STORAGE AND WAREHOUSING:STORAGE AND WAREHOUSING

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STORAGE AND WAREHOUSING

To convince yourself of the value of warehousing, consider the value of the refrigerator in the home. The refrigerator is essentially a warehouse. You purchase food at the supermarket, deliver the food to the refrigerator, store it in the refrigerator, pick the food from the refrigerator as needed, and ship the food to some location where it will be processed or consumed. What is the value of the refrig- erator? What is the value of having milk where needed, when needed? If the answer is not yet clear, consider the costs that would be incurred if you did not own a refrigerator. What are the costs of not having milk for cereal at breakfast in the morning? Some of the costs are hunger from not eating, indigestion from eating dry cereal, the inconvenience of having to go to the supermarket before breakfast, and the actual expense of going to the supermarket before breakfast.

The true value of warehousing lies in having the right product in the right place at the right time. Thus, warehousing provides the time-and-place utility necessary for a company to prosper.

Without a complete and accurate understanding of the value of warehousing, companies have failed to give warehousing the same scientific scrutiny as the other aspects of their business. For a profession as important as warehousing, this is not acceptable. A more scientific approach must be taken to the warehouse of today.

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