Warehousing Is Basically A Function Of Storing Goods

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The problem in the warehouses is that the old and conventional methods which are obsolete are combined with very crowded conditions. This may result in very slow material movement and this leads to increase in inventory holding costs and also increase in the operating costs. The businesses will not tolerate this increase in costs; hence there is always a quest for newer and better methods. However, merely installing the newer methods does not mean that the system is effective and efficient, there is also necessity of a strong supervisory organization of the system to make the methods more effective and this also requires lot of training and managing the operations.

In this thesis work, we look into the concept of warehousing very briefly according to the theoretical perspective and then we examine the warehouses in the real world in order to get an insight of the warehouses and the strategies they are adapting in order to work effectively and efficiently and at the same time reduce the overall costs, which are very prominent in maintaining a warehouse and the inventory in the warehouse. (Tompkins, Smith, 1998).

1.51 Different warehousing models and methods

1. WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (WMS)

Warehouse management system is a pivotal part of the supply chain which mainly controls the storage and movement of materials within a warehouse and processes the transactions, including receiving, shipping, picking and putaway. WMS also enables in directing and optimizing stock putaway according to the real-time information of bin utilization status.

Warehouse management system works on Auto ID Data Capture technology, such as mobile computers, barcode scanners, wireless, RFID and LAN’s to efficiently monitor the flow of products. In this process, data is collected and there is either batch synchronization, or wireless transmission to a central database in real time basis. Then the database provides the status of goods in the warehouse accurately. The main objective of WMS is to provide an automated (computerized) procedure to handle the records of incoming and outgoing goods. WMS provides a helpful link to logistics management and also for order processing in order to pick-up, packing and shipping the product out of the facility. (Wikipedia)

WMS benefits:

Faster payback and Inventory returns: WMS reduces the lead time by confining the movement of inventory and improve the inventory records accuracy, this leads to a system which supports the JIT environment.

Efficient-Warehouse floor space utilization: Warehouse management system can efficiently locate the items in relation to receiving, assembling, packing, and shipping point thus contributing to efficient use of warehouse space.

Reduction in paperwork for inventory transactions: WMS minimize the paper work which is associated with warehouse operations such as receiving, picking and packing by maintaining the data electronically, and also ensures the timely and accurate flow of information.

Improvement in Cycle Counting: WMS captures relevant data in order to schedule the personnel for cycle counts. These cycle counts can enhance the accuracy of inventory records for planning purposes, and also minimizes the need for physical inventories.

Reduced Dependency on Warehouse Personnel: The operations such as picking methods, inventory movements and inventory locations can be standardized by implementing WMS. The above standardization results in lower training costs, lower error rate and minimizes reliance on informal practices.

Enhanced customer service: The process can be streamlined from order to delivery with the WMS implementation, and thus companies can accurately find product availability and the realistic dates for delivery. WMS identifies and releases back-order inventory and thus minimizes returns due to the fact that shipment accuracy is improved.

Improved labour Productivity: Cross docking is another important aspect of warehouse management system where incoming shipments are routed to the location near to the outbound shipping dock, thereby reducing the warehouse handling. Thus material flow is optimized by WMS using cross docking function.

The above mentioned benefits which are achieved by WMS involve high cost for the organization to spend. WMS takes into account or uses all the advanced techniques in order to improve the warehousing activities and also contributes to the efficiency of the supply chain management against a very high cost. So it is very important to follow few steps while implementing WMS by the companies in order to control the cost involved in implementing it.

2. JUST-IN-TIME (JIT) WAREHOUSING

JIT can be best described as an inventory strategy to enhance the return on investment by decreasing in-process inventory and its related carrying cost .JIT concept is based on delivering the product directly from the supplier to the retail outlet and shelf the products in the retail store eliminating the concept of warehousing which is now becoming more prominent in the businesses because there is a drastic reduction in the costs of the businesses by eliminating the warehouse thus eliminating the inventory holding costs. As the distance between the supplier and the retailer increases, it builds up the need for a warehouse in between the geographical regions to reduce the transportation costs and to add some value adding activities to the products. There are also some other advantages such as consolidation and pooling if a warehouse is located between the supplier and the manufacturer.

