Course Summary:

Inventories can reach many millions of dollars. You need a good warehouse to store, keep and protect all those millions of dollars. In this course, we will discuss the best and the latest methods to store and protect high value inventories. We will also discuss the best characteristics of a modern warehouse. Knowing what you have and how much you have are the keys to proper warehousing management. We will explore the various methods to achieve record accuracy and successful cycle counting. A scientific method of auditing the warehouse will be applied.

Best-practice warehouses deliver superior customer satisfaction and return on investment by functioning as a tightly-integrated part of a company’s value chain.  The purpose of this course is to show how to implement all of the essential tools for the effective management of warehouses and stores. This training course includes how to evaluate procedures and how to improve methods by eliminating wasteful activities and excess costs.

Course Objectives:

• Develop an understanding of the role of warehouse in the end-to-end supply chain
• Learn best practices for warehouse operating processes
• Develop an inventory strategy in the warehouse
• Leverage information technology to improve visibility
• Develop a performance management program to and drive positive change
• Explain the challenges, objectives and functions of warehousing
• Perform ABC inventory classification and cycle counting and calculate record accuracy and discrepancies
• Identify the different types of storage and material handling systems
• Improve supervisory skills and deal more effectively with warehouse staff issues
• Develop better skills for housekeeping and safety within the warehouse
• Measure warehouse productivity using the right KPIs and conduct a scientific audit of the warehouse

Course Outline

Warehouse Infrastructure Strategies

• Warehouse location strategy
• Options in warehouse layout and design
• Classes of warehouses
• Warehouse automation
• Information technology (IT) in the warehouse
• Industry variations

Warehouse Operating Processes and Principles

• Key functional processes from receiving to picking and shipping
• Optimizing the flow of goods across processes
• Advanced processes – break-bulk, cross-docking, mixing, assembly
• Cycle counting, conducting a physical inventory audit
• Implementing Lean principles in the warehouse
• Continuous improvement and managing change

Inventory, Analysis, and Product Classification

• The function of inventory
• Inventory accuracy and control
• Handling WIP (Work-In-Progress) inventory
• Three-dimensional inventory classification and segmentation (ABC)
• Using inventory classification to drive efficiency
• Replenishment methods and strategies

Leveraging Your Resources and Developing New Capabilities

• Managing and incentivizing your people
• Employee training and evaluation
• The IT environment: your enterprise and the warehouse
• Role of the warehouse in the value chain
• Outsourcing: risks and opportunities
• Supplier collaboration models and strategies

Create a World-Class Warehouse with Performance Management and Metrics

• Contemporary trends in warehousing
• Warehouse best practices and benchmarking
• The role of performance management in the warehouse
• What should you measure?
• Establish an executive dashboard using key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Identifying, prioritizing, and implementing improvements.