Assessment Cover Sheet

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Assessment Title Assignment 1

Programme Title: BILM

TL6001
Course No.:

Course Title: Freight and Warehouse Operations

Student Name: Shooq Ali

Student ID: 201600097

Tutor: Jalil Ebrahim

Due Date: 14 October 2016 Date submitted: 3 April 2017

By submitting this assessment for marking, either electronically or as hard copy, I confirm the
following:
 This assignment is my own work
 Any information used has been properly referenced.
 I understand that a copy of my work may be used for moderation.
 I have kept a copy of this assignment

Do not write below this line. For Polytechnic use only.

Assessor: Date of Marking:

Grade/Mark:

Comments:
Assessment: Assignment 1
Submission Date: Saturday 14th October 2016 at 23.59 (via Moodle, Turnitin)
Weighting: 35% (Marked out of 100)
Type: Individual
Word Count: 2500 words +/-10%

Learning Outcomes:
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the principles, regulations and laws of the freight and warehouse
industries and the commercial environments in which they operate

Assignment background:
A distribution company is locating its warehouse operations to Bahrain Logistics Zone (BLZ) in Hidd. It will
distribute all the items needed for small business customers such as convenience or cold stores. The company
appointed you as an operations manager to oversee the design of the warehouse and to ensure it has efficient
warehouse operations.

Write a report to:

 Explain the role and functions of the warehouse and explain the layout of the warehouse in
accordance with the principles of warehouse design. (20 marks)
 Explain the daily operations for receiving, consolidating, storing and dispatching of goods mentioned
in the case study (25 Marks)
 Explain how you would measure the warehouse performance and improve the quality/standard of
work carried out by warehousing employees in daily tasks (25 Marks)
 Explain how you would eliminate or minimize risks in the warehouse to ensure safe warehouse
operations (20 Marks)
 Report is standardized format throughout, legible and APA referencing is used (10 Marks)
This assignment should be written on this document (a Microsoft Word document - do not PDF the file) and
appropriately formatted; headings and subheadings should be used, you should use either Calibri or Arial font
(size 11 – excluding headings and subheadings), your work should be double-spaced and pages should be
numbered. Remember to reference your work (including in-text referencing) at all times using the APA format.

Submissions – Use this document as the template for your submission! Please submit the whole document
including cover page, instructions, your report and the rubric via Moodle. All assignments will be checked for
plagiarism and originality using Turnitin. All submissions must be saved using the following naming convention
(failure to do this may result in your assignment not being marked):
 First Name_ID number_ Assignment Part 1
 E.g. Ahmed_20109090_Assignment Part 1

BILM Assignments – Rules & Guidelines

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adhered to Bahrain Polytechnic’s policy on academic integrity and honesty including using APA referencing
appropriately. Any violation of this will be dealt with as stipulated in the policy.

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EXTENSIONS: On application, in writing, tutors may approve an extension up to a maximum of two (2) days
(including the weekend and public holidays) for an individual assignment. Applications for extensions must be
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Please note that extensions will not be given for group work, tests or exams.

WORD LIMIT: All assignments have a required word limit which we permit a variation of +/-10%. For example
an assignment with a 3000 word limit means that you can submit between 2700 to 3300 words. These words
come from the main body of your writing i.e. your introduction to your conclusion. We do not include title
pages, contents pages, reference list or appendices. In-text referencing is included in the word count.
Submissions which are substantially under the word limit will receive a low mark for failing to answer the
question fully. If a submission is over the word limit, the tutor will simply stop marking at that point where it is
10% over (e.g. 3300 words for an assignment with a 3000 word limit). You will not receive any marks for work
that is submitted outside of the maximum word limit.

