For auto parts companies, warehouse management can be regarded as a very important link, but also a major management problem. In the warehouse, there are often phenomena such as failure to pick out goods, slow picking and delivery, and frequent delivery of wrong goods. These problems not only confuse warehouse managers, but also make customers complain, and even affect the sales business. Sometimes these are not the reasons for the inadequate warehouse management, but also the inadequate basic work of the warehouse. In the basic work of the warehouse, the planning of the warehouse area is the most basic work.
The planning of the reservoir area should be considered from five points: the foresight of the positioning, the functionality of the layout, the structure of the product, the economy of investment, and the efficiency of operations:
Contents
Forward-looking planning
It means to estimate the size of the warehouse in advance, to have an expected assessment of the total inventory, to evaluate the maximum inventory per square meter area in a forward-looking manner, and strive to maximize the storage, rather than the actual storage. With this guiding ideology, there will be a psychological expectation and reference standard for the total amount of warehouse storage.
It is understood that the inventory level of the warehouse units of most auto parts dealers is generally around 300USD/square meter, the higher level is around 600USD/square meter, and the level of 700 USD/square meter is not much.
In general, 1/3 of the warehouse area is used for non-storage functions, which means that only 2/3 can be used for warehousing functions. The actual inventory per unit area of the 10,000 square meter warehouse area should reach nearly 900USD/square meter.
If the minimum height of the warehouse’s inner space allows the construction of three-layer shelves, the maximum inventory of the warehouse can reach 120 million. If calculated at 1.5 times the inventory-sales ratio, the warehouse can meet the needs of the auto parts supplier to achieve 13 million USD monthly sales. Of course, in actual operation, maximizing storage in the warehouse depends not only on the level of positioning standards but also on the results of its own inventory data analysis.
Layout functionality
This is only to discuss the internal layout of the warehouse area, so it is mainly to discuss the in-warehousing section of the three major operation sections of inbound, inbound, and outbound. The layout of the warehouse operation section is actually the scientific planning and overall design of the number, scale, location, facilities, passages, and other elements of the warehouse.
The layout of the reservoir area can be planned in different ways or standards, and there can be multiple layouts, but roughly there are two modes.
One mode is divided into four functional areas: shelf area, storage area, turnover area, and waist area. Each functional area is divided into several warehouses. The advantage of this model is that the overall layout is unified, and the planning is in place in one step, the functional areas can be concentrated and connected, and the picking operation efficiency is higher, but its disadvantage is that the one-time investment is large.
In the second mode, the layout of the reservoir area can usually be divided into two levels. The first is to divide the entire warehouse area into several warehouses. The specific number of warehouses should be determined according to the rules for dividing warehouses and the classification of goods. It is recommended that each warehouse does not exceed 20,000 varieties, and the warehouse management personnel should be allocated according to the standard of 1200 varieties of goods stored per person, so as to ensure that the workload of each warehouse management personnel is reasonable, but also to ensure the requirements of warehouse management quality; The second is to divide the basic functional areas of each warehouse. The basic functions of the warehouse include the passage, office area, tool area, and storage area. The storage area can be subdivided into the acceptance area, whole cargo area, bulk cargo area, stocking area, packaging, and packaging. Area, review area, waste area, return area, etc. In fact, there is no need to subdivide these functions. The waste products can be set up independently. The inspection area, stocking area, review area, packaging and packaging, and other functions can be combined into the receiving/preparing area, because this area is not used for storage, only for turnover use.
Therefore, under normal circumstances, each warehouse area only needs to be divided into the most basic functional areas such as office area, tool area, receiving/preparing the area, shelf area, storage area, and aisle. These functional areas must be marked with a line and their area It depends on the actual determination of each warehouse.
Structure of goods
A relatively large-scale auto parts company, its operating range of auto parts ranges from 50,000 to 60,000 to more than 100,000, and its unique characteristics determine the complexity of auto parts warehouse planning with a wide range of brands, complicated models, different origins and different shapes. Sex. Therefore, there is no unified or universal standard for the planning of the reservoir area, nor does it exist which method is more reasonable and scientific. The specific decision should be based on comprehensive factors such as the enterprise’s own needs and the layout of the reservoir area.
Most auto parts dealers tend to adopt multiple standards rather than a single standard. Some are classified by supplier or place of origin, some are classified by parts category, some are classified by parts structure, some are classified by vehicle type, and some are classified by the frequency of parts entering and exiting the warehouse. Or the number is classified, and some are classified by the shape or weight of the accessories.
Investment economy
Because of the high cost and low profit of the auto parts industry, the economy of investment is often an important factor considered by most auto parts companies. The investment in storage area planning is mainly an investment in tools and shelves. Tools can be purchased at any time, and shelves must consider factors such as the type of shelves, materials, and the regularity of the storage area.
From the actual situation of most auto parts companies, the shelves mainly adopt three types: standard shelves, steel pipe shelves, and angle iron shelves.
- Standard shelves: According to the load-bearing capacity, they can be divided into light, medium, and heavy shelves. Their advantages are standard, beautiful, easy to disassemble, and easy to expand. The disadvantage is that the investment is large and the value is not preserved;
- Steel pipe rack: Its advantages are easy to build, the most economical investment, and value preservation. The disadvantage is that the laminate is uneven;
- Angle iron shelf: the most common use, its advantages are regular and flat, but the disadvantage is that it is difficult to make, the investment is larger than the steel shelf, and it does not maintain value.
The economics of investment is relative. The key is to base itself on its own reality and future development, from the perspective of cost and benefit comparison, fully consider the location of the warehouse before planning the reservoir area and make a reasonable investment plan and budget plan. Maybe spend a small amount of money to get things done. Otherwise, it was discovered afterward that the planning of the reservoir area was unreasonable, and it would be quite difficult to adjust or reform.
Job efficiency
This means that the layout of the warehouse area should consider the continuity of operations in the warehouse, reduce repetitive operations, reduce the number of loading and unloading, shorten the handling distance, and improve the speed and accuracy of sorting and distribution. Generally, in the actual operation of the reservoir area planning, pay attention to the following points as much as possible:
- ✔ Classified storage according to commodity characteristics, and store commodities with similar characteristics in a centralized manner;
- ✔ Store commodities with large unit volume and unit mass in the storage area or the bottom of the shelf, and close to the outbound area and passage;
- ✔ Store commodities with a high turnover rate in the most convenient location for loading, unloading, and handling in and out of the warehouse;
- ✔ Centrally store products classified in special warehouses or by vehicle type to facilitate sorting and distribution operations;
- ✔ Store the whole packaged goods in the storage area, and store the loose goods in the shelf area.
At the same time, with the design of cargo location management, batch management, information technology, and operation process in place, as warehouse management personnel become more familiar with warehouse planning and commodities, the speed and accuracy of their picking and distribution will be improved. Get continuous improvement.
Reservoir area planning is the basis of warehousing management, warehousing management is the guarantee of commodity sales, and commodity sales are the embodiment of service levels.
At present, like other industries, competition in the auto parts distribution industry is becoming increasingly fierce, and service has become an important means for the auto parts industry to gain a competitive advantage. The difference in service levels is not only reflected in commodity sales services, but also in internal basic work. Therefore, only by doing a good job in warehouse management can we better provide effective support for commodity sales and promote the improvement and promotion of the overall service level of the enterprise.
