7 Warehousing and Fulfillment Operations Free Online FlashCards

What is the purpose of a warehouse?

A warehouse receives, identifies, stores, retrieves, prepares, and dispatches goods while balancing availability, cost, time, damage, and risk.

What are the main responsibilities of receiving staff?

Receiving staff compare deliveries with expected goods and quantities, inspect condition, identify products, and record accepted quantities and discrepancies.

Why must warehouse movements be recorded?

An unrecorded movement can make inventory appear available when it is not, undermining inventory accuracy and fulfillment.

What is the basic flow of goods through a warehouse?

The basic flow is receiving, inspection or staging, storage, order picking, packing, and shipping.

What is a key trade-off of U-shaped warehouse flow?

In U-shaped flow, receiving and shipping are near the same side of the building. This can let them share docks and staging resources, but inbound and outbound traffic must be kept from interfering.

How does through-flow differ from U-shaped flow?

Through-flow places receiving and shipping at opposite ends, moving goods across the facility in one general direction. It can reduce crossing flows when the building and operation support it.

What is dedicated storage, and what is one drawback?

Dedicated storage reserves a location for each SKU. It is straightforward to manage, but fluctuating stock levels can leave space unused.

What is cycle counting used to detect?

Cycle counting regularly counts selected items instead of relying only on a full physical count. It helps reveal record errors and damaged or misplaced stock.

What is a drawback of discrete picking?

Discrete picking has one picker complete one order at a time. It is simple to control, but may repeat travel across orders.

How does batch picking work?

Batch picking gathers items for several orders in one trip; the items are sorted into their respective orders afterward.

How are work and order movement organized in zone picking?

In zone picking, pickers work in assigned areas, and orders or totes move between zones or to a consolidation point.

What should packing accomplish before dispatch?

Packing verifies picked items and quantities, selects suitable packaging, protects products, and prepares shipment labels and documents.