3. RETAIL WAREHOUSING

Retail warehouse is the concept of selling the goods in the warehouse itself. In this kind of warehousing the goods are on display in the warehouse for the immediate purchase by the consumer. It is a dynamic industry and the amount of floor space, type and location occupied by retailing is determined by the number of influences forced by the consumer, the developer, land use planner and the retainer. In the last 10-15 years there is a drastic change in the market needs, the dramatic decrease in the rate of growth of the population has given pace to population decentralization. The growth of new companies and with the corporate rationalization after post war period retail warehousing has become more common business concept. (Wikipedia)

4. CONCEPT OF PAPERLESS WAREHOUSE SYSTEM

The computer has eliminated tremendous amount of paper work transactions which take place on a daily basis in a warehouse. In between receiving and shipping there are many operations which require lot of paper work. As the material is picked for an order, the operators must write down the quantity which is picked and all the other parameters which are necessary for giving the right information. The employee schedules and working hours also require lot of paper work which make it very hard to control and maintain all these records on mere paper sheets. This can be eliminated by integrating mechanical and electronic equipment by data scanning equipment which communicate directly with the computer, which in turn reduce the burden of paper work in the warehouse.

Control of computer in warehouse

The mechanical and electrical equipment must be integrated in order to use them efficiently and effectively and this can be done perfectly by computer. This will in turn reduce the burden on the personnel and this can help in reduction of labour in warehouses.

The computer can be used for maintaining the identification and location of the goods in the warehouse. The computers can also be used to attain an optimized solution for using the floor space of the warehouse efficiently using some software which is installed in the computer.

The major advantages of computerization of the warehouses are:

Improve productivity

Control of physical operations

Optimize the space utilization

Maximize the flow of goods and increase the fill rate

Minimize the costs

Motivate the employees

The main fields in which computer are extensively used in a warehouse:

Order entry

Inventory management and control

Receipts and inbound quality control

Stock location and space utilization

Work scheduling

Quality control and assurance

Integrating the computer with warehouse equipment

Shipping schedules and transportation

Employee satisfaction and motivation

Warehouse performance reports (Raymond A. Nelson, 1985)

Integrating the computer with warehouse equipment

Nowadays, all the mechanical and electrical equipment is more or less integrated with the computer systems in the warehouse. The equipment which is integrated to the computer system is:

Moving materials

Conveyors

Forklift tricks

Tractor trailer trains

Storage material in the warehouse:

Racks

Shelving

Automatic storage and retrieval systems

Picking customer orders:

Pallet picking

Case, inner pack, piece packing

Sorting and accumulation of material

Sorting systems

Conveyors

Palletizers and De-palletizers

Controlling and recording activities in a warehouse

Optical printing

CRT devices

Weigh scales

Labeling systems

Metering systems (Raymond A. Nelson, 1985)

1.52 Industries with different warehousing models

KUEHNE NAGEL:

History

Since 1890, when the business was founded in Bremen, Germany, by August Kuehne and Friedrich Nagel, Kuehne + Nagel have grown into one of the world's leading logistics providers. Today, the Kuehne + Nagel Group have more than 1000 offices in over 100 countries, with over 63,000 employees. Its key business activities and market position are built on the company's truly world class capabilities.

Storage and operations

The goods which are received from the central warehouse located in the coastal region of Mumbai and Chennai are basically palletized for the convenience of the transportation and then unloaded and they are directly placed on the store shelves. There is no special warehouse space to stock the received goods. The major part of the warehousing operations is carried out in the central warehouse in Mumbai, India and the sorting is done there and then sent to the retail warehouses all over India. The pallet used in the logistics of the goods is the standard EU pallet which is 800 mm X 1200 mm.

