The impact of economic and supply chain trends on British warehousing

Purpose: Warehouses are key nodes in many supply chains and typically represent over 20% of logistics costs. However, other than property market studies, there has been relatively little research on warehousing, particularly as regards how trends in warehouses may relate to changes in such parameters as wider economic and supply chain factors. The purpose of this paper is to examine this area in order to explore how trends in warehousing may relate to existing warehousing and supply chain theory so as to facilitate further research into the relationship between warehousing and "smarter" logistics strategies and efficient supply chain performance. Research approach: The paper is based on a longitudinal study examining the take-up (i.e. occupation) of new large warehouses in Great Britain over the past 16 years covering some 700 records. For the purposes of this study, large warehouses are classified as those over 100,000 square feet (9,290 square metres) in area. These trends, together with those of total warehouse stock, are then related to national statistics, warehouse surveys, supply chain changes and other relevant data over that period. Findings and Originality: This is a rare longitudinal study of this subject. It is found that, until the recent recession, the total warehouse stock, as well as the take-up of large warehouses, has been increasing and this can be associated with such factors as economic growth, retail spending and globalisation. Both the footprint and height of large warehouses has been rising and this may be due to such factors as network economies and warehouse technology. The locations of warehouses are becoming more dispersed, possibly due to the growth in e-commerce and port-centric logistics. In addition, it was found that large warehouses have been increasingly taken up by retailers and manufacturers rather than logistics companies. Research impact: This paper examines the possible influence of economic and supply chain trends on warehousing in Great Britain. As well as testing existing theories, the data provides a sound foundation for future research. For example, there have been conflicting evidence in previous research regarding economies and diseconomies of scale and this discussion can now be set against trends in warehouse footprint and height. Practical impact: The paper provides a better understanding and basis for decision making by planners, developers, funding corporations, operators and end users. For example, topics such as size and height of buildings are examined, as well as trends in port-centric logistics, rail connections and e-fulfilment. The changing nature of warehouse designs in terms of wider economic and supply chain trends is particularly important for practitioners as warehousing costs are to a large extent determined at the design phase and have a major impact on the effectiveness of the overall supply chain of which they are a part

Inventory management practices: A key success towards supply chain performance among industries in Malaysia

Today, logistics networks and supply chain are seen as a matter of survival and competitive advantage.Effective supply chain management has become a potential way nowadays to improve performance through matching supply chain practices and competitive advantages in the competitive world.There are many researches were conducted on the area of supply chain practices and its implication towards supply chain performance.However the researched finding seems contradicting.These contradicting finding may results from different reasons such as the level of management commitment, the costs incurred and also due to its level of workers skills.Inventory management across the supply chain is a big challenge for improving coordination among value chain. Controlling inventory is need of the hour as it formulates the business success/failure as competition is intense, growing day-by day. This research conceptualizes and develops the role of inventory management strategies and inventory management practices in fostering supply chain performance. The relationships among different factors are going to be tested in proposed framework using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to improve the performance of the supply chain. The insight from this proposed framework will help supply chain managers in implementing inventory management strategies and practices to enhance the overall performance of supply chain

Testing the performance of warehousing rival policies through discrete event simulation

This research tested the performance of alternative warehouse designs concerning the picking process. Travel Distance and Total Fulfillment Time were the chosen measures. An explanatory case study was built up around a model implemented with SIMUL8. Hypotheses were set by selecting outcomes of the literature survey matching popular empirical findings. 15% reductions were found out for Total Fulfillment Time and Resource Utilisation, which was used as a proxy for operational efficiency. Literal replication of theoretical data patterns was considered as an internal validity sign. Assessing estimated changes benefits ahead of implementation was found out as a relevant contribution to practice.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Testing the performance of rival warehousing policies through discrete event simulation

This research tested the performance of alternative warehouse designs concerning the picking process. The chosen performance measures were Travel Distance and Total Fulfilment Time. An explanatory case study was built up around a model implemented with SIMUL8. Hypotheses were set by selecting outcomes from the literature survey matching popular empirical findings. 17.4% reductions were found for Total Fulfilment Time and Resource Utilisation. The latter was then used as a proxy for operational efficiency. Literal replication of theoretical data-patterns was considered as an internal validity sign. Assessing the estimated changes benefits ahead of implementation was found to be a contribution to practice.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Metode i tehnologije komisioniranja za “zelenije” skladištenje

