Warehousing and Inventory Management

• • Refer to Mylo for study topics

In order to enrol in this subject, you must be accepted into one of the following degrees:

Core

• TAS-GSM-MAS-2023

Additional requirements

No additional requirements

Warehouses/distribution centres play a pivotal role in today’s logistics and supply chain systems, especially when we consider the manufacturing in a global environment and increasing online shopping. When operating a warehouse/distribution centre, how to improve the operational efficiency while minimising the warehousing costs confronts every logistics/warehousing manger. Assume that you are a logistics/warehousing manager and receive the request from the senior management team that you have to reduce the inventory cost by 20% within the next 12 months. How will you break this financial target into the inventory levels of many thousands of products in your warehouses?

This subject delivers the knowledge of warehousing and inventory management in a comprehensive way: from warehousing processes to critical operations, from storage and material handling technologies/equipment to software systems, from technical to managerial solutions. We will start this subject with some fundamentals of warehousing management, including inbound and outbound material flows and critical warehousing processes, order picking strategies and methods, hardware (storage and material handling technologies/equipment), and software systems. The fundamental knowledge here is essential for anyone who aims to pursue the career in logistics/warehousing industry. Then we bring you further to a higher step where the advanced knowledge enable you to deal with the complicated warehousing and inventory issues as a senior logistics/warehouse manager. For instance, the steps of warehouse design, the inventory optimisation knowledge helping you to fulfil the inventory cost deduction command from the senior management team, and the lean management principle that help you to continuously reduce the wastes (of time, space and resources) in warehousing operations. With the advanced knowledge here, you will also be confident if you are targeting a position in a consultancy providing logistics/supply chain solutions.

All the knowledge in this subject are practical relevant. Our hands-on tutorials with spreadsheets with EOQ, Pareto inventory policies and k-curve methodologies will elaborate on how we can implement these inventory optimisation methods in practice. We will also discuss the practical issue on how to implement these methods in ERP/MRP systems. 

This subject has strong linkages with the subjects JNB522 Business Logistics, JNB637 Strategic Procurement Management, and JNB624 Supply Chain Management. For instance, the receiving process of a warehouse/distribution centre is a direct interface with suppliers, and the inventory management policies have to take into account the lead time caused by preparation and transport and the uncertainties in customer demand. The hands‐on tutorials with spreadsheets are also developing and enhancing your data analysis skills in the subject JNB635 Business Analytics and Operations Research.

• Test or Quiz (15%)
• Final exam (40%)
• Presentation (15%)
• Case Study (30%)

For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).