All the items carry the bar codes for the identification purposes and as soon as the goods are shipped to the respective branches, the goods are identified by their specific bar codes manually by the personnel and then they are placed directly on the shelves of the retail store and the storage time is eliminated in the warehouse. The bar codes are identified automatically by using the barcode readers. The warehouse is equipped with two manual drive forklifts which are operated by trained personnel.

The seasonal demand in the market is estimated and the inventory level is increased to a certain level depending upon the demand and there is more frequent shipping of goods from the centralized distribution centre. The number of employees is also increased during the festive seasons in order to tackle the increased number of customers and to increase the customer service level and satisfaction. The packaging material used to protect the goods is a kind of plastic material which is customized by the company. There is no value adding activities in the warehouse, since the goods which are shipped are directly placed on the retail store shelves.

VOLVO:

History

Volvo Group Logistics Services is a part of Volvo Group Trucks Operations and it has approx. 5 000 employees on more than 60 locations world-wide. As part of the Volvo Group it shares the core values quality, safety and environmental care. It also means it has a long-term philosophy and the strength to develop sustainable solutions. 

The automotive industry is truly global and so is Volvo. It supports the customers with logistics flows around the world and local presence on every continent. More than 60 locations and a comprehensive network mean first-class customer service locally as well as globally.

 Volvo Group Logistics Services is the logistics centre of excellence within the Volvo Group designing, managing and optimizing logistics services for the Group and other automotive companies. It delivers all logistics services with world class operational excellence, in an efficient and sustainable way, thereby reducing costs, disruption and environmental impact.

Its main responsibilities are:

To make sure that material is supplied to the production facilities, that appropriate packaging is developed and available and that vehicles are distributed to dealers and end customer

 

To make sure that management of material, warehousing and distribution ensures the global availability of aftermarket parts to dealers and end customers at the right time, right place and the right cost.

To act in close co-operation with other Group units globally to efficiently develop and deliver services and products with the right quality, delivery time and cost within agreed budget.

To perform customs handling and logistics risk management for the Volvo Group.

Logistics

The present central warehouse is located in Hosur road with access to the head office with approximately 50000 square meters floor space. There are about 19200 box pallets which are dispatched from the main warehouse every month to different locations. The logistics function is a very decisive link in the product supply to their stores.

Data entry and communication

There is an inter-communication between the branches, and the communication is carried out with the help of Internet, telephone and meetings. No special approach is operated by central warehouse for the communication between the production and management department. The logistics and distribution is outsourced to a 3PL Volvo believes that it is the forwarder with largest network and has more resources than any other company in India.

The stock information is updated for every two hours and the updating process is computerized. The same updating is carried out in other departments as well, since all the departments are intercommunicated, thus providing information to the central warehouse of any out of stock issues. Backup data is available at the head office of Volvo. There is also communication between the suppliers and the central warehouse at Hosur road. Planning horizon is normally 2 days. Volvo Bangalore is using a WMS based on the Citrix environment.

1.53 Challenges involved in warehousing for logistics companies

The traditional warehousing technique is becoming obsolete since the last decade of the 20th century with introduction of some of the sophisticated techniques such as JIT, deployment of WMS, development of automation and control systems, deployment of goods identification techniques like RFID, voice picking etc. These new developments specially designed to enhance the return on investment of the businesses by optimizing the inventory levels and help in reducing the overall warehousing costs.

Warehouse management was considered to be very simple to handle in earlier days when everything was performed manually. The biggest problems then were the bar codes and space utilization in the warehouse. There has been drastic change in today’s Internet world, after the outbreak of this internet technology everything was looking even simpler than the earlier days with more efficiency and consumption of less time and gaining a competitive advantage with potential economical savings. The evolving technology changed the warehousing methods a lot with logistics being carried out a quicker pace and with very little scope for error. Although there are many technologies evolving every day, many problems are also arising making Warehousing more complex. This in turn is affecting the whole supply chain management.

The following are some of the problems being faced by today’s warehouses:

Automate all the mechanized or manual operations

Satisfy the requirements of the customer without much customization

Integration of the warehouse data with supply chain applications

Compatible to the cost- effective global supply chain.

