Optimizing Warehouse Operations for Efficient Supply Chain Management

The rapid evolution of technology offers significant opportunities to optimize supply chain operations. This analysis focuses on how organizations can leverage technological tools such as automation, artificial intelligence, and data analytics to enhance efficiency within the supply chain framework. Key aspects include improving warehouse management through automated systems, enhancing demand forecasting accuracy with predictive analytics, and streamlining logistics processes for better operational performance. The integration of these technologies not only promises cost reductions but also increases responsiveness and adaptability in a competitive market environment.

Running head: SUPPLY AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM
Supply and Distribution System of Sadafco
(Supply chain management)
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

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Topic- Supply Chain Management of Sadafco
Introduction
The following report is based on the warehouse design and supply chain management of
the organization Sadafco. The report discusses about how the organization deals with its supply
chain network and import the products from another country. Sadafco is located in Saudi Arabia
and the organization wishes to import milk products from New Zealand. The purpose of report is
to derive an understanding about how supply chain management and warehouse design helps the
organization to run its logistic operation. Supply chain management is the active management of
supply chain activities to increase the customer value and accomplish sustainable competitive
advantages. According to (Christopher 2016), it represents a conscious effort by supply chain
organizations to improve and operate supply chain in the most efficient and effective manners
possible.
Furthermore, supply chain activities cover everything from the product development,
sourcing, production and the information systems required to coordinate the activities. Beske
(2012), mentioned that the first is that practically every product that reaches an end-user
represent a significant amount of effort of multiple firms and these organizations are referred to
collectively as the supply chain. Hence, Best (2012) commented that whole supply chain
activities have existed for long time and most of the organization have only paid attention to
what were happening within the four walls. The following report discuses the purpose as well as
the use of warehouse. A critical analysis has also been provided on the significant factors in
warehouse designing.
Discussing the purpose and the use of warehouse including different types of warehouse

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Purpose of using warehouse:
Warehousing remains as the set of activities that are engaged in receiving as well as
storing goods and preparing them for the reshipment. It has been identified that warehouse and
the storage remains as an act of storing as well as assorting the finished goods to generate
highest time utility at lowest possible cost. Here, the need for storage arises for both raw
materials and the finished goods. Therefore, when this storage is done on a large range in
particular manner, it is called warehousing. Nonetheless, in this context, Fredendall and Hill
(2016) commented that many private organizations are turning into distribution centre instead of
constructing the warehouse. Such definition and concept of warehouse is the key part of the
supply chain network. The aim of the warehouse management is to control the movement as well
as the storage materials within a warehouse. In addition to this, it is also identified that such
system of warehouse management directs and optimizes stock, with the help of real time
information about the status. Such system involves the physical warehouse infrastructure,
tracking systems as well as the communication between the product stations (Ahi and Searcy
2013). Moreover, it is also observed that warehouse is not only concerned with the storage
facilities but also involved in different activities such as receiving, identifying, holding,
assembling, and preparing to meet the growing demands. In addition, warehouse helps to store
the surplus good as well with the help of which the business experts can focus in maintaining a
balance between customers’supply and demands. Sadafco in order to maintain the entire supply
chain management process properly has focused to store their product to warehouse so that
customers can be delivered necessary products and services properly.
Types of Warehouses:

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Private warehouse:
It has been identified that the private warehouses are owned as well as operated by the
large manufacturers to meet their own storage needs. In this context, commented that goods
manufactured or purchased by the owner of the warehouses have a limited value or the utility
because the businessmen generally might not be able to make use of them due to the large
investment required in the construction of a warehouse. A large manufacturer might have a
network of its own warehouses in different parts of the nation.
Public Warehouse:
Public warehouse is the form of specialized business establishment with the help of
which people in general can store their products in certain charge. Generally a specific
cooperative society tends to operate the entire process of public warehouse. People in general
who do not have enough flexibility in maintaining and establishing a warehouse are the primary
users of public warehouse. In order to run a particular public warehouse the operators have to
maintain specific government regulations and acts. Especially, this kind of warehouse is used for
maintaining and storing agricultural products.
Bonded Warehouse:
Bonded warehouses are used for the purpose of accepting imported goods for storage. I
order to run and operate bonded warehouses the operators need to have license. In order to use
bonded warehouse the operators have to follow a particular bond. In this particular bond goods
cannot be removed without taking a specific consent of the custom authority. Therefore, the good
cannot be withdrawn without taking the consent of custom authority. This particular warehouse
is very much beneficial for both importer and exporter. If an importer and exporter is unable to

