With the continuous growth in e-commerce as well as the manufacturing and engineering sectors, the proliferation of the warehousing industry continues at a rapid pace. Large international and national players are investing more and more, in this sector which has immense potential for growth in the future. Along with these, the introduction of conducive policies by the Government and the initiation of goods and services tax, granting infrastructure status to the logistics sector have contributed to a huge impetus for the growth of the indigenous warehousing scenario.
Technology and its increasing involvement in warehousing functions :
Integrating the correct technological tools is the need of the hour in warehousing. The global, as well as the Indian warehousing sector, is observing a growth in mechanisation and automation which are being integrated with fundamental warehousing operations to amplify their productivity and accuracy. Implementing a robust WMS is fruitful for the warehousing business as it manages a variety of aspects and warehousing functions and thereby creates space, reduces expenditures and minimises the time required for the processes; thus ensuring good customer feedback.
Receiving productivity :
The three main modern warehousing operations can be broadly classified as :
- Receiving of orders from various avenues
- Order-picking within the warehouse and
- Shipping of orders to their designated locations.
Earlier ,all of these operations were entirely manual. Receiving shipment of orders were essentially a physical process which required the warehouse personnel and employees to receive the shipments and transport them into the storage facilities, open the boxes and check the items and then assign them their respective locations within the facility.
How is technology streamlining the receiving productivity in the warehouse :
The utilisation of technology and automated warehouse software eliminates the requirement of multiple steps while fulfilling any warehouse operation, including the receiving processes. Thus the integration of technology is crucial in streamlining warehousing operations and increasing their productivity.
Manual receiving procedures are associated with a number of inherent flaws. Continuous reception of shipments from producers and manufacturers and simultaneously maintaining the inventory levels with efficiency is an arduous task to achieve with a manual workforce. Thus, vendor relations might also drop which would result in inefficient receiving process. Warehouse businesses who want to achieve a seamless maintenance of receiving procedures without employing the technologies themselves can partner with competent 3PL or Third Party Logistics service providers. This would result in an optimised 3PL receiving strategy for the warehouse concerned.
Advantages of using technology to boost the receiving productivity of a warehouse :
The advantages of integrating and implementing technology in all types of warehousing operations are manifold. This can result in amplifying the productivity of the receiving process of a warehouse. The advantages can be discussed below in brief.
- Time efficient : The constant handling of shipments by multiple workers in a warehouse causes significant delays and increases the amount of time that the article takes to reach its specified location within the warehouse. Thus it is evident that implementing the correct technology during receiving processes in a warehouse improves its time-efficiency.
- Cost effective : Not only is the manual workforce responsible for temporal delays, the involvement of a multitude of workers in the receiving process can be deemed unnecessary and therefore enhances the costs associated with the receiving operation. Implementing warehouse technology and a robust 3PL service provider results in minimisation of costs and reduces the requirement of warehouse personnel during the receiving operation.
- Accurate : Manual receiving procedures have been deemed outdated because they are associated with a high probability of inaccuracy. One of the most important ways in which coupling with the correct technology increases the receiving productivity of a warehouse to its maximum level; is by maintaining and providing accurate data of inventory.
Therefore, from the above discussions, it has been established that integration and subsequent execution of the correct technology is beneficial for augmenting the productivity of the receiving operations of a warehouse.