"Mahesh Kumar Rajuldevi 2008-THEORY AND PRACTICE IN WAREHOSING": The problem in the warehouses is that the old and conventional methods which are obsolete are combined with very crowded conditions. Hence there is always a need for newer and better methods. However, merely installing the newer methods does not mean that the system is effective and efficient, there is also necessity of a strong supervisory organization of the system to make the methods more effective and this also requires lot of training and managing the operations. Comparing the present situation to the theoretical framework in order to get an idea of the strategies deployed by the businesses. the warehouses today are deploying a mixture of both latest strategies and technologies and the traditional methods in order to have a good efficiency in the warehouses.

"Tomkins 1990-Warehouse management systems’’:

The majority of warehousing problems occur because of a lack of control of inventory,

Operations, and/or management. To become dynamic, successful and consistent, an organization must control its warehouse operations. A principal requirement for controlling the warehouse is harnessing the power of technology to maximize a facility’s potential. Furthermore, the road to overall organizational excellence goes right through the warehouse door. A control system is a means by which operations are managed. It can be manual or computerized. Its basic objectives are:

To identify and coordinate the work

To help maximize performance and customer satisfaction and minimize mistakes.

To report the past, present, and future work status via activity-based costing.

A manual control system uses physical, paper-based technology to attempt streamline

Warehousing operations. Due to the rate of change; demands for accurate real-time

information; expectations of next-day service and marketplace competition, the use of

manual systems in the 21st century are unrealistic. Today, the need to computerize is critical; tomorrow it will be too late. A computerized warehouse management system (WMS) is the combination of bar coding, Technology, radio frequency (RF) communications equipment, hardware, and software. The Sophistication of WMSs can vary from simple stock location control to systems that can nearly maximize customer satisfaction, space, labor, and equipment in the warehouse. It is important to note that one should not confuse WMS technology with business systems applications that impact the warehouse. A mainframe inventory control application or module is not a WMS. A manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) system is not a WMS. A WMS is a tool that is based upon the needs of the warehouse operation and provides tools and information for the management of the warehouse.

"Hompel,Ten.,Michael ., Schmidt, Thorsten" 2007-Due to the changing trends in the businesses, warehousing and distribution operations should adopt to the emerging changes and growing needs of the customers. The term ‘Globalization’ brought rigorous changes in the field of logistics. The distribution operations now pay more emphasis on fewer inventories, smaller order sizes, larger SKU catalogues, quicker order turnaround, increased customized packaging and value adding services. Once the businesses concentrated only on local distribution centers and now all the companies give more importance on having more globalized distribution centers, and instead of having single network channel, they are having multiple distribution channels. In order to cope to these changing trends every second, most of the companies have deployed new technologies such as Warehouse management systems (WMS) and Transportation management systems (TMS) and some have decided to redesign the processes and facilities to meet the emerging requirements as well as to reduce costs and improve service levels to the customers at the same time. Some large scale businesses have gone one step ahead and decided to deploy automation of the whole warehousing operations. Some have already opted to outsource all their warehousing operations to third party logistics provider (3PL).

"J.A. Tompkins" New York 1996-warehouse management system technologies

The majority of warehousing problems occur because of a lack of control of inventory,

operations, and/or management. To become dynamic, successful and consistent, an organization must control its warehouse operations. A principal requirement for controlling the warehouse is harnessing the power of technology to maximize a facility’s potential. Furthermore, the road to overall organizational excellence goes right through the warehouse door. A control system is a means by which operations are managed. It can be manual or computerized. Its basic objectives are:

To identify and coordinate the work

To help maximize performance and customer satisfaction and minimize mistakes.

To report the past, present, and future work status via activity-based costing.

