The importance of warehouse management

Warehouse management is the art of movement and storage of materials throughout the warehouse. Warehouse management monitors the progress of products through the warehouse. It involves the physical warehouse infrastructure, tracking systems, material handling and communication between product stations. Warehouse management deals with receipt, storage and movement of goods usually finished goods and includes functions like warehouse master record, item/ warehouse cross-reference lists and such things as on hand, allocated, transfers in process, transfer in process, transfer lead time, safety stock, fields for accumulating statistics by location.

A warehouse manager needs to perform several crucial functions such as overseeing and recording deliveries and pickups, loading and unloading materials and supplies, maintaining inventory records and tracking system, determining appropriate places for storage, rotating stock as needed and adjusting inventory levels to reflect receipts and disbursements. An individual handling the warehouse management needs to have knowledge about inventory control and warehousing systems, loading and unloading procedures, risky and materials storage and mathematical knowledge.

A warehouse management system is a critical component of an effective overall supply chain management systems solution. Warehouse management system began as a system to control movement and storage of materials within a warehouse. Today it even incorporates tasks such as light manufacturing, transportation management, order management, and entire accounting systems.