Outbound Operations in a Warehouse: Shipping – An Overview

Shipping:

Shipping is the process of picking appropriate material from the warehouse, loading and dispatching the same using a trailer in order to satisfy a customer order. Shipping involves several sub processes.

 

Order punching and Shipment planning:

Customer orders are either punched in the WMS system or received via an interface from the host system or customer system. The orders are then planned and shipments are created for shipping of goods.

Allocation:

Once the shipments are created the goods are allocated from appropriate storage location for shipping. Allocation can be based on various allocation rules defined in the system, for example strategies like First in First Out, First expiry First Out can be used.

Pick release:

Upon allocation the pick works are released to the warehouse personnel. In some cases a pick list is printed and handed over to pickers for picking the items from appropriate storage location. In other cases, the picking is performed using RF terminals.

Pick and Pack Goods:

The inventory is picked from appropriate storage location and are then packed into cartons and pallets as per shipping needs.

Staging:

The picked goods are then staged into staging lanes before being loaded into the trailers. The staged goods are tallied and cross verified for shipping.

Carrier Move:

Usually the trailers are parked in the parking yard before being docked into the dock doors. A carrier move is generated to move the carrier from parking yard to shipping docks.

Load stop:

In case where the shipments is to be shipped for multiple stops (destination locations), the goods are sequenced as per the stop. The goods meant for the last stop are first loaded and the stop is closed. The remaining stops are loaded one by one in the reverse sequence. The stops are then closed.

Close and dispatch trailer:

Once all the stops are loaded the trailer is closed and is ready for dispatch. A seal is often made on the close of a trailer. The close trailer is then dispatched out of the warehouse.

Outbound workflows:

Many WMS systems provide exit points for custom workflow to be built into the outbound activities. For example printing and pasting shipping labels can be a workflow in the outbound activity.

Exception Handling:

While picking goods it might be a case that the allocated item is not physically available or in damaged status. In such cases a pick cancellation is performed.

Goods Receiving in a Warehouse

Receiving:

Receiving is the process of accepting inbound goods into a warehouse and storing it in appropriate storage location. It is the inbound logistics activity in a warehouse. Multiple activities are involved in receiving the goods into a warehouse.

It is the process of unloading, verifying, inspecting, and staging of material transported to a warehouse in preparation for putaway or cross-docking, sometimes including sorting and repackaging of the material.

 

Trailer Check-in:

The inbound trailer is checked into appropriate dock door for receiving. Supplier might send an ASN before shipping his goods to the warehouse. Appointments for the dock doors can be made and the trailers are checked in as per the appointments. Often before checking the trailer into a dock door they are temporarily parked in a parking yard.

Unloading and goods identification:

Once the trailer is checked in the goods in it are unloaded into a staging lane and the goods are identified. These activities can be enabled through RF terminals. The quantities are checked and confirmed in the WMS. The identified goods can be pasted with appropriate labels for tracking purpose.

Receiving:

The identified goods are formally received into the warehouse. This can be enabled using RF terminals. Often quality checks are made for the items being unloaded. If the supplier ships it in unpalletised cartons, Palletisation process is carried out and pallets are build along with pasting of pallet (or load) labels.

Putaway:

The received goods are then moved to appropriate storage location. This process is called putaway. The location selection can be manual or automatic. In case of automatic location selection the system suggests the location where the goods need to be stored based on storage optimization principles.

Inbound workflows:

There might be a need to perform inbound workflows in receiving process. For example sorting and repacking the received goods and pasting with appropriate labels can be a workflow. Exit points are defined in standard WMS packages to enable workflow inclusions into the process.

Close and Dispatch trailer:

After unloading and receiving, the inbound trailers are closed and dispatched from the warehouse. In most cases the receipt reports are printed upon trailer close and dispatch. The report will contain details about the quantities received into the warehouse. Usually an EDI message is  also sent to the host ERP system.

Exception Handling:

Sometimes the goods might get damaged in transit. These goods are either received into the warehouse with damaged status are sent back in the receiving trailer itself depending the business process agreed. Sometimes goods that are not in the ASN also might come in a trailer. Receiving those goods is called blind receipts.

Warehouse Management Systems - An Overview

Warehousing

Warehousing is one of the key activities in a supply chain. Products are intermediately stored in a warehouse before being delivered to the final customer. Warehousing activities can be classified into three sub groups – Inbound operations, Outbound Operations and Inventory management.

In inbound operations, products are received into the warehouse and are stored in appropriate locations. In outbound operations, the orders are allocated, products are picked from most beneficial locations and are shipped to the customers. In inventory management operations, the movement and processing of products within a warehouse are handled.

 

Warehouse management systems are used to manage and control inventory movements in a warehouse. They can be broadly classified into 3 tiers.

Tier 3 WMS products are least expensive and contain the basic features of WMS applications.

Tier 2 WMS are more robust compared to tier 3 WMS products. They have enhanced features to cover almost all aspects of warehousing.

Tier 1 WMS products are most expensive and features best in class architecture and functionalities.  They are robust to meet the needs to most complex warehousing operations. They are easily configurable to meet the varied needs of warehousing.

 

WMS Tier	Warehousing Features
Tier 3 WMS	Directed putaway, Directed picking, Inventory transfers & Management, Pallet controls, Cycle counting, Paperless picking, Warehouse Zoning and Location management, Replenishments
Tier 2 WMS	Wave picking, Zone picking, Cross Docking, Pallet building, Cluster picking, Putaway optimizations, Returns authorization & Processing, Task management, EDI integrations, Lot/Serial Number/Expiry date tracking, Well defined user authorizations and controls, Kitting
Tier 1 WMS	Appointment Scheduling, Yard management, Slotting, Task Interleaving, Web visibility, Integrated packaging kit, Voice based picking, RFID support, Dynamic slotting