Please refer to the generic Course Guide or your tutor is you require further clarification of the above
points.
 Report

Please write your assignment here

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION: 5

ROLES AND FUNCTION OF A WAREHOUSE 5

LAYOUT AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN: 6

PART TWO: OPERATIONS. 8

PART THREE: MEASURE THE WAREHOUSE PERFORMANCE AND IMPROVEMENTS. 10

PART FOUR: MINIMIZING RISKS AND ENSURING SAFE WAREHOUSE OPERATIONS. 11

Minimizing Risks in the warehouse: 11

Safe warehouse operations 12

REFERENCE LIST 13
Introduction:

In this assignment, I was selected by Bahrain Logistics Zone (BLZ) Company to be the operation manager of

their warehouse, which takes place in Hidd. The warehouse will administer and deliver the goods for small

business and cold stores. The point of choosing me is to supervise and manage the warehouse layout and

guarantee that the operations are working effectively. In the upcoming paragraphs and parts of this report, I

will be defining and clarifying the role and functions of a warehouse and describe the warehouse layout

following the principles of warehouse design. Also, I will expound the constantly operations for receiving,

consolidating, storing, and dispatching of goods. Moreover, I will explain the ways that I can evaluate the

accomplishment of the warehouse and how the standards of work can be enhanced. Furthermore, I will detail

ways to decrease danger and hazard in the warehouse so we provide safe operations.

Roles and Function of a warehouse

A warehouse is an interim depository district for stocks. It operates as a safeguard to ravel differences

between the reverse of goods and requests for services and goods. This warehouse will distribute goods to

cold stores and supermarkets, which makes it include variety of goods. It will contain food such as: dairy milk

products, fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen food, seafood and meat and poultry, etc. The principles of an

effective warehouse are the following: manage the equipment’s depository and motion, operate combined

business dealings accurately and smoothly and hold maximum goods level (5 Principles of Effective

Warehouse Management, n.d). The roles and functions of a warehouse are receiving, consolidating, storage,

dispatching, uploading and returned goods.

The location of the warehouse matters a lot. The warehouse is located in Hidd that is one of the most perfect

places. Its near Salman Port and it doesn’t take much time to reach the airport. Also, all the utilities such as

gas, water and electricity are available. Moreover, it’s secure and easy to reach. (5 Principles of Effective

Warehouse Management, n.d ).

Layout and principles of design:

According to (Oliver, n.d). It says that to have a valuable warehouse we should prevent barriers, bypass

needlessly actions and the most important thing is to guarantee enough spaces to smooth the movement.

According to these principles, I decided to design the warehouse with the U- shaped flow layout, which the

receiving and shipping docks are adjacent to each other. It says that the U- shaped flow proposes mutual

productive use of dock resources. (Warehouse Product Flow Options, n.d). Also, using this layout will help to

decrease the managing time of the goods and provide the ability of cross docking. Cross docking means

delivering the goods to the consumers without storing it, it happens when you take the goods after receiving

them from the inbound area to the outbound area without the need of storing. (What is Cross-docking –

Understanding the concept & definition, n.d). Moreover, it says that U-shaped flow is the more frequent flow

shape to apply. So, it grants that the adjustments of the assets in the production atmosphere are placed in a

good position taking an appropriately slight space.

Warehouse Design
As you see this is the warehouse design. It consists of inbound area where most of the operations start. MHE

storage, which contains all the equipments that we need to you at the warehouse. WC, nurse room to ensure

the medical and health safety, and to give the right treatments for the injured employees. Reception and main

entrance. Security office to ensure the warehouse safety. Fire exit for the emergency cases. Frozen goods area

with a temperature of at least -18. Chilled goods area to store fresh vegetables and fruits. Also, the warehouse

consists of hazardous and special goods area to store the valuable and danger goods. Hazardous goods must

be placed away from the other storing areas to make sure if an accident or fire happened it doesn’t affect the

other goods. Bonded items area to keep the taxed goods such as cigarettes and alcohol. Offices and the

manager’s office over a mezzanine. The mezzanine has got some advantages such as: Flexibility, adds more

space and its safe (Mezzanine Flooring, n.d). Moreover, Relaxing room and lunchroom is available for the

break time, so the employees can take a rest and eat. In addition, returned goods area, mid moving goods

shelving, pallet racking and pick shelving, fast moving goods shelving and customized shelves are also available

to store all types of goods. While storing we should keep in mind the weight, size and type of goods.

Furthermore, a conveyer for the priest and packing area is available to decrease the time and effort. Never the

last, marshaling and dispatching areas are set next to the outbound area to easily load the goods to the

vehicles.
Part two: Operations.

