Overview of Warehouse Processes

The basic function of a warehouse is to store goods. This means that they receive deliveries from suppliers, do any necessary checking and sorting, store the materials until it is dispatched to customers. Traditionally warehouses were seen as places for the long-term storage of goods. Now organizations want to optimize their customer experience and try to move materials quickly through the supply chain, so the role of warehousing has changed.

Given below are the list of activities that are generally included in today's ‘warehousing’

Receiving goods from suppliers.
Identifying the goods, matching them to orders and finding their intended use.
Unloading materials from delivery vehicles.
Doing checks on quantity and quality.
Sorting goods as needed.
Labelling the goods.
Moving goods to storage area.
Holding them in stock.
Moving materials within warehouse.
Picking materials for orders.
Packing and packaging.
Loading delivery vehicles.
Dispatching the order.
Inventory control and finance.

This is a generic layman view of the warehouse process. Now we will look at the same process from warehouse management perspective and do a deep dive into all of the warehouse activities understanding their drivers and industry wide used execution model.

Warehouse Management Work Processes

Warehouse management is one facet of supply chain management. The Warehouse management includes a wide range of sub-processes and activities to support the warehouse facility operating at an optimal level, at any time. Warehouse processes need to be integrated with other business processes such as transportation, manufacturing, quality control, purchase, transfer, sales, and returns. Any store, factory, or distribution center employs eight high-level processes for physical inventory:

Inbound Receiving Process
Inbound Put-away
Warehouse Picking Process
Warehouse Packing Process
Outbound Shipping Process
Warehouse Counts Process
Warehouse Returns Process
Warehouse Labelling Process
Warehouse Staffing and Roles
Miscellaneous Warehouse Processes
Warehouse Reporting

Inbound Receiving Process	When products arrive at a facility, there need to be a defined process to let them in. The process for accepting inventory when it arrives is called "Receiving".
Inbound Put-away	After products have been received and passed a quality inspection, they need to be stored so that you can find them when you need them. This process is called put-away.
Warehouse Picking Process	Order picking is the process of selecting items from a warehouse , to fulfill customer orders.
Warehouse Packing Process	The packing process allows you to validate and pack products into containers. The packaging is intended to provide protection for the item as it is being handled in the warehouse or when the item is being shipped.
Outbound Shipping Process	The final step is to send ship loads out of the warehouse once all the work that is associated with those loads has been completed.
Warehouse Counts Process	Counts are typically done to eliminate mismatches between the system and the actual inventory.
Warehouse Returns Process	A return is the process of handling the return of products from a customer to the distribution center.
Warehouse Labelling Process	Labelling is done to streamline warehouse organization and make sure workers can easily identify every section, rack, and carton.
Warehouse Staffing and Roles	Staffing is concerned with the planning for expected workload and determine the number of resources required to complete each activity.
Miscellaneous Warehouse Processes	Miscellaneous processes to manage the warehouse operations.
Warehouse Reporting	Preparation and availability of right kind of operational and inventory reports across the warehouse for effective control of warehouse operations.