Stores or Warehouse Design and Operations: Assessing its Effectiveness, Case Study of Regional Medical Stores, Kumasi

Abstract

Storing is an integral part of every logistics systems and plays a vital role in providing a desired level of customer service at the lowest possible cost. Storage and operations are linked in that, the producer or manufacturer sends the ordered products or items to the purchaser who receives and stores them and finally distributes or serves its customers. There is therefore the need for those units to operate together to serve the markets (various districts) to have value for money and customer satisfaction.More so, determining the size and number of warehouse facilities are interrelated decisions in that they have an inverse relationship; that is, as the number of warehouse increases, the average size of each warehouse decrease. The general trend is to have fewer, but larger warehouses in an organization’s distribution system.In addition, one of the more important decisions facing logistics executives is how to determine the size and number of organization’s warehouses. To this effect, where should these facilities be located? Finally, each warehouse must be laid out and designed properly in order to maximize efficiency and productivity.Warehouse stores all products, where these distribution centers (DC) hold minimum inventories and predominantly high-demand items (Stock, 1993). These warehouses handle most products in four cycles (receive, store, ship and pick). Warehousing is used for the storage of inventories during all phases of the logistics process. In simple terms, two basic types of inventory exist: (1). Raw materials, components, and parts (Physical supply); and (2). Finished goods (physical distribution) (Stock & Lambert, 2001). There also may be goods-in-process inventory, although in many firms such as the Regional Medical Store-Kumasi, goods-in-process constitute only a small portion of its total investment in inventories. The study examined the effectiveness of Stores or Warehouses design and operations. The objectives of the researchers were to examine how the RMS has effectively designed its stores and warehouse and how it operates.The research looks at the effectiveness of stores or warehouse design and its operations as a case study. This is a fact-finding study which seeks to find out the design of warehouses and the storage and distribution of products and materials at and between point of origin and point of consumption, and provides information to management on the status, conditions and disposition of items being stored (Lambert et al, 1998). The researchers used purposive random sampling technique. Data for the study were obtained from respondents using validated questionnaires. In all, 125 questionnaires were prepared and administered to a purposive sample of top management staff whose names were obtained from the Deputy Regional Manager and other worker (staff) of the Regional Medical Stores. Researchers used Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software for the data analysis.

Keywords; Warehouse or Stores, Operations, Design, Distribution Center (DC), Inventory, Stock Control, Drugs and Non-drugs, Layout, Order