A warehouse is a commercial space vital to businesses in many industries like manufacturing and distribution. It houses both raw materials and finished goods before they are sent to stores, wholesalers or directly to consumers. Typical Warehouses are large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities, towns or villages equipped with loading docks to load and unload trucks, railway cars or aircrafts from seaports and airports.
What are types of warehouses?
The main function of a warehouse is to store and safeguard the company’s products from theft, fire, climatic changes and other risks. They are also used to preserve and protect the product quality by providing storage facilities, temperature controls and pesticides and other preventive measures. They help reduce production and shipping costs by consolidating inventory.
Other functions include acting as buffer stock to smooth out fluctuations in demand. This ensures that a company always has enough inventory to meet customers’ needs. Another important function of warehouses is to build up investment stocks. This is particularly relevant for commodities that fluctuate in price on a global scale, such as coffee, which can be stored to take advantage of favorable prices.
Finally, warehouses can act as order fulfillment centers to streamline the distribution of products to retailers or end-customers. This can help companies avoid shipping delays, improve customer satisfaction and reduce their business operational costs.