What is warehousing?

Warehousing is a type of commercial storage focused on storing consumer goods and packaged food goods. The warehouse is responsible for not only keeping the goods dry, but also away from extreme temperatures. During the intermediate period before they reach the consumer, the warehouse is also responsible for keeping the products in good physical shape so that they are acceptable for final sale.

With a warehouse, your company has selected a centralised location from which to receive, store and then distribute its products. Within the warehouse, staff members will be able to sort and dispatch goods quickly and effectively, as all goods will be brought to one location. Also, warehousing allows you to build up a buffer of stock, which means that you have at least two months’ worth of your normal supply at hand – at all times – to counteract delays or damaged goods. You will be able to address the issue with your supplier and still meet your customers expectations timeously.

A warehouse helps manage a large amount of inventory for a business. It assists in matching the supply with the demand of a rapidly changing environment. Moreso since all the goods are stored in a central location, it becomes easier to receive, store and distribute the products. Thus reducing the transportation costs of a business. The warehouse personnel are responsible to identify, sort and dispatch the goods as soon as the shipment arrives.

The warehousing system helps in increasing the utility value of the goods, as the products are available at the right place at the right time. Various other operations such as order consolidation, order assembly, mixing of the product, cross-docking etc. take place under one building, thus adding value to the overall logistics systems.

A warehouse offers a wide range of economic benefits to the businesses. Various costs including outbound delivery costs, shipping costs, transportation costs etc. are cut down. The accumulation of the goods allows a warehouse to act as a buffer and keep a balance between the demand and supply of the goods. This helps increase the profit of a business in a number of ways. A warehouse also serves a wide range of social benefits to the clients, it helps them keep a safety stocking for the time of emergency, such as delay in the transportation and shipment having defective goods etc.

The warehousing service is the most important component of the supply chain and the logistics system. It allows a firm to maintain the inventory and the data analysis helps in minimizing the risks of delay for the shipments.

Tracking the delivery times could become much easier.  With a warehouse it means the shipping or the movement of goods is quick and easy.