Supply Chain with Warehouse Operations in the Australian City - Case Study Example

Introduction

The commercial building used to store goods is a warehouse. The majority of exporters, wholesalers, importers and manufacturer use the services of a warehouse. The utilization of the commercial building has proven to be cost effective considering the constraints involved in the storage of goods. The appearance of the buildings is usually large to accommodate the bulk storage of goods for commercial purposes. The benefits of using a warehouse are applicable for most businesses because of the storage facilities that most warehouses provide for business owners. On the other hand, management of a warehouse plays a vital part in the commercial building. Bad management technique may lead to the collapse of the enterprise. The employment of the correct strategy in management plays a relevant part in the management process. The paper presents to the CEO of Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. a design of supply chain that includes warehouse operations in Sydney, Australia.

Requirements and organizational structure

The creation of an effective and reliable warehouse depends on the creation of a perfect warehouse design to be applied by the manager. Sydney is a perfect location to place a warehouse. The city is located in the coast region creates room for imports and exports of various parts of the world. Firstly, the manager should ensure that all storage devices are in place to facilitate the storage of perishable and delicate goods. Clients get satisfied if they see a state of art storage facility that accommodates their products. Additionally, security makes up a vital part in the designation of a warehouse (Hill, 2008). The manager should ensure the use of modern technology to facilitate the security of the products brought forward by the clients. The inbound logistics of the company should also be reliable to facilitate easy record keeping within the warehouse.

The administrative structure of any organization plays a critical role in the survival and existence of the company. A warehouse needs to have a systematic management or organizational structure to facilitate the easy management of inflow and outflow of goods in the warehouse. The managing director would be in charge of all staff, members that work in the warehouse. The administrator would be in charge of making critical decisions. The logistics manager would be in charge of the inflow and outflow of goods in the warehouse. The finance manager has a critical role to play in terms of creating the monthly and annual budget of the warehouse. The manager would ensure that the keeping of accurate financial records is a top priority. The drivers and other casual laborers would be in charge of arranging the goods in the warehouse together with transporting them to various destinations.

Workforce management

The employment of skilled and experienced workforce in the warehouse is a necessity. The issue takes the center stage because poor management would lead to the failure of the whole management structure of the warehouse. At first, the manager should ensure that the new employees in the warehouse receive adequate training about the effective handling of delicate and perishable goods./ The need to educate the staff about customer satisfaction is also a necessity for the management. The creation of a perfect training program would rely on the ability of the management to conduct a perfect recruitment exercise that would result in the employment of skilled personnel in the warehouse. On the other hand, the organization structure of the warehouse should ensure that the flow of duty and communication structure is effective to facilitate the long-term survival of the organization in the warehousing industry.

Key regulations

The government and the local authorities in Sydney play a vital role in the existence of the organization in the city. The warehouse management should ensure that the operations of the warehouse do not go against the rules and regulations of the city. The warehouse should ensure that illegal goods such as drugs are not found on the premises (Trunk, 2008). The factor would lead to the closure of the organization in the city. The warehouse management should ensure that it meets all the storage facility status that the authorities dictate. The activity facilitates the maintenance of healthy standards that are quite accommodative for the people that prefer to employ the services of the warehouse. The creation of perfect security systems makes up one of the key consideration that the management should make to maintain the set of standards required by the authorities.

Sydney is a busy city that is filled with many economic activities. The location of the warehouse in the city facilitates the creation of a perfect environment in which the administration could employ various pools of experienced employee to work in the organization. The education system of Australia facilitates the production of qualified graduates capable of maintaining a perfect management structure for the company (Kirovska, Josifovska, & Kiselicki, 2016). The employment of the locals facilitates the survival of the warehouse in the competitive environment. This is because local employee understands the dynamics of the industry and would aid in the creation of perfect strategies that would facilitate the survival of the company in the competitive industry. The issue would enable the warehouse to maintain a competitive advantage over the existing warehouses within the city of Sydney.

Import and export procedures

The understanding of the import procedures used in the United States is vital to the operations of the warehouses. The factor facilitates the understanding of the logistics involved in the transportation of goods from one country to the other. As long as a good is legal, a persona has the legal authority and right to make imports within the United States. The understanding of the entry process is the vital element to be understood (Hill, 2008). The informed compliance makes up a key part of the organization of the company. The making of compliance assessments and measurements is a relevant activity. The import procedures also involve the use of commercial invoices together with the analysis. The assessment of duty is also another relevant activity carried out as part of the import procedures. The understanding of the procedure is also vital for the organization.

The analysis of the export procedures applied in the United States is important for the operations at the warehouses. It enables one to understand the effective measures to put in place while conducting exports and receiving goods in the warehouse. The preliminary considerations involved in the exports of goods within the United States are vital (Bowden, 2013). It depends on the types of products exported together with the volume of the products. Apparently, the set of goods must meet up the industrial standards. It must also abide by the customs laws in the foreign countries. The laws of the United States must also be kept through the exportation process. The acquisition of the export license is also necessary for the companies considering the requirements of exportations. The understanding of the procedure is vital to the success of the organization in the end.

