STUDENTS' CORNER - 79

The phenomenal growth of technology has radically transformed the warehouse where most of the functions associated with a warehouse are carried out by machines. Massive boxes containing thousands of kilograms of products are easily lifted and stored in a very high places, as high as two storey building. Warehouses get automated nowadays. The level of automation differs from warehouse to warehouse. A small conveyor belt will be the facility in a warehouse while in another one, all the activities of a warehouse, like loading and unloading, storing and transporting, are automated.  Robots are becoming most popular choice with warehousing facility to handle materials. And, it is said Kiva robots are becoming increasingly popular when it comes to material handling.

Warehouse logistics has undergone a dramatic change. Of course, they work faster and more accurately than the most efficient human being. Robots find the goods wherever they are in the warehouse and take them to the packing place.

A central computer functions like the dispatcher and the traffic controller at the same time. It also keeps track of how and where items are stored in the warehouse.

Automation in warehouses has a lot of advantages. First of all, it can prove extremely customer-friendly in the sense that it does what you want and where you want . It is a great time-saver with fast sorting and packing. Mechanisation frees man from many repetitive tasks.

It is cost effective. The upfront investment may be huge; however, it can be effectively recovered within three to five years. It helps saving a lot. The warehouse need not employ many men; there is considerable reduction in labour. There is no wastage of space and power.

It improves productivity by its sheer speed and accuracy in the movements of the products.

With proper software, the warehouse can have effective control over inventory whether of a seasonal product or a product of demand all the year round.

It not only creates a safe working environment freeing men from heavy handling of objects with potential hurt but also avoids product damage.

It is but common sense that delicate objects like flowers and hard things like steel products cannot be stored in the same place under the same conditions. Reason is obvious. Temperature can affect flowers immediately and severely and the flowers really may die but steel products can endure heat and higher levels of temperature. So you need to control temperature in your storing place if you want to provide storage facility to flower-bundles.

If we do not use the climate controlled warehouse for a product which needs it, it will mean heavy loss to the company.  Fruits and vegetables and things like that do require a climate controlled warehouse.  Even in shipping, this fact of climate and temperature control is a must if bananas are to be transported to a far off land.  Different products require different environment for safe transit. This fact must be clearly understood.

Control of the climate inside the warehouse covers two major aspects of the internal condition of the storage: temperature and humidity. Some items require certain type of storage condition with regards to temperature and humidity. For example, electrical goods and pharmaceutical items demand different conditions in the warehouse. While exposure to moisture can damage the electrical goods, heat or rather high temperature can influence the chemical combinations in the medicines. If proper temperature and climate are not provided to these items, they will be damaged costing huge money to the business. Therefore, climate controlled warehouse is a necessity for storing some specific items for safe and secure distribution to the stakeholders.