Receiving is the first operation in the warehouse. It starts from the receiving dock where you receive the

goods. The security staffs checks the vehicles. Then, it’s the receiving area employee’s duty to empty the

trucks manually or automatically. While unloading, the employees must arrange the goods depending on their

weight, size and type. Goods can be on a firm of containers, pallets or cartoons. Also, they can use pallet

trucks and forklift trucks for moving and unloading the goods. The unloading process must be done as fast as

possible to make the inbound area free for the other trucks and discharge the driver (personal

communication). Then, they must check whether the received goods are matching the purchased goods

before paying for them based on the GRN that stands for goods receiving note (goods receiving note, n.d), to

make sure that the received goods are going to be delivered according to the order plan. Furthermore,

employees must be careful while unloading the goods because it may include some hazardous or valuable

goods that need a special care.

Consolidating: SKU is one of the most important things before storing the goods in the warehouse. SKU stands

for stock keeping unit. Goods must be labeled with a barcode to know where to place it at the warehouse

(Stock Keeping Unit – SKU, n.d ). The goods comes in bulks first, then we break them to smaller, while

consolidating the weight and size of the goods are important elements to consider. Heavier goods must be on

the lower shelves and lighter goods on the upper shelves.

Storage: According to Cambridge Dictionary – Storage (n.d). Storage means keeping goods in a secure and

protected place for the future reference. While storing, we should keep all the storing rooms together and

near each other to reduce physical movement except the hazardous and bonded items.

There are two types of storing: fixed location and random location. Fixed location all the goods that labeled

with SKU are stored in the same place next to each other. Random location is when the computer decides

where to put each item according to it type and to make more space (personal communication). Hazardous

are the dangerous goods that affect the environment and people negatively. For example: flammable goods,

gases, dynamites and combustibles (What are Dangerous Goods?, n.d ). These goods must be placed in a
separate places making sure to provide the suitable environment for them. Moreover, Bonded items are the

goods that require governmental approval and tax payments such as: cigarettes, jewelries, money and

medicines (Bonded goods, n.d ). Also, we have to store frozen goods in a temperature of at least -18ºC and up

to -30ºC. While operating in this environment, employees must wear PPE to avoid harm. Furthermore, chilled

foods needs to be stored at or below 8ºC, targeting 5ºC such as fresh vegetables, dairy and meat product.

Other products can be stored at 15ºC and kept fresh such as bread (Frozen Foods Handling & Storage, 2008).

In addition, while storing goods we must consider the weight, outsize, exterior and pick frequency.

Dispatching: in dispatching, employees must make sure that all the orders are right and packed in the way that

it should be. The used method here is goods to picker to make sure that the process is more factual and to

reduce time and effort (Stone,2015) . In receiving and dispatching, stocks must be moved very quickly specially

decaying goods such as: dairy products, eggs, seafood, meat and poultry and fruits and vegetables.
Part three: Measure the warehouse performance and improvements.

Measuring a warehouse performance is something important. Several things such as these can measure the

warehouse performance: Objectives and targets, customer service and KPIs.

The objectives and targets can measure the performance of the warehouse by seeing how far they are from

their goal and target and are they getting closer to it or not. Using SMART will help the company to achieve. It

stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time. Following this will lead the company to choose the

right objectives and targets. Examples for SMART targets: percentage of orders met in full, percentage picks

accuracy, inventory days and absentness’s and sickness rate.

Customer Service: The customers are the most important element for the company’s success. That’s why the

customer’s satisfaction or depressions measures the company’s performance. It shows whether the services

provided by the company/warehouse are good or not. The customer’s impressions can be delivered to the

company/warehouse by filling surveys, forms or receiving comments and feedbacks by email, phone calls,

mailbox or fax. The more high rates you get, the more successful the company is (Stillwagon, 2015). The

survey can include several questions to rate and measure the product and service. It can ask about the quality,

value and experience of purchase, usage and installation. Also, it can have a feedback for improvement

questions where the customers are asked about what was actually good about us, what was bad and what are

the things that we can do to improve our performance (Smith and Ph.D., 2012).

