Research Proposal: Improvement to Warehouse Operations (Singapore)

This research proposal outlines a study focused on improving warehouse operations in Singapore. The research aims to identify challenges faced by the warehouse industry in Singapore and recommend solutions. The proposal identifies key issues such as warehouse layout, location, and accuracy, and explores the impact of e-commerce growth on warehouse demands. The research methodology includes the use of a positivism research philosophy and a deductive approach. Descriptive research design will be used, and both primary and secondary data will be collected and analyzed. The proposal also addresses ethical considerations and provides a key literature overview, discussing the current state of warehouse operations in Singapore and the implementation of technologies such as Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and barcode systems. The study intends to provide insights into how warehouse operations can be optimized to meet the demands of the growing e-commerce sector and address the challenges faced by the industry.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL OUTLINE/DRAFT
Student Name:
Matriculation Number:
Course: Introduction to Research Methods
Selected Organisation:
Title of research/topic area (provisional)
Improvement to Warehouse Operations (Singapore)
Problem identification
Richards (2017) stated that the warehouse Industry faces in Singapore because of
which technical as well as logistics glitches are face by the E-commerce Industry.
Hence, it is important to develop a detailed analysis of the challenges that is faced
by the warehouse in Singapore and the various aspects of these challenges that
could and does hinder proper functioning of these warehouses. Layout is one of
the issues in warehouse industry. The blueprint or the basic layout of the
warehouse is very important in the proper management of the warehouses of
Singapore. It has to be noted here that the size of the warehouse does matter in
context of the amount of the goods that is to be stored in the inventory, but this is
different from the layout of the warehouses. It should not be divided into improper
section and should not be congested and overly spread. Each space should be
carefully designed to suit the needs of the logistics that are to be stored there in
the warehouse. The layout is also important because many logistics that arrive
through huge cargo trucks can sometimes make the process more tiring if there is
not a proper layout of the warehouse in place. On the other hand, location,
accuracy, huge amount of process is the challenges faced by the warehouse
industry in Singapore (Dewa et al. 2017). Location is the second important
challenge that is face by most of the warehouses not just specific in Singapore but
in most developing as well as developed countries is the location of the
warehouse. This is very important because of the fact that most of the warehouses
are like the personal or combined Inventory of the major Ecommerce businesses.
Therefore, the location becomes even more important because if it is not specific
to an area, state, or location, the process of delivery could also get hampered. It is
to be advisable that the warehouse should be in ample distance from the port if
any such location. It is their or if not they should be between a city so that goods
can be delivered in the city and also for the fact that cargo trucks would not face
any major issue for the unloading of goods in the warehouses.
Accuracy is one of the major challenges in the industry. The term accuracy means
there should not be any shortage of the goods that is being stored at the
warehouse. This also means that there should not be any unnecessary storage of
goods in the warehouse would ultimately lead to capital expenses and will not yield
any profit. Accuracy can be maintained by the warehouse through various simple
changes that needs to be done like for example, there should be a clear view of
the warehouse and all its different storing section if there are any. There should be
proper maintenance of the inventory with the warehouse management system or
WMS, reports, and the management should see detail. If any discrepancies arise
in proper maintenance of the system, it should be properly discussed with the
management.
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There is a danger of using too much complex process in the loading and unloading
of the goods in the warehouse and this could result in non-performance of the
warehouse. The processes should be made very simple so that the employees of
the warehouse could execute it without any hassle. One such very easy method is
the proper implementation of the barcodes in the warehouse sector. The barcodes
are very beneficial in the implementation of the different processes with ease from
the unloading of the goods, to assigning the respective sections to the goods to
the dispatching of the goods to its delivery point (Yang 2015). All these can be
done through reading the status of the product through the barcodes.
There has always been an issue in the picking of the logistics from the
warehouses and it is because of the reason of no pre-assigned route to the
delivery person (Pedrielli et al. 2016). There should be some stress laid on this
department so that handing of the goods for picking could be done through
system-generated routes by the system to avoid any delay in the process. It can
also be useful for any unnecessary implementation failure in the process. Hence, it
is important to research on the challenges and issues faced by the warehouse
industry in Singapore.
