After Henry Ford popularized the moving belt manufacturing idea, big volume fabrication took on a distinctive function: that of acting as the grist mill for a consumerist society. Manufacturing became the supplier of mass goods for a use-now-discard-later mindset of materialistic utilization, so thus manufacturing itself became highly organized, including the storage of materials and parts. Among the newer concepts to aid in storage are cantilever racking to store lengthy materials like pipes, lumber and beams; and materials enclosures with wire partitions to keep apart smaller items in volumes. Both methods save storage space while keeping things highly classified for easier access and retrieval.

Warehousing of materials is sometimes considered as an art or science in itself, and reliab;e stores managers —among many other names like materials inventory supervisors— are often difficult to find. For micro- to small-sized manufacturing concerns of lateral organizational relationships, storage management may be performed well by the enterprise manager himself if he can leran to keep in mind the most important three elements of good storage administration. These are:

Materials organization. Method is the essence of the game. Used by nearly all many-data management efforts such as in information, materials organization consists of placing the materials so that they are easily found and accessed. Classifying and storing them by a particular method —usage, requirement, size, product, type and so on— is the paramount principle. The supermarket way of displaying the goods, by variety and usagePurpose, is an excellent starting storage system when coupled with easy access and retrieval. Shelving and racking are excellent systems to aid in materials organization.

Inventory control. Materials are used and therefore inventories run low to be refilled. Maintaining records of the volumes of what materials so their levels are known at any poit of time is an important part of storage management. While this is now easier with computerization, a computer remains just a machine restricted in its functions to the commands of its human, more especially when the computer program experiences some technical errors. The human factor is still indispensable, and talent is often priceless.

Ordering and replenishment. In any kind of storage task, space is finite. In any type of production, the rate of materials usage is nearly always known. No manufacturer desires to stock over than needed or run out of inventory to use at anytime. The trick is to know the time to replenish materials, from whom and how much. This is a natural extension of inventory control, but remains a factor per se, for without a good ordering and replenishment management the storage endeavor will end up with undesirable results of wrong materials, overstocking of materials or, worst, zero materials.

Storage administration is not a matter to overlook in a manufacturing or even selling enterprise. Like an army that do combat only as good as its equipment, it is the availability of materials to supply the production side that keeps the enterprise running. Without satisfactory materials control in storage management, there could be insufficient production, if any at all.

Connor Sullivan recently purchased cantilever racking online for a kitchen project he is working on. He also ordered online wire partitions to use in his warehouse. This and other unique content ” articles are available with free reprint rights.

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