Supply Chain Design for Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. Australia
Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. (SWM) is a U.S. based warehousing organization in the construction and management of warehouse operations. The CEO's market development team has determined that there is an opportunity to open a warehouse in Australia that could serve multiple businesses. The CEO plans to open a “non-resident company” (Land and Tax News, 2012). The CEO has also decided that the warehouse can be opened in any city in Australia. Some clients in Australia have also asked SWM to manage the flow of goods from Australia to U.S. locations. The CEO wants to get a preliminary plan developed as soon as possible before going further.
The CEO asked you to design a supply chain that includes warehouse operations in any city in Australia. In addition, the CEO has a number of items he'd like to see you cover in the report. He has asked you to:
• Develop requirements for the warehouse design and to provide an organization structure to manage the warehouse in Australia.
• Present considerations for Workforce Management
• Investigate key regulations and other key issues (e.g. labor climate) related to managing a warehouse in Australia as a foreign entity.
• Develop export procedures and import procedures in the U.S.
• Discuss supply chain risks and possible mitigations.
• Analyze which operations SWM would outsource and which operations SWM would directly manage and explain why.
• Outline the budget line items that would need to be considered (it is not necessary to develop a budget with dollar figures).
• Determine the metrics you would use to measure success of the warehouse and the total supply chain.
Your report should be an eight to ten page APA style paper (not including the title and reference pages) and submitted to the CEO (your instructor) by the last day of the class. You are required to include at least 6 scholarly sources
Writing the Final Paper
The Final Paper:
1. Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length, and formatted according to APA style as outlined.
2. Must include a title page with the following:
o Title of paper
o Student's name
o Course name and number
o Instructor's name
o Date submitted
3. Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
4. Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
5. Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
6. Must use at least six scholarly sources, including Stuart Emmett. Excellence in Warehouse Management: How to Minimise Costs and Maximise Value.
7. Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined.
8. Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined
Sydney Warehouse Store Inc. PlanName:Course Name:Course Number:Instructor Name:Date of Submission:
Sydney Warehouse Store Inc. Plan
In his book, Tompkins (1998) defines a warehouse as a place where goods are received from a source, stored until the time that they are required and picking and shipping them to the appropriate user. Warehousing is one of the developing sectors in the economy and it has evolved over the years and its functions are also growing. One of the challenges that are facing the warehouses is the provision of a wide variety of goods to the customers and reducing the holding time for the materials needed by customers CITATION Tom10 \l 1033 (Tommy, 2010). As such, there is the need for strategic location of warehouses so that they can provide the services that are needed by the customers in an economical and convenient way.
Sydney Warehouse Store Inc. is located in Sydney, Australia. The city has a population of more than 4.6 million people. The warehouse will be located in one of the streets in Sydney where there are a large number of people who move about so that it can be easily noticed.
Sydney Warehouse Store Design Requirements
Proper Data Collection
i) Location
Data should be collected on the place where the store will be located. In this case, data collected should take into account how the store may expand in the future, the weight of the items that are going to be stored, and the type of the warehouse. It should also offer a space for the increase in the number of stock keeping units (SKU) that might be needed in the future if the warehouse expands.
Sydney Warehouse Store Inc. should be located in a place where it can expand easily since it will also be shipping goods to the US. The store should also have as many stock keeping units since it will handle a large number of goods.
ii) Frequency of receiving goods
As part of the plan, it is important to know how often you will be shipping goods. Knowing how often you will be receiving goods will help you to manage the stock keeping units. It will also double your efforts since you will need to make sure that you have sold the goods to the customers to create space for new goods.
