The warehouse per se is a physical structure intended to store merchandise ― academic and taken for granted; however, categorizing the warehouse can help understand how internal functions and operations play important roles when contemplating automation. From an operations perspective, warehouse automation can eliminate labor, control pre-distribution functions, reduce capital expense and improve distribution productivity. Let’s take a look.
CATEGORIES: In the beverage arena, there are two basic ones —production/distribution and distribution center— that serve as realistic labels to use in analyzing warehouse operations/functions. In either case, the input/output cycle is relatively the same with different starting and ending points for merchandise handling. In both categories the functional purpose of storing can involve short, long term or transient periods.