A manual control system uses physical, paper-based technology to streamline warehousing operations. Due to the rate of change; demands for accurate real-time information; expectations of next-day service and marketplace competition, the use of

manual systems in the 21st century are unrealistic. Today, the need to computerize is critical;

tomorrow it will be too late. A computerized warehouse management system (WMS) is the integration of bar coding technology, radio frequency (RF), hardware, and software. The sophistication of WMSs can vary from simple stock location control to systems that can nearly maximize customer satisfaction, space, labor, and equipment in the warehouse. It is important to know that one should not confuse WMS technology with business systems applications that impact the warehouse. A mainframe inventory control application or module is not a WMS. A manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) system is not a WMS. AWMS is an operating tool that is based upon the needs of the warehouse operation and provides tools and information for the management of the warehouse.

"Bridget McCrea" October 01, 2012-logistics management

The "warehouse" concept is simple in theory. After all, how difficult can it really be to manage a huge space filled with racks, boxes, pallets, and forklifts?

In reality, the task is huge and requires the right mix of people, systems, and solutions to run smoothly. For many logistics professionals, the latter need is filled by a WMS, which is tasked with controlling the movement and storage of materials within an operation and then processing the associated transactions.

As WMS evolved over the years, the number of functionalities for these systems can handle has increased exponentially. Batch picking, task interleaving (mixing tasks like put away and picking), automated data collection (ADC), advanced shipment notifications (ASN), cross docking, and slotting are just a few of the vital warehouse functions that today’s WMS can tackle. 

According to Reiser’s research at ARC, the WMS add-on market was one of the sector’s key drivers in 2011. Add-on functionalities like analytics, labor management, and optimization are in high demand as shippers strive to work smarter, better, and faster in today’s competitive business environment.

Joe Vernon, manager of North America supply chain technologies for Capgemini, certainly agrees with Reiser’s assessment. "We’ve seen increased breadth and height within the base of standard WMS products," says Vernon. "There are so many features that come standard and many more that shippers can pick out and use as they need them. That’s helped more end customers make ‘buy’ decisions."

Availability of turnkey, ready-to-use systems is also driving demand, says Vernon, who points to Red Prairie’s WMS as a good example of a solution that allows shippers to "purchase a license and go live with a minimal amount of work," he explains. "Just three or four years ago that would not have been possible due to the need for changes and modifications."

"Clint Reiser" 2011-logistics management

The warehouse management systems (WMS) market is on a tear. In 2011 it grew by 10 percent over 2010 to nearly $1.3 billion, according to ARC Advisory Group, a leading supply chain management software analyst firm.

That double-digit growth aligns with Logistics Management’s 2012 Software Survey, which identified WMS as the top software choice for 35 percent—the highest percentage across all supply chain software sectors—of the logistics professionals that were in the market for supply chain solutions over the past year.

Clint Reiser, ARC research analyst, credits several forces with driving the impressive WMS market growth. "A demand bottleneck created by the economic recession—and then let lose in 2011 when companies slowly began spending—was one of the key drivers," says Reiser. According to Reiser, were growth spikes in emerging markets like Latin America and Asia, the introduction of add-on functionalities, as well as the strong growth within the discrete manufacturing sector.

By "Maida Napolitano", June 01, 2012-logistics management

Early warehouse management systems (WMS) stuck to the basics—tracking what was coming in, what was going out, with workers manually keying in data along the way. Since then, the technology has matured to expand beyond the core functions of receiving, picking, and shipping to include an extensive menu of modules to execute and support every conceivable task occurring under the roof of a warehouse or distribution center (DC).

Many come with sophisticated rules and logic, real-time integration to aligned business applications, and effortless interfaces to automated equipment and mobile technology. Yet, despite having many of these technological advancements within their reach, users are still not using their WMS to their fullest potential. "Industry and market folklore suggests that users are availing themselves of no more than 60 percent to 65 percent of the functionality of contemporary WMS," says John Hill, director for supply chain and logistics consulting firm, St. Onge Company. Dwight Klappich, vice president for research and consulting company at Gartner Inc., goes as far as saying that a name change may even be in order. "We shouldn’t call it a warehouse ‘management’ system; we should actually call it a warehouse ‘execution’ system, because that is basically what companies are using it for—the execution of specific warehousing tasks."