Research aims and objectives
The research aims to identify the issues and challenges faced by the warehouse
industry in Singapore and recommend solutions to improve the overall process.
The research objectives are as followed.
 To identify the issues and challenges faced by warehouse industry in
Singapore
 To critically analyse the factors and challenges
 To recommend solutions for overcoming the issues or challenges and
improve the warehouse industry in Singapore
Research question(s) /hypothesis
The research questions are as followed.
 What are the issues and challenges faced by warehouse industry in
Singapore?
 How issues or challenges in warehouse industry in Singapore can be
overcome and improve the process?
Proposed research methodology
It is important to select proper methodological tools that will be helpful to conduct
the research properly (Flick 2015). Selection of research approach, philosophy and
research design are thusly important for a research.
Research philosophy
Positivism research philosophy will be selected in the research. Selection of the
particular philosophy will be helpful to understand and analyze the issues and
challenges faced by warehouse industry in Singapore (Mackey and Gass 2015).
Interpretivism and realism philosophy will be discarded for having limitations in
time.
Research approach
In the research, deductive approach will be used as the research will deal with
existing theory or model associated with the research topic (Lewis 2015). On the
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other hand, as the research will not develop any theory or model related to the
topic, inductive approach would be discarded in the research.
Research design
In the research, descriptive research design will be selected as it will be helpful to
develop procedure in evaluating the challenges involved with the warehouse
industry in Singapore and recommend solutions to improve the overall process.
However, the research will not follow the idea regarding the exploratory and
longitudinal research design.
Data collection process
In the research, primary data will be collected about the issues and challenges
faced by warehouse industry in Singapore. On the other hand, secondary data will
be collected and analyzed in the form of literature review. There will be 45
employees selected for data collection process.
Data analysis process
Quantitative analysis method will be followed in the research in order to collect
data for the research. The data collected for the research will be analyzed based
on the improvement process in warehouse industry of Singapore.
Ethical Consideration
The data collected for the research will be kept secured under the Data Collection
Act 1998. In addition, primary criteria such as ensuing the participants to join in the
survey will be done. Hence, a signed participation form will be utilized for ensuring
ethical practice for the research.
Key Literature
Overview
Ma, Yang and Wang (2017) mentioned that despite a decline in global economy,
there has been no such impact seen in the Asian market or its economy probably
because of the ever expanding middle class who have helped to push the
economic boundaries of these nations. And as many studies have predicted the
growth of urban middle class to 50% by 2020, it is not surprising that many E-
commerce and logistics companies in Singapore are preparing themselves for this
huge population surge that will provide great market opportunities. Considering the
above situation in Singapore and the future its holds for the country, their needs to
a proper analysis made to know the conditions of the warehouses of Singapore
and the ways it could be improved so that along with the profit, the conditions of
the logistics warehouses can also be improved.
Current situation
There was an estimated sale of $394.9 billion by the E-commerce sector and the
figure is expected to rise even further considering the growth prospect of the
nations. These figures does put a tremendous amount of pressure in the logistics
and wad especially the warehouses that are responsible for collecting and
distributing goods and are the storehouses of the many of the E-commerce giants
like Amazon, Alibaba etc (Fera et al. 2017). Through this report, various
successful implementation as well as the challenges that surrounds the working of
warehouses in Singapore are discussed. Among such tools that is been
successfully use by the warehouses in Singapore ios the Warehouse Management
System or (WMS) which is tactical software used by large warehouses is optimize
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their operation and and for proper allocation of their resources towards a toward
creating a less complex warehouse situation. There are also certain methods of
improving the \accuracy of the warehouses and some well searched loading and
unloading techniques that are to be implemented in the day-to-day working of the
warehouse (Zhang et al. 2016). The location of the warehouse is also an important
aspect of its basic and effective functionality so that time could also be
manipulated in the loading and unloading of the goods.
