strategic issues affecting warehousing影响仓储的战略因素
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Since warehouses operate as an integral component of the supply chain, the wider business context must be taken into account when making key decisions about these facilities. The areas that should be considered are very wide-ranging and include the following:
- Market/industry trends. Almost all industries have seen dramatic changes in their marketplaces, as well as in the technology available to them. For example, the food retail industry has witnessed such developments as factory gate pricing, cross-docking of perishables and other items, store-ready presentations and home shopping. All of these developments have involved substantial changes to warehouse design and operations, and thus any warehouse that is built without the latest trends in mind may be unsuitable by the time it comes into operation.
- Corporate objectives. Different companies often have quite different objectives in terms of their market positioning (eg service commitment to customers), staff policies (eg working conditions), environmental policies and shareholder expectations (eg which may affect acceptable payback periods for capital investments). Again, any warehouse needs to fit with the particular objectives of the company.
- Business plan. The business plan will include factors such as new markets and sales projections, as well as the degree of certainty of the projections. These will affect design features such as the expansion potential that needs to be incorporated into the warehouse and the degree of flexibility that should be allowed for. In the case of the latter,it may be necessary to undertake scenario planning for how the warehouse facilities can accommodate possible variations in the business plan.
- Supply chain strategy. Each warehouse will be one component in the overall supply chain strategy and therefore needs to be designed accordingly. This strategy will determine factors such as the roles, location and size of each warehouse. The size may be determined in terms of both the throughput capacity and the inventory capacity that will be required.
- Other related strategies. The business plan will need to be implemented through various departmental strategies, as well as that of the supply chain. Many of these will affect the warehouse design, as they will determine factors such as incoming batch sizes from production or from suppliers, customer order characteristics, available information technology and financial restrictions.
- Customer service levels. A number of the strategies previously described, particularly those of marketing and the supply chain, will determine the service levels that the warehouse needs to provide. It is these service levels that are key to how the warehouse should be designed and operated.
- External factors. There are likely to be constraints imposed by external factors, particularly in terms of regulation. A wide range of regulations may impact on warehouse design and operations, including laws in such areas as construction, health and safety, manual handling, working hours, the environment, fire precautions, equipment, hazardous substances, food safety, and packaging waste, as well as possible local planning constraints (eg on building height and operating hours).
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