Warehousing and distribution is big business
Pretty much most things in our daily lives would have passed through a warehouse at some point. Warehouses are hubs where products are stored until they are required, at this point they are then distributed to the relevant recipient. The products will go through a range of processes within the warehouse to reach the final stage of distribution from the initial order, to picking the item, packaging and then preparing it for delivery.
A warehouse has many methods of storing items in order for them to be easily located and picked. One way of doing this is through pallet storage. In a nutshell this is simply storing items on pallets within the warehouse but there is a little more to it than that. Each pallet will be labelled and stored in a certain area of a warehouse. All this information will be stored on a database so that the product can be found almost instantly. Space costs money and many warehouse will adopt a different way of storing the pallets based on how much space is available.
There are many methods involved such as Block Stacking where pallets are removed on a last in first out basis. Single Deep Pallet Rack allows access to every single pallet without having to remove others, this saves time and money but does take up a large amount of floor space. There is Double Deep Pallet Racking, Drive in Rack, Pallet Flow Rack and Push Back Rack. All of these methods have their positives and negatives, but what do they do offer is choice, which allows the companies to choose exactly what suits them.
Fulfilment services maybe something else to consider
DMG Freight Services, also offer fulfilment services. This service involves storing items until they are ordered, this can range from promotional material to giftware. All items that pass through a fulfilment service will be logged and stored and managed throughout the whole of the process right up to distribution. The benefit of using fulfilment services is that there is no need for the individual to have their own storage space, they can simply pay for the service and have their item stored, picked, packed and delivered.
The final stage of the fulfilment service is the picking and packing of the item. This is one of the most crucial parts of the process as the correct items have to be selected. However, there are many people involved in the process, that errors are few and far between. The ‘pickers’ as they are known, will select the item which is on the order manifest from the correct area of the warehouse, this is then passed on to the ‘packers’. The packer will check every item on the order manifest to ensure that it is correct. Once this is complete the item is ready for packaging.
The whole process of Warehousing and Distribution is a complex one which is overseen by many members of staff. The process is meticulously analysed from start to finish ensuring that each item is successfully stored, selected and then delivered.
For more information on how DMG Freight Services can assist with your logistics needs, call us on 01279 452 468
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