STORAGE SYSTEMS
Storage System Features
The storage system has two primary functions: maintaining inventories (storage) and handling of goods.
Handling of goods includes all activities of loading and unloading, and transfer the product to the different areas of the warehouse and the picking area. Meanwhile, the storage is simply the accumulation of goods for a period of time.
The choice of location in the warehouse and storage time depends on the objectives set for it. Inside the warehouse, store-transfer activities are repetitive and similar to the transfer-storage activities that take place between the different levels of the distribution channel.
Therefore, the storage system is in many ways, a distribution system to lower level.
The identification of the main activities of the system helps to have a comprehensive understanding of it, also providing a basis for generating alternative designs.
The main use of a warehouse is the maintenance of products and goods in it in a controlled and systematic way.
Why a storage system?
Reasons to store
There are five basic reasons why a company performs storage activities:
· Reducing production costs transport-
Storage and inventory associated with it are two factors that generate new spending. However, this increased cost is offset by the decrease in transportation and production, since the efficiency of both processes is improved.
· Coordination between supply and demand
Companies that have a seasonal production and rationally constant demand usually have coordination problems between demand and supply.
· Price of products
Those goods and items that experience large variations in price from one period to another, can force companies to shop for them in advance, so as to obtain at lower prices, thereby offsetting the cost of the necessary stores for maintenance.
· Supporting the production process
The storage may be part of the production process.
· Support the marketing process
Marketing generally deals with when and how will be available on the market. This storage is used to add value to a product, so that if the same close to the customer, the delivery time is stored, decreases. This improvement in the service buyer can produce an increase in sales.
