Warehouse management is all about careful use of space and time (that is, labor or person-hours). Both space and time are expensive and so one would like to use as little of each as possible in delivering product to customers. Figure 2.3 shows a plot of the popularity (number of times requested, or picks) of each SKU of a warehouse together with the physical volume (flow) of the SKU moved through the warehouse during one month. There is little correlation between popularity and flow, and this is one of the challenges of warehouse management, because it is hard to design processes that work well with SKUs that may be any combination of popular/unpopular and low-volume/high-volume.
Figure 2.3: Among these 25,000 SKUs there is no correlation between popularity and physical volume of product sold.
Figure 2.4 plots just the popularity of the same set of about 25,000 SKUs, here ranked from most popular to least. This is typical of such plots in that a small fraction of the SKUs account for most of activity. It is easy to design processes for these SKUs because they are fairly predictable. If popular yesterday, such a SKU is likely to be popular again tomorrow.
Figure 2.4: Popularity among these 25,000 SKUs varies enormously, which presents special challenges to effective management.
On the other hand, consider all the SKUs in the so-called long-tail, in this case the 20,000 SKUs
that are requested infrequently. It is impossible to know whether any particular SKU will be requested tomorrow. Such SKUs, by their sheer number, occupy most of the space in a warehouse. This effect is further magnified by safety stock, which is held to protect against stockout in the face of customer demand that is highly variable in comparison to the amounts held.
Each warehouse then is, in a sense, two warehouses. The first is organized around a small set of predictably popular SKUs that are easy to plan for and for which the challenge is to manage flow. The other warehouse is much larger, and for which the work is predictable only in aggregate. This makes it much harder to plan and one is forced to hedge decisions. The first warehouse is where labor is concentrated; and the second consumes space.
2.3 Two Fundamantal Resources
两种基础资源
Warehouse management is all about careful use of space and time (that is, labor or person-hours). Both space and time are expensive and so one would like to use as little of each as possible in delivering product to customers.
仓库管理完全是对空间和时间(即劳动力或人力资源)的谨慎使用。空间和时间都是昂贵的，所以在向客户交付产品时，要尽可能少地使用空间和时间。
Figure 2.3 shows a plot of the popularity (number of times requested, or picks) of each SKU of a warehouse together with the physical volume (flow) of the SKU moved through the warehouse during one month. There is little correlation between popularity and flow, and this is one of the challenges of warehouse management, because it is hard to design processes that work well with SKUs that may be any combination of popular/unpopular and low-volume/high-volume.
图2.3展示了一个仓库的每个SKU的畅销度，横轴代表SKU的月均受订次数或拣选次数，纵轴代表SKU的月均出库体积（或流量）。
畅销度和流量之间几乎没有关联，这是仓库管理的挑战之一。由于SKU之间的组合可能是高畅销度/低畅销度与高流量/低流量之间的任意组合，所以很难设计完美处理订单的流程。
注：请教大家，这个地方有没有比流量更好的翻译？
Figure 2.4 plots just the popularity of the same set of about 25,000 SKUs, here ranked from most popular to least. This is typical of such plots in that a small fraction of the SKUs account for most of activity. It is easy to design processes for these SKUs because they are fairly predictable. If popular yesterday, such a SKU is likely to be popular again tomorrow.
图2.4绘制了同一组大约25000个SKU的畅销度情况，并进行了从最畅销到最不畅销的排序。这是一个典型的SKU畅销度分布图，其中一小部分SKU占据了出库量的大部分比例。为这些SKU设计作业流程很容易，因为它们的出库量很容易预测。如果昨天销售得很好，明天很可能也会销售得很好。
On the other hand, consider all the SKUs in the so-called long-tail, in this case the 20,000 SKUs that are requested infrequently. It is impossible to know whether any particular SKU will be requested tomorrow. Such SKUs, by their sheer number, occupy most of the space in a warehouse. This effect is further magnified by safety stock, which is held to protect against stockout in the face of customer demand that is highly variable in comparison to the amounts held.
另一方面，考虑到所谓的长尾SKU，也就是在本例中不经常受订的那20,000个SKU。我们不太可能知道这20000个SKU中今天能销售的，明天是否还能产生销售。
这些长尾SKU，就其纸对数量而言，占据了仓库的大部分空间。这一影响被安全库存进一步放大，安全库存是为了在面对客户需求时防止库存不足而设定的。相对于长尾SKU的库存数量而言，客户需求数量有可能会出现较大波动。
Each warehouse then is, in a sense, two warehouses. The first is organized around a small set of predictably popular SKUs that are easy to plan for and for which the challenge is to manage flow. The other warehouse is much larger, and for which the work is predictable only in aggregate. This makes it much harder to plan and one is forced to hedge decisions. The first warehouse is where labor is concentrated; and the second consumes space.
每个仓库在某种意义上都是两个仓库。
第一个仓库是围绕那一小组较畅销的SKU来组织的，这些SKU很容易进行计划，唯一的挑战的管理流量。
另一个仓库要大得多，其工作只能在总体上进行预测，这使得制定计划变得更加困难，人们被迫规避决策。第一个仓库是劳动力集中的地方，而第二个需要消耗大量空间。
注：请教大家，这个地方被迫规避决策和被迫对决策进行对冲，哪个更合适？
这家伙很懒，还没有设置简介
