2015).
Reasons and objectives for location of business in starting a company, the most important thing to consider is the location. The place to locate a business matters because it will determine its performance (HE and XU, 2013). Business is meant to make profits and not losses; therefore, locating it at a strategic place will help it meet its objectives Mediterranean shipping company deals with offering ocean carriage storage and rail infrastructure.
Warehouse Management Systems in Managing Inventory
The business organizations consider the several factors while deciding specific facilities like manufacturing and logistics facilities. The following sections would shed light in the factors which these business houses consider while deciding location for these specific facilities:
MSC is situated in an area where it has access to raw materials required to run the ware house. This is because people transport goods by means of water transport hence the location of this company favors its practice of transporting and storing (Kim and Kim, 2016.Consumers The location of MSC makes it easy to reach product consumers who are their customers (Recovered Medical Error Inventory, 2010). They supply to homes, hotels, supermarkets and shops. All these are people who live near MSC and run their businesses the dairy therefore does not suffer from inadequate consumers (Yang and Gao, 2014). It should be noted that most of the people around the area deal with goods that have to be transported across the Ocean to the other parts and also purchase goods that have been stored in the warehouse. Transport When locating a business, one should consider the availability and cost of transport. If transport is a challenge, there is a likelihood that the business will not prosper as it would have prospered in an area where there is good and cheap means of transport (Open supply? On the future of document supply in the world of open science, 2016). The location of MSC is favorable as it is near the suppliers and consumers of their products. There is a good road network from Wirral to the dairy which makes it easy to transport milk for processing. It is also cheap as the distance is short; less money is used to avail goods. It is near the Ocean where goods are easily loaded and offloaded to and from water vessels without much difficulty (Dykes, Rothschild and Hurley, 2010).Employees The objectives and reasons for establishing the company where it is situated were to get quality employees from within. Much their employees are locals who are competent in their fields of work. The company has employed more than 90 people whose roles are divided according to their skills (Kim and Kim, 2016). They are drivers, marketers, food scientists, machine operator among many others. With the locality, the employees get proper residence not far from the MSC which makes the available at their workplace. The company has been able to provide jobs for locals (Generating price-effective intermodal routes, 2011). Competitors Due to favorable conditions, it has been able to beat its competitors and gained popularity among consumers .MSC is found where other companies are there but due to the kind of services they offer, the storage conditional of their goods and the speed and cost of transportation, this company has been able to beat their competitors by far (Kim & Kim, 2016). The quality of goods they provide and the way of packaging is professional and attractive compared to their counterparts.
Factors Determining Location Facilities
Liu, Saat & Barkan (2017) mentions that safety is one the important issues which business organizations consider while setting up businesses. This is because the warehouses in which they store raw materials, WIP and finished goods have to be secured from losses like thefts and fire.
These risks cause loss of inventory and financial losses. Thus, it can inferred that safety plays a significant role in business organizations choosing locations to conduct businesses.
According to Prakash and Poulose, E. (2016) all business organizations including the multinational logistics companies consider waste disposal as an important criterion. Some of the business organizations especially the ones involved in manufacturing and civil engineering generate immense amount of wastes. These wastes cause pollution and failure to dispose them according to law attracts legal penalty. The business organizations due to this reason hold waste disposal as an important criteria (Dasgupta et al., 2015).
Bergqvist (2016) mentions that the facilities like consumer presence and availability of skilled labor not only benefit the present business operations but also future business expansions. The facilities like presence of immense consumer base can encourage the business organizations to expand their facilities like manufacturing and logistics in particular locations. For example, if a certain location shows signs of future increase in the demand of products, the producing company is likely to develop a new manufacturing facility in the area to cater to the increase in demand. This discussion shows that factors like consumer support play significant role in future business expansions pertaining to facilities (Dasgupta et al., 2015). However, it is not the only company that provides the kinds of service in the area .There is other competing and small upcoming which serve as threats to the growth of Mediterranean shipping company. With time, the other producers are going to improve on their quality and levels of services which may attract customers around the area leaving it with fewer customers making it difficult for it to grow ( Hanaoka et al., 2011). If the company intends to produce more gods to cover a larger area, it will have to bring in more production equipment which needs extra rooms for storage of inventory. Because of the available land, the process will not be difficult (Bergqvist & Monios, 2014) .Transportation modes and means are good due to the location of the company. There are good roads and available wagons and trucks owned by the firm and above all, availability of water from the ocean to transport goods across. There is minimal cost of transport as the distance between MSC and consumers are short.It is situated in a politically stable area and high security. Political instability is what hinders growth of any business (Roso et al., 2015). This is because when there is disturbance, people will not settle down in the area which means there will be no consumers. Therefore, the stable and secure condition in the area favors future improvement of the company. Supply of power in the area is adequate and affordable. Power is needed to run most of the activities in the warehouse and even preserve perishable goods. With the adequate and relatively cheap supply of power, it is likely to become better in future than it is at the moment.
References:
Assessment of inventory class performance utilizing inventory turn and days on hand. (2017). International Journal of Inventory Research, 4(1), p.61.
Assessment of inventory class performance utilizing inventory turn and days on hand. (2017). International Journal of Inventory Research, 4(1), p.61.
Atieh, A. M., Kaylani, H., Al-abdallat, Y., Qaderi, A., Ghoul, L., Jaradat, L., & Hdairis, I. (2016). Performance improvement of inventory management system processes by an automated warehouse management system. Procedia Cirp, 41, 568-572.