KPI’s stands for Key Performance Indicator. The purpose of the KPI’s is to judge the success of every single

thing in the warehouse. Weaknesses and Strengths are the center of attraction here. KPI’s can contain

receiving, put away, storage, order picking/packing and shipping. Receiving which can measures cost per line

item received, volume per man-hour, truck time at the dock and accurate receipts. Put away which aspects to

deal with cycle time, cost per item put away, time from receiving to pick location and put away per man-hour.

Storage which measures storage cost per item, inventory storage per square foot and days-on-hand. Order

picking/packing which can includes cost per line item picked, orders picked per hour, picking labor costs,

consumables usage and cycle time per order. Shipping which includes the best metrics for shipping such as

cost per item shipped, cost per shipped order, labor hours consumed per order, percentage of perfect

shipment, shipping dock utilization and time from picked order to departure (Stone,2014).
Part four: Minimizing risks and ensuring safe warehouse operations.

Minimizing Risks in the warehouse:

Several things can minimize risks in warehouse; one of the things is health and safety regulation (WHAT ARE

THE MAIN HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATIONS? , n.d ). They are rules and regulations that ensure the safety of

the warehouse and the safety of our staff and workers while doing their job. Such as; for entering the

hazardous storage room, staff members and workers have special Personal Protective Equipment’s (PPE),

those are required from the rules and the regulations of the goods stored inside the hazardous storage to not

harm or injure any of the staff and keeping the warehouse safer and secure. COSHHH provides a written

regulation to sign on to follow the rules and keep the goods safe, workers and the warehouse. PPE are

equipment’s or items that the humans -workers or employees- can wear them or use to protect themselves

from work risks and danger. For example, they can use cartridges and disposables for breathing care and

guardianship. Also, they must wear hats, caps or helmets to protect their heads. Moreover, they must cover

their eyes with shields or goggles to prevent eyes harming or infection. In addition, they must take care of

their skin by using sunburn and barrier creams, wearing long sleeves and using gloves. Additionally, the floors

must be clear and clean all the time. Making sure that all the warehouse floors are not slipping can minimize

the hazards. Also, it must be straight and in a good condition to avoid getting hurt or harmed (Warehouse

Safety Principles: 6 key guidelines to keep your workplace safe, 2012). Furthermore, use liquid petroleum gas

for the forklifts and chargeable batteries to reduce pollution at the warehouse. We have also made

regulations in the warehouse for our workers in the working place. We allowed only one language in the

warehouse so that workers do not get confused if a worker does not speak the same language. We have

trained all our workers to get the best out of their communication and speaking skills to share information

faster to move goods and make the goods flow without a buffer in the warehouse. In addition, ton keep the

information reach on time and goods not get stuck. This process makes workers do their job in a more

effective way in the workplace.

Safe warehouse operations

As we receive expensive and valuable products in our warehouse, it is our duty to make them safe and protect

them in the best way. We have kept security cameras and CCTV all over our warehouse inside and outside to

ensure that if any robbery or damage happens to the warehouse and the goods. We have made the entrance

for several rooms in the warehouse limited and not for everyone to enter, only authorized staff members can

enter due to the importance of the products such as valuable electronics, cigarettes and alcohol.
Reference List

Bonded goods . (n.d) . Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/bonded-goods.html

Cambridge Dictionary – Storage . (n.d). Retrieved from

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/storage

Frozen Foods Handling & Storage . (2008) . Retrieved from

http://www.cold.org.gr/library/downloads/Docs/FrozenFoodsHandling.pdf

Goods receiving note. (n.d) Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/goods-received-

note.html

Mezzanine Flooring . (n.d) . Retrieved from http://www.mezzaninefloors.uk.com/mezzanine-

floors/advantages

Oliver, M.(n.d) .The Principles of Warehouse Design . Retrieved from http://www.total-logistics.com/logistics-

news/other-news/the-principles-of-warehouse-design.html

(Ebrahim. J . Personal Communication).

