a warehouse is a facility designed specifically for the safekeeping of merchandise, materials and products that supports companies in their logistics, inventory and purchase order management operations. Learn more about these spaces and the advantages they offer to companies.
If you’re in the wholesale business, you’ve probably heard of warehouses. Commonly confused with warehouses, these spaces have certain characteristics and different functions, adding value to different in an organization.
If you want to know more about what types of warehouses exist, how they work, characteristics, activities and even roles related to the warehouse; In this guide you will find all the information to get the most out of this space and optimize processes in your business. Continue reading!
warehouse concept
Before starting to talk about warehouses, it is necessary to know what a warehouse is and what is the correct definition to understand the concept of this space.
What is a warehouse?
By definition, A warehouse is a physical space specially designed for the storage of merchandise, raw materials and productssupporting the company in its different logistics operations and processes, inventory and purchase order management.
Warehouses are part of the infrastructure of a company and are essential for those that have a large volume of products, are dedicated to the elaboration and production of parts, are dedicated to wholesale sales or simply have a large logistics and distribution chain. of merchandise.
Warehouse or warehouse?
eye! Do not confuse a warehouse with a warehouse, because although they may seem the same, they have different functions and characteristics. Here we list you the most relevant differences between warehouse and warehouse.
Warehouse
Cellar
They are useful to protect merchandise or raw materials for a defined number of days. They work to protect merchandise or raw material for a long time. They maintain a constant and dynamic rotation of stocks. It is not intended for a constant rotation of products. Its structure includes resistant materials that help the transfer of products. It requires a more solid and resistant structure than a warehouse to protect its content. Has a constant relationship with the sales and inventory area to provide detailed information on the operation. Its configuration is relatively simpler since it does not require a constant connection with the sales areas. It is focused on the protection of products and merchandise that directly influence the commercial operation. You can store furniture, tools, files and much more.
So… What is a warehouse?
It is understood by warehouse to the physical space that a company rents or pays with the intention of safeguarding merchandise, furniture, files and various additional elements. Although it has characteristics similar to those of a warehouse, this space is configured for the purpose of long-term storage and protection from external agents, which is why the facilities are usually more robust than those of a warehouse.
warehouse in english
Usually, When we talk about the warehouse in English, the term «warehouse» while to refer to a winery the term «storage». However, depending on the company you work for, it is possible that both words are used to refer to warehouse or it is typified with a different code.
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Warehouse is active or passive?
It is possible to consider the warehouse as an asset, as long as it is an asset of the company and there are property rights to this space.
However, if we are talking about a rented warehouse, it is possible to categorize it as a liability, since it represents an obligation or a debt that the company has acquired with another company or a third party. Often, for the rental of these spaces, a contract is signed that involves both parties and leaves the obligations that each party acquires in this rental process recorded in the registry.
What is the importance of warehouses?
Now that you are clear about what a warehouse is and the differences between this space and a warehouse, let’s venture to explore The importance of warehouses for companies. These are some of the advantages of having a space as such.
- It allows the merchandise to be protected, safe and secure.
- It is useful to save space in your premises or office.
- Helps manage inventory effectively.
- Support in the processes of production and elaboration of goods.
- It serves to reduce the costs of acquisition of raw material.
Let us explain each of these points in a couple of lines.
It allows the merchandise to be protected, safe and secure
The spaces are finite and if you sell hundreds or thousands of products, it is likely that you need a place to store the merchandise without the fear of losing your investment. This is where warehouses come in to satisfy a business need.
It is useful to save space in your premises or office
Not everything fits in a physical location or in an office no matter how much we want it. In addition to the fact that it is likely that if you rent your premises, renting a space for your warehouse close to your physical branch is more expensive than renting it on the outskirts of the city or in the industrial sector of your city.
Helps manage inventory effectively
In a warehouse, it is possible to carry out a detailed inventory of everything you have in transit, what is displayed in the physical store, as well as the merchandise or raw material recently received, therefore it helps to manage the inventory of all your products.
