Warehousing is a cost-cutting measure to some companies. Producing large quantities of goods at once is less costly than making small 
quantities of goods for several times. Mass production may take huge expenditures on production at first, but labor and technology use are reduced. In contrast, small productions can only save you from high production costs needed for mass production. However, you will repetitively use labor and technology, which can be pricier than that of mass production.
Warehousing can be an internal business operation. Warehousing services can also be outsourced. Outsourcing is about seeking the services of an external unit to perform the tasks needed. It saves a company from employment costs. In addition, outsourcing can help avoid time-consuming hiring and training processes.
Looking for the best warehousing services should take time. Use the time to study certain factors to ensure you will get the most advantageous services. These factors are as follows:
Reason for requiring warehousing services
Warehousing primarily aims to store goods. If you intend to go beyond this, then you should seek multi-functional warehouses. Some warehouses allow you to finish your products therein. These are called packing warehouses or fulfilment warehouses. You can even sell your products in some warehouses that permit display of goods for sale.
Duration of Warehouse Use
You can’t rent a warehouse temporarily just to test if it’s beneficial or not. There are finished goods involved. You just can’t take risks in such manner. One wrong move and you can lose your investments.
Duration of use is dependent on several factors. These factors include products’ expiration dates, demand, supply, upcoming production and possible expansion. You gain more security if you carefully estimate the duration and carefully state this in your deal with a warehouse management.
Logistics site Location
The strategic location of the building of warehousing services can reduce shipment costs and speed up delivery. If you are exporting goods, warehouses that are near seaports and airports are the best options. DMG Freight Services for example are based in Essex within easy reach of Felixstowe Port where many goods arrive but also within close proximity to London. The benefit of this is that your transport rates from the Port to our warehouse are reduced and should you be distributing your goods into London and the South of England, these costs will also be reasonable. Local distribution of goods can be dealt with using warehouses that are near several shopping centers. It is also important to consider your production’s place.
Warehousing Processes
A warehousing services provider should offer processes appropriate for your storage needs. Piece pick is one of these processes. This is best for Internet retailers and catalog companies. The customers of these entrepreneurs usually just buy a piece from a pallet of products stored in a warehouse. The warehouse management just picks a piece for delivery.
Taking inventory is also covered by warehousing companies. It may either be first in, first out (FIFO) or last in, first out (LIFO). The former entails recording the oldest goods as sold first before the new ones. The latter, on the other hand, considers the recently manufactured items as the first items to be recorded as sold. Some companies took advantage of LIFO to minimize the income taxes of their employees. As a result, this inventory system was banned in most countries except the US.
Technology
Technology used by warehousing services provider is one of its selling points. This factor ensures accuracy in inventory, which is an important part of logistics.
Traditional warehouses are still paper-based. When they take pallets of goods, they use a paper slip called work order (also referred as job order, work ticket or job ticket). This is called pick-to-paper. Modern warehouses are more advanced. They offer pick-to-light and pick-to-voice. The paper-based warehouses require much labor while the more advanced ones require less.
If you have goods that require a specific temperature for proper storage, make sure that the warehousing services offer refrigeration. This one is commonly used by the agriculture, food and electronics sectors. For agriculture and food, refrigeration helps prevent spoilage and insect damage. That being said some foodstuff do not require chilled storage and can be kept in an ambient warehouse such as DMG. Our warehouse stores various ambient foodstuff and Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) and are approved to store Associated British Foods (ABF) produce.
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