Warehouse management is one of the fundamental subsystems in an enterprise’s logistics system. A review of available logistics literature, both domestic and foreign, confirms this view. The works of such authors as D.J. Bowersox, D.J. Closs, M.B. Cooper, P. Blaik, D.M. Lambert, J.R. Stock, L.M. Ellram, M. Nowicka-Skowron, H. Ch. Pfohl, M. Sołtysik, Cz. Skowronek, and Z. Sarjusz-Wolski unequivocally point to the important role it plays in a modern enterprise.
Using a research approach that could be described as a constructive description of systems, one can isolate the warehouse management subsystem in an enterprise and give it a specific shape. It is worth noting that work related to the study of warehouse management falls, on the one hand, into the theoretical-cognitive trend and concerns general regularities occurring in this area. On the other hand, there are works presenting practical issues, where discussions concern specific problems related to the organization of warehousing processes, existing warehouse infrastructure, and IT systems supporting the management of material and information flows through the warehouse.
A detailed characterization of the functioning of warehouse management systems indicates a variety of solutions used depending on the type of business activity conducted and the type of logistics system. The purpose of the article is to present a warehouse management system using the example of one of the domestic enterprises involved in the production of fruit and vegetable juices. The main emphasis in discussing the presented issues was placed on the organizational aspects of warehouse management.
Theoretical approach to the logistics system
There are many views in the literature, often varied, relating to the definition of the concept of an enterprise’s logistics system. It should be emphasized, however, that most authors adopt a systems approach when describing an enterprise’s logistics system, which points to the theoretical pedigree of logistics, which is contained in the general systems theory. A review of available studies devoted to the theory of logistics systems indicates – in the author’s opinion – three main directions of development. The first is related to the study of logistics systems through the prism of the enterprise’s marketing and logistics activities. The second draws attention to the existence of strong links between logistics and quality management. The third concerns the perception of logistics systems from the point of view of optimization methods of operational research (OR). One of the approaches to an enterprise’s logistics system is the proposal of M. Nowicka-Skowron, in which a mathematical approach, used in logistics for formal-theoretical description, was applied to theoretical considerations. Starting from the concept of a system, in accordance with the mathematical notation proposal presented by M.D. Mesarovic, elements characteristic of a logistics system are introduced into the system model.
The article comes from the journal “Logistyka” 2/2007.