Risks and mitigations

The understanding of the supply chain is an important activity that administration needs to put under consideration. The activity involves the analysis of the risks involved in the supply chain management. The analysis of the risks that come from external forces is a relevant activity. Demand risks make up a vital part of the supply chain. The unpredictability involved in the analysis of the risks makes it pertinent risks that need to be handled or avoided. The supply risks make part of the external risks factors (Hill, 2008). The interruptions in the logistsics may create difficulty in the supply program of the warehouse. The management needs to ensure that such risks are eliminated. The environmental risks that come from the political, social, legal and climatic factors need to be understood from a broader perspective. Lastly, the supply chain risks go hand in hand with the business risks.

The consideration of the mitigations that revolve around the supply chain is relevant. The internal risks in the supply chain play a key part. The internal risks involved in the supply chain involves the control and plan risks of the plan of the warehouse goes wrong it may affect the entire operations of the organization leading to the creation of risks that could prove hard to eliminate. The understanding of the cultural risks revolves around the organizational culture of the warehouse (Trunk, 2008). The activity relies on the ability of the management to relate well with is employees to facilitate the inflow, outflow and perfect storage of goods within the commercial buildings. The mitigation also involves the business risks. The understanding of the business risk is relevant for the survival of the company in a competitive environment in the city of Sydney.

Outsourcing

Strategic Warehouse Management Inc. is an established organization in the United States. The success of the organization relies on the type of technology used to ensure the security of the warehouse. The outsourcing of the technology is relevant activity. The outsourcing of the technology would ensure that the safety of goods for the clients in Australia is a relevant activity. The factor would enable the warehouse to develop a competitive advantage over its competitors in other parts of Sydney. The security system also facilitates the reduction of theft of property an issue that has proven difficult to combat within the city (Min, 2009). The activity relies on the ability of the organization to combat the increased competition in the warehouse industry considering the fact that Australia is a developed economy and the competition in the country is stiff.

Budget creation and storage issues are vital for the warehouse. The activity dictates the direct involvement of the parent company. Strategic warehouse management should ensure that the company employs a team of expertise to deal with the competition that comes from other warehouses. The team of experts from the United States could deal with vital matters such as the handling of the annual budget (Friedman, 2010). The top management could ensure a certain budget allocation to ensure that the warehouse in Australia develops to the required set of standards. On the other hand, storage is a vital element discussed in the paper. The parent company should ensure that it brings proper storage facilities to facilitate the warehouse to create a brand name in the industry. The activity would enable the creation of an effective and reliable warehouse in the city of Sydney.

Budgeting

The successful operations of a warehouse require the proper inclusion of the required set of factors. Apparently, the building materials make up one of the relevant things to include in a budget. The sector may cost up to 45% of the budgetary allocations. This is because it may involve the use of expert items that are quite expensive to obtain. The fiancé manager should ensure that the budget is suitable enough to fit in the costs involved in the construction of a suitable warehouse. Such equipment includes stones, cement, metal, timber, and labor. The total costs of such factors may amount to $500000 depending on the size of the warehouse. The considerations facilitate the construction of a stable building. The storage makes up a vital part of the budget. The finance manager needs to ensure the purchase of a reliable set of storage facilities that enables the warehouse to store all set of goods.

Security is also a vital element in the creation of a perfect warehouse. Cases of theft are common in most warehouses the activity dictates the creation of a perfect warehouse cable of protecting the client’s property. Such activity involves the employment of reliable and trained security personnel. The use of modern technology to create perfect alarm systems that improve the security of the products in the warehouse (Min, 2009). Ideally, the activity enables the company to create a good name amongst its clients. Security may cost 20% of the warehouse budget. It costs around $150000 to create reliable security budget. Other costs revolve around lighting $20000, traffic regulation, $12000 and transport $100000. The creation of an efficient budget enables the company to survive in the competitive environment in Sydney.

Expense

Total cost ($)

Construction cost

500,000

Security

150,000

Transport

100,000

Lighting

20,000

Traffic regulation

12,000

TOTAL

782,000

Metrics of success

Space is a measurement of metrics that one could use to evaluate the level of success in the warehouse. If the number of clients visiting the warehouse is high, the space available would be less. The management could use the space to evaluate the success of the warehouse. The daily activities carried out by the warehouse explain its levels of success (Friedman, 2010). The keeping of financial records is a relevant activity that companies needs to consider ensuring their success in the industry. The activity relies on the ability of the organization to come up with accurate data that exhibits all the financial transactions. The management could look at the financial transactions and determine the level of success of the warehouse. Lastly, the number of employees that the warehouse has employed plays a relevant part. An increase in the number of employees shows the success of the warehouse.

Conclusion

In summary, The paper has presented a design of supply chain that includes warehouse operations in Sydney, Australia, to the CEO of Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. The systematic arrangement of ideas explains how the implementation of the efficient strategy is important for the success of the organization. The creation of an effective and reliable warehouse depends on the creation of a perfect warehouse design to be applied by the manager. The consideration of the mitigations that revolve around the supply chain is relevant. The internal risks in the supply chain play a key part. The analysis of the export procedures applied in the United States is important for the operations at the warehouses. The successful operations of a warehouse require the proper inclusion of the required set of factors. Budget creation and storage issues are vital for the warehouse. The movement dictates the direct participation of the parent corporation.