By "Jeff Berman", August 09, 2012

The Warehouse Management System (WMS) market saw significant growth in 2011, increasing by ten percent, according to data from Dedham, Mass.-based ARC Advisory Services. Reasons for the growth in the WMS market were widespread, according to ARC officials. In its report, entitled "Warehouse Management Systems Worldwide Outlook," ARC noted that WMS revenues for add-on functionality like labor management systems and warehouse analytics have been growing at impressive rates. They explained that many WMS suppliers are offering a wide-range of available WMS add-ons and other suppliers are developing add-on functionality to extend their current WMS offerings. What’s more, with more suppliers offering add-on services will provide new opportunities for cross-selling into their respective installed base and also offer customers the option to purchase add-ons from their incumbent WMS suppliers. The firm said it is forecasting "above average growth rates" for the add-ons as more suppliers extend product lines to include additional add-on options.

The estimate for 2011 WMS market was nearly $1.3 billion," said ARC Enterprise Software Analyst and principal author of the report Clint Reiser in an interview. "Suppliers noted high levels of growth in both the Latin America and Asia markets. For sales of add-on functionality, analytics, labor management, and optimization functionality remains robust. For end user industries, discrete manufacturing experienced strong growth last year, but I believe this is in large part due to a delayed rebound from the recent global recession."

ARC said emerging markets are growing faster than developed ones and is reflected in WMS sales. And ARC said they will continue to experience higher growth rates due to current low market penetration and high economic growth in those regions.

Going forward, Reiser said ARC expects strong growth in food and beverage due to traceability requirements and retail due to adaptation to ecommerce fulfillment requirement.

Berman doesn’t expect the growth to remain as strong as experienced last year, because Mr.Berman believes that growth was enhanced by the post-recession rebound.

The report added that e-commerce expansion and multichannel retail are increasing demand for WMS services and technology, which support piece pick, pack, labeling, and other process changes driven by the high labor requirements of e-commerce fulfillment.

And these e-commerce increases, said ARC, offer additional opportunities for WMS suppliers to assist retailers and direct-to-consumer manufacturers with distribution efficiencies.

By "Dave Piasecki"-inventory management and warehouse operations

The evolution of warehouse management systems (WMS) is very similar to that of many other software solutions. It is basically a system to control movement and storage of materials within a warehouse, the role of WMS is expanding to include light manufacturing, transportation management, order management, and complete accounting systems. To use the grandfather of operations-related software, MRP, as a comparison, material requirements planning (MRP) started as a system for planning raw material requirements in a manufacturing environment. Soon MRP evolved into manufacturing resource planning (MRPII), which took the basic MRP system and added scheduling and capacity planning logic. Eventually MRPII evolved into enterprise resource planning (ERP), incorporating all the MRPII functionality with full financials and customer and vendor management functionality. Now, whether WMS evolving into a warehouse-focused ERP system is a good thing or not is up to debate. What is clear is that the expansion of the overlap in functionality between Warehouse Management Systems, Enterprise Resource Planning, Distribution Requirements Planning, Transportation Management Systems, Supply Chain Planning, Advanced Planning and Scheduling, and Manufacturing Execution Systems will only increase the level of confusion among companies looking for software solutions for their operations.

Even though WMS continues to gain added functionality, the initial core functionality of a WMS has not really changed. The primary purpose of a WMS is to control the movement and storage of materials within an operation and process the associated transactions. Directed picking, directed replenishment, and directed putaway are the key to WMS. The detailed setup and processing within a WMS can vary significantly from one software vendor to another, however the basic logic will use a combination of item, location, quantity, unit of measure, and order information to determine where to stock, where to pick, and in what sequence to perform these operations.

