engleski

Case-study analysis of warehouse process optimization

Warehouse management is becoming an increasingly important task and responsibility for employers whose goal is to maximize the profitability of the whole business. In this paper, a comparative analysis of warehouse processes was made on selected case studies of three companies by the methodology that is divided into several phases: the current state of the warehouse system was analyzed, proposal for optimization according to detected bottlenecks was made, and finally the success control of the introduced optimization proposals. The purpose of the comparative analysis is to show differences and similarities in bottlenecks and process times between warehouses. The paper's goals: the identification and optimization of critical factors that affect the warehouse processes' execution quality and speed in practice, and to prove that by combining simple methods and tools without complex algorithms, a significant level of warehouse processes optimization can be achieved, thus increasing efficiency. Limitations of research are: the research is conducted in only three warehouses, the warehouses store similar types of goods, while the different warehouse types inclusion would certainly give a more detailed overview of the factors ; the research was not conducted at the same time in warehouses, but iteratively over a year, the problem of seasonality may also affect the collected data ; and there is a possibility of subjectivity during the field measurement because it was divided among the members of the measurement team. During the field measurement and data analysis, factors that lengthen the duration of the process were observed so for the purpose of business improvement certain optimization proposals are given.

warehouse ; warehouse processes ; optimization

Transportation Research Procedia Volume 64, Issue C