Bergqvist, R. & Monios, J. (2014). The role of contracts in achieving effective governance of intermodal terminals. World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 5(1), p.18.
Bergqvist, R. (2016). Transport and logistics facilities expansion and social sustainability: A critical discussion and findings from the City of Gothenburg, Swe-den.
Bergqvist, R., Falkemark, G. & Woxenius, J. (2010). Establishing intermodal terminals. World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 3(3), p.285.
Business Model Adaptation to Institutional Voids: The Case of Jumia, the Amazon of Africa. (2017). Academy of Management Proceedings, 2017(1), p.13620.
Chen, Y., Lu, Y. & Xu, M. (2012). Optimal inventory control policy for periodic-review inventory systems with inventory-level-dependent demand. Naval Research Logistics (NRL), 59(6), pp.430-440.
Dasgupta, D., Debsarkar, A., Chatterjee, D., Gangopadhyay, A., & Chatterjee, D. (2015). Present E-waste Handling and Disposal Scenario in India: Planning for Future Management.
Dykes, P., Rothschild, J. & Hurley, A. (2010). Recovered Medical Error Inventory. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 42(3), pp.314-318.
Dykes, P., Rothschild, J. & Hurley, A. (2010). Recovered Medical Error Inventory. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 42(3), pp.314-318.
Fichtinger, J., Ries, J. M., Grosse, E. H., & Baker, P. (2015). Assessing the environmental impact of integrated inventory and warehouse management. International Journal of Production Economics, 170, 717-729.
Generating price-effective intermodal routes. (2011). Statistica Neerlandica, 65(4), pp.432-445.
Hanaoka, S., Husnain, T., Kawasaki, T. & Kunadhamraks, P. (2011). Measurement of energy-saving effect by intermodal freight transport in Thailand. World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 3(4), p.320.
HE, W. & XU, F. (2013). Inventory model for deteriorating items with time-dependent partial backlogging rate and inventory-level-dependent demand rate. Journal of Computer Applications, 33(8), pp.2390-2393.
Hertog, M. L., Uysal, I., McCarthy, U., Verlinden, B. M., & Nicolaï, B. M. (2014). Shelf life modelling for first-expired-first-out warehouse management. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 372(2017), 20130306.
Jensen, A. & Sorkina, E. (2013). Customer managed intermodal transport solutions: why, how, for whom? World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 4(1), p.37.
Katunze, M., Kuteesa, A., Mijumbi, T. & Mahebe, D. (2017). Uganda Warehousing Receipt System: Improving Market Performance and Productivity. African Development Review, 29(S2), pp.135-146.
Kim, B. & Kim, S. (2016). Inventory types and their effects on sales. International Journal of Inventory Research, 3(2), p.115.
Kim, B. & Kim, S. (2016). Inventory types and their effects on sales. International Journal of Inventory Research, 3(2), p.115.
Liu, X., Saat, M. R., & Barkan, C. P. (2017). Freight-train derailment rates for railroad safety and risk analysis. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 98, 1-9.
MAPREDUCE RESEARCH ON WAREHOUSING OF BIG DATA. (2018). International Journal of Recent Trends in Engineering and Research, 4(3), pp.598-607.
Open supply? On the future of document supply in the world of open science. (2016). Interlending & Document Supply, 44(4), pp.150-154.
Positioning the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management in Supply Chain Research: Perspectives from the Outgoing Editors. (2016). Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, 22(1), pp.1-6.
Prakash, A., & Poulose, E. (2016). Kuttanad Clay Amended Laterite As A Landfill Liner For Waste Disposal Facilities. International Journal Of Scientific Engineering And Research (Ijser), 4, 75-78.
Qu, Y., Bekta?, T., & Bennell, J. (2016). Sustainability SI: multimode multicommodity network design model for intermodal freight transportation with transfer and emission costs. Networks and Spatial Economics, 16(1), 303-329.
Recovered Medical Error Inventory. (2010). Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 42(3), pp.314-318.
Roso, V., Russell, D., Ruamsook, K. & Stefansson, G. (2015). Seaport-inland port dyad dynamics: an investigation of service provisions and intermodal transportation linkages. World Review of Intermodal Transportation Research, 5(3), p.263.
Sui, Z., Gosavi, A. & Lin, L. (2010). A Reinforcement Learning Approach for Inventory Replenishment in Vendor-Managed Inventory Systems With Consignment Inventory. Engineering Management Journal, 22(4), pp.44-53.
Supporting business process analysis via data warehousing. (2011). Journal of Software: Evolution and Process, 24(3), pp.303-319.
Tajti (Thaythy), T. (2014). The resurrection of field warehousing. Acta Juridica Hungarica, 55(3), pp.185-235.
Xu, S. X., Cheng, M., & Huang, G. Q. (2015). Efficient intermodal transportation auctions for B2B e-commerce logistics with transaction costs. Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, 80, 322-337.
Yang, W. & Gao, Y. (2014). Regional document supply networks and their influence on national document supply networks in China. Interlending & Document Supply, 42(2/3), pp.109-114.
Zou, A. (2012). Optimization Research of Construction Inventory Management on Site Based on Inventory Theory. Applied Mechanics and Materials, 209-211, pp.1321-1325.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