Smith. S and Ph.D. (2012). Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions: 5 Sample Templates You Can Use Right

Away. Retrieved from https://www.qualtrics.com/blog/customer-satisfaction-survey-questions/

Stone. S . (2014). Warehousing Key Performance Indicators . Retrieved from https://www.cisco-

eagle.com/blog/2014/04/05/warehousing-key-performance-indicators/

Stone. S. (2015) . Goods-to-Picker Methods and Alternatives . Retrieved from http://www.cisco-

eagle.com/blog/2015/10/29/goods-to-picker-methods-and-alternatives/

Stillwagon, A.(2015) 14 Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to Measure Customer Service . Retrieved from

https://smallbiztrends.com/2015/03/how-to-measure-customer-service.html

Stock Keeping Unit – SKU . (n.d) . Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stock-keeping-unit-

sku.asp

Warehouse Product Flow Options. (n.d) . Retrieved from http://rebstorage.com/articles-white-

papers/warehouse-product-flow-options/

Warehouse Safety Principles: 6 key guidelines to keep your workplace safe . (2012) . Retrieved from

http://www.aalhysterforklifts.com.au/index.php/about/blog-

post/warehouse_safety_principles_6_key_guidelines_to_keep_your_workplace_safe

What are Dangerous Goods?. (n.d ). Retrieved from http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/dangerousgoods/what-are-

dangerous-g.asp

WHAT ARE THE MAIN HEALTH AND SAFETY REGULATIONS? . (n.d) . Retrieved from

https://worksmart.org.uk/health-advice/health-and-safety/employer-duties/what-are-main-health-and-

safety-regulations

What is Cross-docking – Understanding the concept & definition. (2011) . Retrieved from

http://www.aalhysterforklifts.com.au/index.php/about/blog-

post/what_is_cross_docking_understanding_the_concept_definition

5 Principles of Effective Warehouse Management . (n.d) . Retrieved from https://blog.kerridgecs.com/5-

principles-of-effective-warehouse-management
 The marking framework for the report is tabled below:
Met criteria to an
excellent standard
A B
(25 – 21)
(20 – 17)
(10 - 8.5)
Role & functions The role and functions of
of warehouse the warehouse and layout
and principles of of warehouse in
design accordance with principles
of warehouse design are
excellently explained.
20 Marks
The daily operations for
Daily operations receiving, consolidating,
storing and dispatching of
25 marks goods mentioned in the
case study are excellently
explained.
How warehouse
Warehouse performance would be
performance and measured and the
best practices quality/standard of work
carried out by warehousing
25 Marks employees improved is
excellently explained.
Safe working How risks in the warehouse
would be eliminated or
practices
minimized to ensure safe
working practices are
20 Marks excellently explained.
Report is excellently
Layout and
structured. Information is
presentation excellently presented with
excellent use of English.
10 Marks
APA referencing is correct.
Met criteria to a very Met criteria to a Did not meet
good standard satisfactory standard Criteria
C F
(20.5 – 17.5) (17 – 15) (14.5 – 0)
(16.8 – 14) (13.8 – 12) (11.8 – 0)
(8.4 - 7) (6.9 – 6) (5.9 – 0)
The role and functions of The role and functions of The role and functions of
the warehouse and layout the warehouse and layout the warehouse and
of warehouse in of warehouse in layout of warehouse in
accordance with principles accordance with principles accordance with
of warehouse design are of warehouse design are principles of warehouse
well explained. adequately explained. design are not
adequately explained.
The daily operations for The daily operations for The daily operations for
receiving, consolidating, receiving, consolidating, receiving, consolidating,
storing and dispatching of storing and dispatching of storing and dispatching
goods mentioned in the goods mentioned in the of goods mentioned in
case study are well case study are adequately the case study are not
explained. explained. adequately explained.
How warehouse How warehouse How warehouse
performance would be performance would be performance would be
measured and the measured and the measured and the
quality/standard of work quality/standard of work quality/standard of work
carried out by warehousing carried out by warehousing carried out by
employees improved is employees improved is warehousing employees
well explained. adequately explained. improved is not
adequately explained.
How risks in the How risks in the warehouse How risks in the
warehouse would be would be eliminated or warehouse would be
eliminated or minimized to minimized to ensure safe eliminated or minimized
ensure safe working working practices are to ensure safe working
practices are well adequately explained. practices are not
explained. adequately explained.
Report is well structured. Report is adequately Report is adequately
Information is well structured. Information is structured. Information is
presented with good use of adequately presented with adequately presented
English. adequate use of English. with adequate use of
English.
APA referencing is mostly APA referencing is poor.
correct APA referencing has not
been used at all.