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pay the customs duty immediately even after the arrival of goods that individual can use bonded
warehouse (Wisner, Tan and Leong 2014).
However, in case of Sadafco, the business authority prefers to use private warehouse so
that they can maintain their entire logistic procedure without being dependent on the government
regulation only. In addition, after maintaining the import system with New Zealand business
organizations the business experts would be able to store, stabilize and regulate the products on
their own way. As a result, as per the needs and demands of their target groupSadafco can
deliver their products as well as services within the stipulated. As a result, the service users do
not have to face difficulties in using the services of Sadafco.
Explaining the significant factors in warehouse design
The business authority of Sadafco while designing the entire warehouse has focused on
maintaining some of the major factors that are as follows:
 Product:
Before designing the infrastructure of warehouse the operators have to focus on the
necessary products. It is undeniable that warehouses are primarily used for the purpose of
storage, stabilizing and departing the products. Therefore, before designing the entire
infrastructure the business experts have to focus on the material of product first.
Sadafcoprimarily focuses to import milk from New Zealand. Therefore, in order to store this
kind of product the infrastructure of the warehouse should be designed in such a way that liquids
caa be preserved by maintaining its quality.
 Space:

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As Sadafco has to deal with liquid products the materials cannot be stored within a heap.
Therefore, the business experts have to invest large amount of money for making a spacious
building, sufficient number of window, flexible workspace, numbers of columns, boxes and so
on. In order to make a larger and spacious building the business experts would have to large
amount of money that the business experts of Sadafco are unable to invest at the present scenario
(Ross 2013).
 Equipment:
In order to design a specific warehouse the business experts needs sufficient space along
with necessary equipments.Sadafco in order to preserve milks should have sufficient boxes along
with racks for organizing the products by maintaining a chronological order. In order to maintain
the entire product operation properly the operators should use advancement of technology so that
the entire process of business can be run successfully. On the other hand, technological devices
are successful enough in maintaining data and information systematically and gradually.
 Circulation of goods:
In the designing of the warehouse, effective circulation of the items or the goods is
important due to the reason that, it will determine the consumption of time and cost effectiveness
in the warehouse (Barney 2012). In the current scenario, warehouses are being designed in such
a way that it will initiate the effective process of inbound and outbound transportation. The ideal
design of circulation of goods helps include inbound transportation of the goods from one side
and the outflow of the goods from the other. The storage of the goods should also be designed in
such a way that, the goods will be sorted according to their types and the day of dispatch. Sorting
the goods according to the time of dispatch will help to drive the outbound process effectively. In

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addition, it will help in reducing the time being involved in dispatching the goods. The allocation
of the items will be more effective and there will be less chance of error in dispatching due to the
effective design of good circulation.
 Appointed personnel:
Employees are one of the key factors in enhancing the effectiveness of the warehouse.
This is due to the reason that, the more effective and trained will be the employees, the more will
be their effectiveness in the job and thus, the operation in the warehouse will be more effective.
Providing effective training and development skill to the employees will help to drive the
operation in the warehouse efficiently. The damage caused in handling of the goods along with
occurrence of the error in allocation of the goods will be less if the employees are being
effectively trained On the other hand, selection and recruitment of the employees should be done
in accordance of the warehouse recruitment. Selection of employees having experience in
handing the operation in the warehouse will help to effectively drive the management in the
warehouse.
Explaining how the organizations can investigate logistics and warehouse providing
The warehouse is a very important part for the organizations since the products that the
organizations provide must be delivered to the customers from the warehouse itself and the
warehouses has to be kept properly within the satisfactory measures for the customers (Richards,
2014). The organizations in the modern business environment mostly prefer to do their business
in the online mode since it takes lesser time and the people are benefitted from this method.
There are certain ways by which the organizations can manage their warehouses in a particular
way and these ways have to be maintained properly(Faber, De Koster&Smidts, (2013). This

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ways are to organize the ways of the warehouse, begin the process with receiving the right things
at the right time, apply a certain logic to pick up the processes, reorganizing the things when they
are needed, use the method of quality control, keeping the warehouses safe, maintain proper
lighting in the areas, providing proper training to the staffs, using the right software to do the
things and make sure the delivery is done within the given time that would ensure a perfect
customer service.
Quality control
Once the items to be delivered to the shipping warehouse, the products should be checked
properly and verified before they are actually packed (Mitra, 2016). The same thing goes with
the selected organization as well. If they do not maintain the quality control and the product is
not delivered at the right time there will be certain serious consequences for it.
Keeping the warehouse safe
A safe environment has to be kept at the warehouses since it is extremely important to
take are of the products in a proper way. The employees who work at the warehouse should be
kept safe and their interests should be served properly as well (Waters and Rinsler 2014). The
certain requirements have to be followed.
Maintain proper lighting
Proper lighting arrangements have to be made in the warehouses as well so that the
shipped products cannot be damaged in the warehouse. Brighter lights would always motivate
the employees to perform their job roles better. The employees should be properly trained as