Sydney Warehouse Store should be receiving goods in a period of one month since it will be at the start-up stage. It will ensure that there is proper management of the available space. However, as the store expands and it gains popularity the frequency of receiving goods may also be adjusted to one week to make sure that the store does not run out of stock.
iii) Size of the goods
Knowing the weight of the goods that you will be receiving will ensure that you put up proper structures that can withstand the weight of the commodities. Also knowing their number and the size and the shape of a cube or rectangle helps you to plan on the available space conveniently.
iii) Customer location and service
The location of the customers is also important when you are designing a store. Information about the ship-to point services that you will offer in a typical day or during the peak period is also important. The number of customers who will need your services will help you in proper management of your transport system. Are you shipping your goods to 10 customers or thousands of customers, where are they located?
In the case of Sydney Warehouse Store Inc., the store will be shipping their commodities to other countries such as the US, it is, therefore, appropriate to learn the means of transport to use and any legal requirements for shipping the items.
iv) Distance and Space
Distance is crucial when designing your warehouse. The shorter the travel distance, the lower the labor and equipment needed. Another principle that guides the operation of a warehouse is that, the less time you have to move an item, the less handling, the less labor and the less cost CITATION WHO14 \l 1033 (WHO, 2014).
In addition, the smaller the space that you can put an inventory into, the less the travel distance that you will require since if you decide to keep your stock keeping unit in one room, you will not need to go through multiple rooms to get the goods which will also require a lot of labor to move the goods to the place that you want. It is also advisable to put all the goods that are similar in one place to avoid inconveniences and damages that may arise when moving the goods form one place to the other.
Organization /Management Structure
1 General Manger
The general manger will be in charge of the whole warehouse. His functions are;
* Maintaining the warehouse by distributing operations to the staff and enforcing policies and programs that will help in the improvement of services at the warehouse.
* Ensure that there is compliance with the federal, state on shipping requirements, material handling by studying the existing legislation and keeping updated in new legislation and making sure the management complies with the requirements.
* Preparation of annual budget showing the expenses that will be incurred and initiating corrective actions.
* Maintain warehouse staff by recruiting, training and carrying out an orientation for the members.
* Coaching, counseling and disciplines the employees in the warehouse.
Warehouse Management System Manager
Information and technology are one of the tools that should be used in the operations of a warehouse. Utilization of the advances in technology will help the organization to minimize the input costs that are required. The warehouse should, therefore, utilize technology and it can be easily achieved by the use of the Warehouse Management System (WMS).
The manager will be in charge of WMS and ensure that it is I the proper working condition. The manager will be in charge of recruiting new staff to help in the management of the system.
Sydney Warehouse Store Inc. should be managed by a Warehouse Management System (WMS) that will ensure that there is a smooth flow of all the functions in the warehouse. The software will help in the management of the daily tasks at the warehouse. Its functions will include;
1 Receiving goods- The system has a simple process that will help in the management of the shipment of goods to the warehouse. It can also be customized to fit the requirements of the warehouse. The system helps to avoid the wastage of time and minimizes losses that are incurred during shipment.
2 Inventory Tracking- With the system, you can keep a track of all the stocks that are available in your store. It will also help to know the shortages that may occur in the store and order for more to avoid inconveniences o the customers. It will save on space since there will be no overstocking.
3 Improving Customer Service- All the orders from the customers can be received easily and processed on time. They will later be delivered to the customers where and when the customer needs them.
4 Slotting- The system can be used to model a specific way so that you can store the different goods in different places depending on their size and weight. Heavier goods are stored closer to the door to save on labor while products that are used together are stored in a close proximity for convenience purposes.
Fleet Manager
The department will be overseeing, coordinating and facilitating the various transport related activities at the warehouse. It will be headed by the fleet manager. The vehicles are the ones that are involved in the movement of goods, light vehicle fleets that are used in the transportation of people and light cargo such as motorbikes, generators and warehouse handling equipment.
Functions of Fleet Management
1 Identification of Needs-Fleet needs depends on the nature of the emergency or the operation, the distance that will be covered and the nature of the area. In the case or urban areas located within Sydney, then you would use a saloon car while in remote areas away from Sydney, you would use four-wheel drive vehicles that can withstand the terrain. It will also depend on the size...