Green supply chain management is a concept that is gaining popularity all over the world. Besides, it is a way to demonstrate commitment to sustainability and to be fully adopted by the organizations it should contribute to better economic performances and competitiveness. Recently there have been many incentives for more sustainable warehousing in supply chains. In order to improve efficiency of order-picking in warehouses, there are many methods, models and technologies developed and used. This paper presents, after a brief overview of green supply chain management, an overview of order-picking methods and technologies and their potentials in improving order-picking efficiency, based mainly on reducing traveling distances. In this way energy consumption is reduced, influencing also greening of warehousing too.“Zeleni” menadžment lanca opskrbe (Green supply chain management) je koncept koji dobija na popularnosti širom svijeta. Osim što je način demonstriranja posvećenosti održivosti, da bi bio u potpunosti prihvaćen od strane poduzeća nužno mora pridonijeti boljim ekonomskim pokazateljima i konkurentnosti. U posljednje vrijeme ima mnogo inicijativa za održivije skladištenje u opskrbnim lancima. S ciljem povećanja učinkovitosti komisioniranja u skladištima razvijene su i koriste se mnoge metode, modeli i tehnologije. U ovom radu se, nakon kratkog pregleda “zelenog” menadžmenta lanaca opskrbe, daje pregled metoda i tehnologija komisioniranja te njihovih potencijala u poboljšanju učinkovitosti, temeljenih uglavnom na skraćenju vožnje prilikom komisioniranja. Time se smanjuje potrošnja energije, te utječe i na “zelenije” skladištenje

Rational Searching Procedure in Warehouse Design

Designing a warehouse layout is an important problem, which plays a role in a life cycle of a company. Generally, two main types of layout decision problems are mentioned in literature. The first problem is usually called facility layout problem while the second one is internal layout designing problem or aisle configuration problem. Merging them both, the procedure for rational searching of optimal warehouse layout is prepared. It was decided to prepare the procedure as an optimisation procedure of functional and spatial areas. The procedure is a part of the logistics facilities designing method because a sketch layout of logistics facility is an important part of the method of logistic facilities designing. The paper briefly describes the location of the procedure in the method. Regarding functional and spatial layouts designing, model was expanded with mathematical formulas of certain geometrical parameters.Particular emphasis on warehouse geometry is important due to the fact that many other issues depend on these parameters in warehouse designing process. The paper consists of a problem definition, mathematical model formulation and precise descriptions adequate to mathematic notations. What is more, the example of procedure application implemented into the software is given. The software is the implementation of the procedure and the whole method itsel

A simulation approach to warehousing policies: the grandvision case

Esta tese de mestrado é um projecto desenvolvido na empresa GrandVision na área da Gestão da Cadeia de Abastecimento, mais concrectamente em Armazenagem, que apesar de muitas vezes desprezada, representa em média entre um quarto a um quinto dos custos logísticos. Apesar dos grandes avanços na tecnologia os armazéns tradicionais, de picking manual, continuam a representar 80% do universo. Aproveitando a vontade da Gestão da empresa em desenvolver projectos de melhoria para o Armazém, foi proposto o estudo ,através de simulação, de novas políticas de Armazenamento e de Picking para a operação de aprovisionamento das lojas MultiOpticas e GrandOptical. Os modelos testados em simulação partiram dos estudos previamente desenvolvidos nesta área e os resultados obtidos estão alinhados com os que foram anteriormente reportados. Com a conclusão desta tese, a Gestão da GrandVision fica no seu dispor de um procedimento de Arrumação baseado em Classes que quando combiando com uma política de Agrupamento de orderns podem trazer poupanças de tempo de ciclo a rondar os 32%, segundo o modelo de simulação.This master thesis is a project which took place in the company GrandVision. It is under the Supply Chain field of study, more precisely Warehousing; which despite having its importance underrated for many times, represents on average from one quarter to one fifth of the overall logistic costs. Regardless of the great technology break-troughs, traditional manual picker-to-part warehousing systems still represent 80% of the universe. Taking advantage of GrandVision’s management will in develop improvement projects to its warehouse; it was proposed the study, through simulation, of new Storage and Picking policies for the weekly Replenishment operation of MultiOpticas and GrandOptical Shops. The simulation models were created based on previous findings in this area of study, and results obtained are according with the ones previously reported in literature. With the conclusion of this master thesis, GrandVision’s management has in its possess a procedure of Class-Based Storage, which combined with a Batching Policy can bring, according with the simulation model, improvements around 32% of the Total Fulfillment Time

Maturity of the Warehousing function in Moroccan companies: a case study

In today’s competitive market environment, companies are continuously forced to improve their warehousing operations. To meet high performance goals, tools must be developed to improve efficiency in every aspect of warehousing function. In this paper, we propose a new approach to improve the performance of the warehousing function based on Maturity model, which may better identify, explain, assess and improve this critical function in a supply chain. The aim of this article is to validate the model developed by a case study in a Moroccan company by demonstrating its capacity of assessing the maturity of warehousing function and whether it can develop an improvement roadmap