What is Warehousing?

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Warehousing Definition

The definition of warehousing is simply the storage of goods on a large scale. A warehouse is a commercial building used for storage of goods. Warehousing and warehouses are used by manufacturers, exporters, importers, wholesalers and customs, and other businesses use to store goods for cases where the goods aren’t of immediate use to them.

Warehouse Usage

Common cases were warehousing is used is when a plant has limited storage and already has more than enough inventory currently in its plant and therefore has no use for the goods. Another example is when goods must wait somewhere after being transported for customs clearance, or for the purchaser of the goods has not yet claimed and taken possesion of the goods shipped to them.

The definition of warehousing also includes the cases where a manufacturer has finished goods waiting in a warehousing waiting for its customers to make orders. It is therefore wise when talking about warehouses to determine what exact function these warehouses serve.

Types of Warehouses

Some examples of warehouses: incoming goods warehouses, outgoing goods warehouses, in-transit warehouses, raw material warehouses, spare parts warehouses etc..

Reasons for Warehousing

Warehousing is one of the methods used in supply chain management to store, secure, manage, and control the excess inventory that a business might have for one reason or another. In a perfect world, companies shouldn’t have to rely on warehouses. Warehouses can end up being a large cost in your supply chain including personnel, space,transportation fees, obscolenscence, theft, damage and a range of other hidden costs that can add up the more warehouses your company is forced to keep track of.

Warehousing Services

Warehousing service can be outsourced externally and can also be handled internally. Both internal warehousing and external warehousing has its advantages and disadvantages so it is wise to consider them before making decisions.