Retail Stores: Warehouse Operations

Name Course number Instructor’s name Date Retail Stores: Warehouse Operations The supply chain holds or stores goods in a warehouse to serve several functions such as transportation consolidation and product mixing among others. Consolidation allows transportation of goods from several plants to a particular customer and thus reduces congestion of the client’s space by the individual plants and lowers the distribution cost of the individual plant or manufacturer of the costs that could be incurred on a direct individual direct shipment. Product mixing on the other hand involves combining the desired products for each customer from several manufacturers. It provides the advantage of cutting the transport cost that would be incurred for plats that are far apart. Warehouse operations are important in the supply chain and serve to make sure that accurate and timely delivery of the correct quantity, good condition and at minimal cost. The processes involved in warehousing include the actual receiving, relocating and storing of the goods before they reach the intended recipients or customers (Richards, 2011). Increased productivity particularly as a result of guaranteed accuracy made possible through technology has been helpful to the warehousing sector. This is because the technology compliments the people’s invaluable service in undertaking warehousing duties with a lot more ease. The supply chain produces large amounts of data that requires analysis, transfer to the correct location for its effective use especially in tracking it throughout the supply chain (Richards, 2011). This paper seeks to discuss Wal-Mart Store’s, Target Store’s and Coca Cola’s warehouse operation activities as they relate to receiving goods, identification of goods, dispatching to storage, holding goods, picking goods, marshaling shipments, dispatching shipment and operating an information system. Wal-Mart Wal-Mart moves products from manufacturers to its distribution centers and from the distribution centers to the shelves through a highly calculated warehouse management process. It is the proud owner of one hundred and fifty eight centers putting it among the world’s largest centers used for distribution. It also has to this portfolio a fleet of 6500 tractors, 55000 trailers and more than 7000 drivers. It is equipped with conveyor belts measuring almost fifteen miles transferring cases in the thousands each day. The retailer also has 9 disaster distribution centers strategically located in the country to provide emergency support in the event of natural disasters. The distribution centers have a size of over 1 million square feet and are served by over five conveyor belts that move the products round the clock. The centers are organized to serve up to a hundred stores within a 200 mile distance. The drivers use the most efficient routes and minimize empty miles to reduce amount of fuel consumed and environmental impact while maximizing the merchandise delivered. (Walmart, n.d.). Wal-Mart’s Radio Frequency Identification technology allows scanning of the electronically generated codes even when the pallets of the goods are a distance away. The retail company has been scanning all their merchandise as it moves through the supply chain since 2008. Recently, the retailer has been using smart tags to quickly scan the items that require replacement on the shelves using hand held scanners. It facilitates the smooth and consistent shelves stocking and checking the inventory (Traub, 2012). It allows the retailer to make savings as a result of proper checks on the inventory which are then passed to the customers through lower prices. Target It is one of the Wal-Mart’s competitors having more than sixteen thousand staff members in the distribution department for the more than one thousand seven hundred stores. It has regional centers for distribution uses for receiving and dispatching goods to all the over one thousand seven hundred stores within the country. As of 2009, it had 27 distribution centers in 22 states. Its import warehouses such as those in Rialto and Savannah are specifically for receipt of imported goods directly from the supplier countries for channeling to the centers at the regional level. Its fulfillment center is part of the warehouse operations dedicated to attending to online orders. One of example of such a center is its 2008 SuperValu partnership in food retail that functions by the customers directly (Peter, 2008). In February 2004, Target Store issued an RFID mandate requiring its top suppliers to apply RFID tags on pallets and cases destined for its regional distribution facilities...