If you think that the mission of warehousing is to hold inventory, you are three decades behind in history. With the increase in quality and service level requirements, the increase in the number of SKU's, the concern with the environment, the proliferation of strategies such as just in time and quick response programs, in addition to the growth of virtual commerce, storage has left from being just an unavoidable cost for the business to an opportunity for competitive advantage. Its new mission is to manage the physical and information flow to add value in the supply chain through savings opportunities for the operation and offering better services to the customer.
The warehouse can be at the factory, maintaining a stable source of supply, or balancing and buffering variations between production schedules and demand. In both cases, both the raw material warehouse and the finished product warehouse at the factory contribute to the reduction of setups, increased stability and productivity gains, bringing significant savings to the production lines.
The warehouse can be in the form of a distribution center, accumulating and consolidating products from different factories or suppliers. The DC supports customer service strategies, ensuring stock availability and product mix from different sources and accommodating differences in time and space between producers and consumers. This type of warehouse also brings economic benefits such as the possibility of consolidating loads, the centralization of reverse logistics operations, in addition to allowing the postponement of the last production stage to a place and time closer to the customer, making it possible to customize the product (postponement ).
Lastly, the warehouse can be closer to the customer in the form of a local warehouse or an urban distribution center (CDU). In this case, its mission is to reduce transport distances, allowing a quick response. This type of installation has gained more and more importance with the great growth of e-commerce, which has brought the focus of logistics to the last mile and increased the need to reduce freight costs and delivery times. Read more about this topic at post by consultant Fernanda.
Considering the operational role of storage, it remains a set of processes aimed at storing, moving and processing products and information. However, its strategic role is increasingly in evidence. As the liaison and coordination link in the distribution channel, warehousing needs to effectively serve geographically more distant markets, seeking to create value for customers through a greater assortment of products, customization, reduction in service time and reduction in product prices. freight.
Beatris Huber
https://ilos.com.brManaging Partner of ILOS, Master in Business Administration from COPPEAD/UFRJ with extension at the European Business School – EBS, Germany and Business Administration from UFRJ. More than 10 years of experience in training and consulting projects, focusing on Logistics and Supply Chain. In the training area, he developed company games and online courses and today teaches classes in Data Analysis, Inventory Management, Warehousing Management, in addition to applying business games such as Beer Game in open and in-company programs in companies from different segments, such as Coca -Cola, Nestlé, ThyssenKrupp, Votorantim, Carrefour, Mallinkrodt, Souza Cruz, Via Varejo, Monsanto, Itaú, Renner, Ipiranga, among others. In consultancy, he carried out projects such as Redefinition of the Logistics Network, Inventory Management, S&OP Process Structuring and Diagnosis of Storage and Transport Operations in companies such as Coca-Cola, Souza Cruz, Editora Moderna, Petrobras, Ducoco, Ultragaz, Silimed, Eudora among others.
