From "0 to 1", the master design warehousing system is like this

Source丨China Storage and Transportation

When we have long complained that many of our predecessors are unreasonable in process design and management methods, have we ever thought of designing a comprehensive warehouse operation system from beginning to end?

Or do you have something you can come up with when the company needs you to provide a design for a new warehouse?

Long-term management may not really understand design, the reason is that usually more use of management thinking, rather than creative thinking.

Warehouse design, on the other hand, is a creative mindset from scratch, which requires us to grasp the structure as a whole and refine the steps and implementations at the same time.

Designing a warehouse requires us to think in at least five ways:

First, basic data analysis

All applications of warehouse design are based on data, no data is impossible to design, blindly patting the head may lead to decision-making errors, resulting in major economic losses. Therefore, when doing the overall warehouse design, the first task is to get the basic data for the warehouse design.

In general, for warehouse design, the following basic data need to be mastered:

1. Product details: product SKU material number, length, width and height, weight, stacking standard, storage requirements

2. Product outbound data: inbound details, outbound details

3. Historical inventory data: It is recommended to take 1 year of historical inventory data

4. Warehouse hardware design drawings: floor plan in the library, work door/column/work dock distribution map, fire equipment/lighting equipment distribution map, warehouse hardware parameters: load-bearing, ground type, etc.

5, the future warehouse business change trend: according to the industry to see 1-3 years or 1-5 years of change trends.

Second, product analysis

The most basic function of the warehouse is to store and enter and exit the product. When designing a warehouse, the first thing is to analyze the products, and different products have different requirements for storage modes, picking modes, and storage systems.

In product analysis, it is necessary to clarify:

1. The number of SKUs of stored products;

2, product packaging specifications: length * width * height;

3. Product weight;

4. Storage characteristics and requirements of each SKU product;

5. Stacking standard for each SKU.

3. Data analysis

Frankly speaking, data analysis is not doing well in the logistics design industry at present, and it is basically at the statistical level rather than the analysis level. At present, in the industry, some of the various practices are manually processed by EXCEL, and some professional ones are using professional software.

From a professional point of view, we recommend that you use the analysis method of EIQ. EIQ analysis uses the three key logistics elements of "E", "I" and "Q" to study the demand characteristics of distribution centers and provide planning basis for distribution centers. This theory was proposed and actively promoted by Mr. Suzuki Kei of Japan. where E means "Entry", I means "Item", and Q means "Quantity". It is not only from the customer's order items, quantity, number of orders, etc., to analyze the distribution characteristics and shipping characteristics.

I: refers to the type of product; Q refers to the amount of inbound and outbound operations and inventory of the product. EIQ analysis is the POS system of the logistics center, which conducts the systematic planning of the logistics system, and analyzes the shipping characteristics from the perspective of the category, quantity and number of orders of the customer's order. E (order number of orderer entry), I (product type item), Q (quantity quantity), is the key factor of logistics characteristics, EIQ analysis is the use of E, I, Q these three key logistics factors to study the characteristics of logistics system, in order to carry out basic planning.

At the data analysis level, it is basically necessary to conduct EQ, IQ, EN analysis, and then ABC analysis of the product. Through these analyses, we can identify product turnover, sku flow and storage capacity.

In warehouse design, data processing and analysis is the most basic but most important part, there are many tutorials on the Internet about EIQ analysis method, you can study and learn in depth.

Fourth, the operation process and regional division

In industrial production operations, every step of the process is strictly followed in accordance with the production operation process. The same is true for warehousing operations, according to the theory of industrial production, from the warehousing of goods, to the processing in the warehouse, and then to the product out of the warehouse, it is also a strict production operation process. Therefore, in the warehouse design process, the design of the warehouse operation process is required.

Different industries have different requirements for functional area design, for example, the FMCG industry will have different functional area requirements for e-commerce warehouses. At the same time, the functions of different warehouse types in the same industry will be different, and the planning of the functional area of the warehouse needs to clarify the principles of functional design, the definition and attributes of functional area variables, and combine the two to design the functional area.

1. Storage function area;

2. Sorting function area;

3. Stocking buffer

4. Inbound buffer;

5. Equipment and charging area

6. Tray storage area

Shelf planning and design first needs to consider how the product will be stored, whether it is random, specified or mixed. At the same time, clarify the principles of cargo space planning and determine the layout of goods.

Fifth, information system requirements analysis

Warehousing business as a whole, each step of which forms part of this overall system, reasonable integration and optimization of these elements to achieve the final ideal state.

Give your vision of the overall business to several WMS vendors, after all, you also need to purchase the system in the future, it is better to listen to their opinions, so that the information system can be implemented more quickly in the later stage. (SmartWMS Intelligent Warehouse Management System)