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well. This would be very helpful since the employees will have to do the jobs. The employees
will have to be cross-trained so that they can share the loads of work with other employees.
Importance of logistics support
Logistics is one of the most important things as the organizations need to send their
products to the customers in a proper amount of time (Kim, An & Choi, 2017). The integrated
logistics support is one of the most important things for the organization to maintain. Proper
logistics support is one of the most important parts of the supply chain management for the
organizations. The organizations have to make partnerships with the best logistics support
organizations so that they can provide the best services to the customers as the customers
satisfaction is the first priority in these cases.
The importance of logistics supply support is one very integral part in the case of the
retailers and the wholesalers. These logistics support organizations can go beyond the inventory
management and then transportation methods to include themselves in single point because it has
become relatively one of the main factors in the organizational success (Fernie and Sparks 2014).
The logistics concerns are one of the most relevant aspects of the business organizations since it
involves many things in the process. The customers have to be delivered with their goods on
time so that the brand reputation of the shipping organization will remain intact (Myerson, 2012).
The business environment is changing relatively fast and new things are coming into
practice and the medium and small companies have to understand the significance of these
matters. The approval of the government has to be sought because the government the
regulations on which roads are to be used and which are to be not. The logistics companies use
the best and shortest routes to deliver the products to the customers. There are certain

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measurement aspects that are aligned with the logistics norms on how the organizations can
innovate new strategies and investigate them into their own system (Myerson, 2012). These are
energy restrictions, technological advancements and the transportation system of the country.
The selected organization Sadacfo deals with the milk transportation around the country. As milk
is a very important product for the people of all ages, it should be transported to its destinations
within time and the logistics support organizations should be providing these facilities to the
organizations.
Discussing the management issues of running a warehouse
The management of the organizations often faces certain challenges and issues when they
deal with the warehouse for shifting their products to the customers within a standard time. Some
of the challenges that have been faced in this aspect are going to be described here (Sainathuni et
al., 2014)
Redundant process
The warehousing process needs the employees to handle the same products for several
times and this tendency of the process leads to the dissatisfaction of the employees in a huge
way. Redundant process can be seen in the warehouses when the workers have to pass the same
ticket through several other employees.
These redundant processes are very much time consuming and the works are delayed and
it takes a longer time to deliver the goods to the shipping addresses. The barcode technology
streamlines will help to find a solution for this problem. The resources are not utilized within a
specified time limit and it creates grave problems for the organizations (Shahabi et al, 2013).

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Poor layout of the facilities
One of the main success factors for running a warehouse to take the advantage of a
proper space. Some of the common problems in this case are the insufficient storage space and
inefficient use of the storage that is available. Thus the poor facility layout is one big problem for
the organizations. The warehouses which are very poorly designed and not properly managed
are big causes for worries for the organization management. The warehouses in which the
storage space is properly designed must have a sufficient floor space and vertical space. When a
good layout is designed for the organization, it is of maximum quality and the equipment and
labor can be equally distributed among the labors of the warehouse.
High labor costs
Warehouse managers are often facing the troubles that are related with the productivity
issues. The business environment in the warehouses is completely labor-intensive and the
inventory management has to be properly handled in this context In the case of warehouse and
inbound logistics operations for the company, almost 65% of the budget has to be kept aside for
the same. Good warehouses very often employ a large workforce for their better performance
and the equipments that are used are very expensive. This tends to discuss the fact the labor costs
has to go up on a high since the organizations cannot compromise with the quality of the
equipments (Beske 2012). There are many kinds of staffs within the warehouse management that
ranges from cleaners, packers, administrative faculty and the senior managers.
Insufficient inventory management is also a very serious problem for the warehouse
management as well. When the people handling the inventory management are not efficient
enough, troubles arrive for the organizations in great many ways (Seuring and Glodbach 2013).

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Determining factors for cost efficiency of the warehouse
Various factors act as determining factor in influencing the cost effectiveness of the
warehouse. The following section will discuss about the different factors.
 One of the key determining factors that influence in the cost effectiveness of the
warehouse is the use of suitable shipping mediums. Shipping is one of the factors that
incur the major portion of the cost for the warehouse (Bottani et al. 2015). Thus, the
medium of shipping should be suitable and effective enough in order to regulate the cost
as much as possible. The choice of effective shipping medium should be made in
accordance to the requirement, geographical location, available mode of transportation
and available time for the transportation. The more effective and efficient will be the
mode of shipping, the less cost will be incurred by the warehouse.
 Involvement of the third party vendors in managing the warehouse or inducting
outsourcing in the process of distribution network will help to reduce the cost of
operation in the warehouse. This is due to the reason that, outsourced organizations are
having more expertise in handling the operation in the warehouse. Moreover, the cost
incurred by them is much less than that of the parent organizations (Winter and
Knemeyer 2013). Thus, inducting the third party vendor will help to reduce the cost
significantly.
 Labor or employee cost is another area where a sound portion of cost is being involved.
In this case, the geographic location of the warehouse is one of the key determining
factors. This is due to the reason that in several countries, the cost of employees is lesser
compared to some other countries. Employee cost in majority of the developing nations is