Storage
From wikiMHEDA
Storage is the process or act of positioning and placing items (cartons, packages, pallet unit loads, etc.) in an area set aside for holding these items or staging these items for shipment.[1]
Purpose
The most common reason for storing a product is that storage allows the other elements of production to operate more efficiently on a per-unit basis because the fixed costs associated with utilizing the element can be spread over more products; e.g., storing up to a truckload of product in a facility reduces the per-unit costs of shipping, and buffering or storage of WIP enables batch production, which reduces the per-unit setup costs.
Other potential reasons for storage include:
- Time bridging: Storage allows product to be available when it is needed (e.g., storing spare machine parts at the facility).
- Processing: For some products (e.g., wine), storage can be considered as a processing operation because the product undergoes a required change during storage.
- Securing: Safe-keeping of product, e.g., nuclear waste storage.
Storage Equipment
The major types of storage equipment are:
- Block stacking (no equipment)
- Rack
- Stacking frame
- Shelves/bins/drawers
- Storage carousel
- Automatic storage/retrieval systems (AS/RS)
- Split case order picking system
- Mezzanine[2]
