World-Class Warehousing and Material Handling, 2E, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION TO WAREHOUSING

1.1   Warehousing Through the Years

1.2   Warehousing Fundamentals

1.3   How to Read This Book

I wrote the first edition of World-Class Warehousing in 1995. Back then, people asked me why I was writing a book on warehousing when the just-in-time (JIT) movement was aimed at eliminating warehousing. Today, it’s the lean movement. The question is a legitimate one and one I ask seminar attendees every time I teach a warehousing seminar. “Why should we devote our time and energy to studying an activity that every supply-chain professional and the lean literature is trying to eliminate?” A better question might be, “In what ways does warehousing add value in business and in supply chains?” If we can’t come up ...