"Knowledge management" November 28, 2009

A warehouse management system is an important component of an effective global supply chain management system solution. Warehouse Management System was a system of movement and storage control of materials within a warehouse. Today also includes tasks such as the manufacture of lighting, transportation management order management, and the entire accounting department. Implementation of Warehouse Management System (WMS) will increase in the accuracy, reducing labor costs is saved when the thesis is concerned to maintain the system is less than the work at the warehouse and a greater capacity to customers by reducing cycle time service. WMS does not serve with inventory reduction and greater storage capacity. An increase in the accuracy and efficiency receiving process might lead to the reduction required level of safety has. But the consequence of this reduction is hardly visible for the entire inventory. WMS perhaps not the only factors (oriented batch sizing, lead times and demand variability) the control of inventories. WMS is, however, contributes to more efficient and organized, that leads to increased storage capacity. Recently in the field of inventory management, infer the largest provider of enterprise software is to develop solutions for the Manufacturing and distribution industries. Information management technology for enterprise resource planning is meant (ERP) system. Information technology is used for single and multiple warehouses. It allows manufacturers and distributors carry out and monitor the location of certain items within the facility. The Technology is also very beneficial move for the determination of the size and weight of incoming shipments to establish the perfect way, and to warehouse. The professional experts from Infer plan to integrate it into Microsoft.Net based Information ERP system for manufacturers.

RESEARCH GAP:

The available literature on Warehouse Management System is quiet substantial, the previous research was conducted on usage of WMS in other countries but this research is conducted to make a comparison on the basis of profitability between WMS and other warehousing Models used in warehouses located in Bangalore, India.

3.1 Statement of the problem

Warehouse management was considered to be very simple to handle in earlier days when everything was performed manually. The biggest problems then were the bar codes and space utilization in the warehouse. There has been drastic change in today’s Internet world, after the outbreak of this internet technology everything was looking even simpler than the earlier days with more efficiency and consumption of less time and gaining a competitive advantage with potential economical savings. The evolving technology changed the warehousing methods a lot with logistics being carried out a quicker pace and with very little scope for error. Although there are many technologies evolving every day, many problems are also arising making Warehousing more complex. This in turn is affecting the whole supply chain management. (Hompel Ten., Michael. Schmidt, Thorsten. 2007)

The following are some of the problems faced by today’s warehouses:

Increasing labor turnover in warehousing industries

Warehousing method followed by many companies are expensive

Less WMS capabilities

Automate all the mechanized or manual operations

Satisfy the requirements of the customer without much customization

Integration of the warehouse data with supply chain applications

Compatible to the cost- effective global supply chain

3.2 Need and importance of the study

Faster payback and Inventory returns: WMS reduces the lead time by confining the movement of inventory and improve the inventory records accuracy, this leads to a system which supports the JIT environment.

Efficient-Warehouse floor space utilization: Warehouse management system can efficiently locate the items in relation to receiving, assembling, packing, and shipping point thus contributing to efficient use of warehouse space.

Reduction in paperwork for inventory transactions: WMS minimize the paper work which is associated with warehouse operations such as receiving, picking and packing maintaining the data electronically and also ensures the timely and accurate flow of information.

Improvement in Cycle Counting: WMS captures relevant data in order to schedule the personnel for cycle counts. These cycle counts can enhance the accuracy of inventory records for planning purposes, and also minimizes the need costly physical inventories.

Reduced Dependency on Warehouse Personnel: The operations such as picking methods, inventory movements and inventory locations can be standardized by implementing WMS. The above standardization results in lower training costs, lower error rate and minimizes reliance on informal practices.

Enhanced customer service: The process can be streamlined from order to delivery with the WMS implementation, and thus companies can accurately find product availability and the realistic dates for delivery. WMS identifies and releases back-order inventory and thus minimizes returns due to the fact that shipment accuracy is improved.

Improved labor Productivity: Cross docking is another important aspect of warehouse management system where incoming shipments are routed to the location near to the outbound shipping dock, thereby reducing warehouse handling. Thus material flow is optimized by WMS using cross docking function.

3.3 Objectives of the study

This research project is aimed at studying profitable warehousing models to be adopted in Bangalore logistics industry as a whole, through which it can enhance its warehousing activities. By investigating the current scale of implementation, perceived barriers for adoption, through general evaluation of WMS, extent of use of WMS