It has to be understood in context of Singapore that most of the logistics and
goods that are stored in the warehouses are from the Ecommerce industry and
because of this the supply and demand becomes utmost important in relation to
the logistic and good that are stored in the warehouses. The mechanism of
operation of the warehouses also need to be understood in order to improve it, so
it will be looked after about the most common challenges of the warehouses in
Singapore and the core reason behind those challenges. This is very important in
order to make suggestion as to how these conditions in the warehouse can be
improved and its function can be optimized. In Singapore, as the penetration of
Internet has gone over 85% of the total area, also a new smart technology has
already made an impression in the minds of many of the warehouse owners. This
technology uses the smart concept of utilizing the internet service to properly deal
with all kinds of logistics requirement including the arrival and departure of goods
through the warehouses using barcodes (Wong et al. 2018). Barcodes have been
already in used for many years now but because of this technology, its utilization
has also been increased. Smart technology using the Internet of Things has
opened a wide area to be used by the computer science and their counterparts.
This has also helped the logistics sector to utilise it for their own development and
growth.
Technology and financial services
As it is seen, that there are many challenges in the proper uses of the warehouses
in the Singapore. However, because of its technological advancement, these
problems have been overcome via some very effective methods that are
discussed in this section. The techniques that have been discussed below have
already been implemented by many warehouses. So, let us look at some of the
basis improvement strategy for the warehouses in Singapore.
1. The layout: For better handling of the goods in the warehouses, both the
internal as well as the external layout should be complementing each other and
not the other way. There should be no congestion outside the warehouses like in
the parking places, which could also affect the activities of the warehouse. Some
of the other factor that are also to be looked out in warehouses are:
There should be a future prediction of the amount of goods that could be stored in
the warehouses while laying out the plan for it (Hui et al. 2015). Even after future
prediction, however accurate it can get, there is always a possibility of unpredicted
circumstances that should also be kept in mind. There should also be a natural
flow in the layout of the warehouses that could affect the feasibility by which the
goods are to be managed. There is always a problem of racks in the warehouse i.e
the size and different heights of these racks. This can also affect proper utilisation
of the workforce in the warehouse and it should be checked that these racks are
arranged in order. This can be done effectively through knowing the goods that are
to be stored in the warehouses and knowing about their physical and well as
mechanical requirements could help.
2. Receiving: This area of any warehouse has to work round the clock, so it is
natural that this area will require a lot of attention and fixes than other area of the
warehouse (Tiwari et al. 2018). There should be proper mechanism developed so
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that only one transporter is allowed to unload the logistics in the warehouse at a
time. This could help in eliminating any congestion issues in the warehouse as well
as any management problem that might be faced because of two or more
transporter at a time. There are certain steps that are to be performed by the
receiving staff of the warehouse with every transporter that is arriving in that
inventory. Like, properly making a checklist of the supplier with that of the goods
that is being delivered. There should be proper inspection of all the external
packages for any damages, which would prevent any future complication
regarding the goods that are being delivered. All the goods that is being received
should immediately be taken to their respective section in the warehouse. It should
be made mandatory to properly indicate any damaged goods that might be found
during the inspection phase and it should also be made a point to take a picture of
that good.
3. Storing: This is done to avoid any future market demand that the company
could not be able to handle under normal circumstances. This is done through
utilising the WMS (warehouse management system) so that an apt place could be
decided in the warehouse where these goods could be stored. The put away is
done to relocate the storage bins in the warehouse that is dedicated to the storage
of these goods.
4. Mechanical Handling: the mechanical handling of the goods in an inventory is
the part of warehouse. Every containment that is delivered in the warehouse has
to be handled mechanically to move it from places to be store and then from
places when it is to be loaded by the trucks (Gupta et al. 2019). Fork machine are
generally use in the warehouses for transporting the goods in the warehouse. It is
very important that the materials of the warehouses be handled in a delicate and
efficient manner because of many reasons. It does reduces any damages the
goods can get, reduces any unforeseen cases of any injury that might be caused
by the staff and the most important being, it does save a lot of time in the shifting
of the goods from one place in the warehouse to the other.