Support in the processes of production and elaboration of goods
If you dedicate yourself to the manufacture of merchandise, it is in the warehouse where you can protect your raw materials and thus be able to use them at the time that is required by the productive chain of your business.
It serves to reduce the costs of acquisition of raw material
As in many parts of the industry, buying in bulk is cheaper. When acquiring raw material or finished products by hundreds or thousands of pieces, it is possible to obtain better acquisition costs and a warehouse becomes an excellent option to safeguard all that merchandise while it is labeled and moved to physical branches or to its final recipients. .
As you can see, having a warehouse offers many advantages, but it is important to remember that there are alternatives for emerging businesses. Making is another path for those entrepreneurs who seek to make sales without physical stock.
What is the importance of warehouses in logistics?
In addition to all these benefits, there are even more advantages that these spaces bring to the distribution chain. For these reasons warehouses are of great importance in the logistics of a company.
- They allow the reduction of shipping time and costs.
- They are useful in the logistics of merchandise receipt.
- They help to manage the entry and exit of merchandise.
- They allow for better response times.
- They contribute to improving the quality of service and customer satisfaction.
In itself, the importance of a warehouse in terms of logistics lies in the opportunity it offers the distribution and supply chain to make more efficient shipments, in less time and with a better response time; since it makes it possible to manage warehouses in different places in Mexico and shorten distances, decentralizing operations.
Warehouse types
Not all warehouses are the same, depending on the needs of the companies and the operations they carry out, it is possible to distinguish different types of warehouse. Let’s talk about the most popular.
- transit warehouse
- distribution warehouse
- production warehouse
- Warehouse picking
- Consolidation warehouse
- raw material warehouse
- Semi-finished products warehouse
- Finished product warehouse
- Auxiliary materials warehouse
- packaging warehouse
- covered warehouse
- open warehouse
- Central warehouse
- regional warehouse
- temporary warehouse
- conventional warehouse
- High density warehouse
What are the types of warehouses?
It is possible to classify types of warehouses in these five categories. Take note!
- Depending on the nature of the product
- Depending on your location
- According to its mechanization
- According to logistics function
- According to the structure
- According to the activity of the company
Let’s see which ones fall into each category.
1. According to the nature of the product
It is not the same to store raw materials as semi-finished products or packaging, each product requires special considerations to be properly protected. These are some of the most common.
- raw material warehouse
- Semi-finished products warehouse
- Finished product warehouse
- Auxiliary materials warehouse
- packaging warehouse
2. According to your location
Depending on their location, they may be useful as an intermediate point or close to the points of consumption, thus it is possible to speed up the distribution of merchandise in businesses with a large number of branches nationally or internationally.
- Central warehouse
- regional warehouse
- distribution warehouse
- transit warehouse
- temporary warehouse
3. According to its mechanization
While conventional warehouses are characterized by the use of simple racks, high-density warehouses have the advantage of having racks adapted to the dimensions of the objects stored therein. Knowing the difference is essential to choose the best one for your business.
- conventional warehouse
- High density warehouse
4. According to the activity they carry out
It is different to have a warehouse that supports the production process of an article by one dedicated to the preparation of orders or that supports the management of orders coming from different logistics centers, for this reason they must be distinguished from the previous ones according to the activity that they carry out. they will perform
- production warehouse
- Warehouse picking
- Consolidation warehouse
5. According to the structure
Not all goods require a roof to protect them, according to the type of construction it is possible to distinguish two types of warehouse.
- covered warehouse
- open warehouse
Characteristics of a warehouse
Although we have already seen that there are many types of warehouses, most share characteristics that make them useful and important for the handling and storage of merchandise. Let’s see them one by one. You think?
What are the characteristics of a warehouse?
As for its external and easily identifiable elements, these are the three most important characteristics of a warehouse:
We explain the difference between each of them.
Size
It is perhaps the most identifiable feature of a warehouse and one that must be taken into account when hiring or requiring a space like this. One too wide can…
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