5.Loading : Loading of any item from the warehouse is also an important process
in the whole processes that have been discussed. Picking does involve taking the
order of the customer and arranging those items or goods within the inventory,
which is followed by the packaging of those goods from the warehouse to its
respective places. As it is noticed that, it does involve quite a many number of
individual process that needs to be executed in tandem to avoid any delay of
process lapse in between. It is to be noted that this process can be done through
the proper implementation of the Warehouse Management System. The routes of
these delivery should also be kept in mind as travel time in this section of the
warehouse does account for more than 50% of the total time. Efficiency in this
process can be achieved by properly managing al, the process without any delay.
Innovation strategies
 Warehouse Management System
The warehouse management system or the WMS is software that is being used by
the warehouses in Singapore to [properly manage all the aspect of the warehouse
and help the staff to overcome any mismanagement in their part. The companies
that use them in Singapore use them to optimize the distribution centre
management. They use to manage the daily planning, staffing the warehouse,
controlling the warehouse and supervising the proper utilization of resources in the
warehouses (Pedrielli et al. 2016). It is sometime described as a tactical tool that
has a database of the goods that have been received by the warehouse and their
respective catalogs of their racks or section where they are kept. The staffs that
are working in the warehouse at that moment are all logged in with WMS and their
work is also monitored by the software. All the dispatched products have to be
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properly entered in the database of WMS so that a real time availability of all the
goods can easily be seen through its database. All the logistics that the warehouse
gets in ay period of the day is properly entered in the databases and has to be
updated regularly. A proper dashboard of the WMS system has all the details that
is needed b y any staff member of the managers to know about the real time
status of that warehouse. The WMS system does help the staff in performing many
of the functions of the warehouse such as picking, packing, assembling, verifying
the documents of the transporter, inspection of all the goods, proper document
verification, and the receiving of the goods in the inventory. One of the main
reasons why so many warehouses in Singapore has purchased and modified this
WMS is because of its ability to adopt in many types of warehouses of different
sectors of the industry. The success of the WMS system can be seen by the fact
that nowadays, even the giants E-commerce companies are implementing the
WMS in their inventory in Singapore.
 Smart Logistics
The smart Nation plan of Singapore has not only opened the door for many
innovative technologies in other sector such as IT and manufacturing but has also
opened the door wide open for the Smart Logistics initiative in the warehouse. This
is to be an innovative logistics network in and throughout Singapore. This will also
help the warehouses to use this technology to gain advantages over its problems
as stated in the earlier sections of this report (Lee et al. 2017). The main motive of
this initiate is to allow the owners of cargo and warehouses to harness the
collective benefits of this cutting edge technology that would eliminate many other
complexities that are been seen in today’s world of warehouse handling. There
would be many benefit of this smart logistics network, but among all of the most
crucial is the fact that this technology can be able to reduce the cost of
transportation as well as the handling of the logistics in the warehouses (Johnson
2017). The fact that the projected annual saving of this initiate is around $56
million does speaks the volume of this project. This will apply new technology in
the logistics department so that supply and demand can be met hand in hand and
can go into the future without worrying about the enormous increase in demand.
Data analysis is to be use to properly project all the inefficiencies that is
surrounding the warehouses in Singapore. This will be done in collaboration of
many Ecommerce as well as logistics company that has a stake in this sector.
With the main goal of optimizing the delivery process, these data will eventually be
helpful in analyzing all the different and efficient routes, the types of different
goods and data of the companies that are in this sector (Mukolwe and Wanyoike
2015). A comprehensive plan would be chalked out to use these data to device a
network that would also utilize the Internet of Things in the logistics because of the
fact that Singapore has reached internet connectivity of over 85% of its total area.
The problem of real time tracking that is being faced by the warehouses and the
logistics department can be put to rest by deployment of RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification) sensors that would allow the cargos to be tracked in real time. This
will definitely increase their track and trace power that will result in more customer
satisfaction, which will ultimately result in more financial gains of the warehouses.
Proposed timetable (attach Gantt chart)
(attach as Appendix)
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Appendix
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