Besides the basic and auxiliary production of any industrial company, there is also a servicing production achieved after the activity to store and respectively to transport. The storage must provide the material resources needed by the basic production. The necessary material resources are stored in various constructive types of warehouses taking into account the structure and nature of the stored materials. The storage activity management uses an indicator system, the calculation method of which takes into account the warehouse size and the volume of materials that are stored and how long they will stay in the warehouse. Regardless of whether they are within companies, between the production departments or between the working stations, transports very much condition the basic production efficiency. Internal transports are based on a series of principles and are performed in various ways. Every transportation system has a certain structure, a certain cost, and a certain duration of the transportation process. When making an industrial company’s internal transportation efficient, the rationalisation of transportation has a very significant influence.
TopStorage Management
Storage can be defined as being that stage of the production process where the material production factors are kept in areas specially arranged for their delivery or reintroduction into the production circuit, into circulation or consumption, after a certain period of time. The areas specially arranged for this purpose are generically called stock rooms and warehouses, and their administration is provided by managing the warehouses.
There are some differences between the two categories, meaning that stock rooms are those areas intended for storing raw matters, materials and half-finished products while being processed, whilst warehouses are those areas intended for storing, protecting and delivering the finished products to beneficiaries. As there are many similarities between the two areas, we agree to use the notions of warehouse respectively storage for stowage and storage activities.
Complex activities are performed in a warehouse, such as: reception of production material factors and finished products; inspection of accompanying documents; reception and storage; selection; preparation for delivery; keeping record of inventories, etc.
Rationally placing and arranging the warehouses in the industrial company’s overall placement plan is based on a network of company’s internal logistical system, where the structural links are represented by circles, and the routes connecting the structural links are shown by arrows (Figure 1), representing the flows of material goods (Courtois, Pillet & Martin, 2000).
Figure 1. Network of the industrial company’s logistical system
Performed according to such a logistical diagram, the storing activity implies several tasks, such as: storage of production material factors and auxiliary materials before being introduced into the technological manufacturing process; supply to the workstations; temporary storage of benchmarks or products in course of circulation between the manufacturing workshops; storing and shipping the finished products to beneficiaries, etc.
For these reasons, storage appears both as a necessity, and as a component of all manufacturing processes, being performed by means of warehouses.
The warehouses (Dima, 2010) may be classified thusly:
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According to Their Destination: These can be: Direct warehouses of the production process (the company’s warehouses, except for those of finished products) and warehouses serving both the production and the circulation (warehouses of company’s finished products);
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According to the Nature of the Stored Production Material Factors: These can be: Warehouses of materials and half-finished products; warehouses of SDV’s; warehouses of spare parts; warehouses of fuels (fuels and lubricants); warehouses of finished products; warehouses of wastes; warehouse of packages, etc.;
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Taking into Account their Specialisation Degree: These can be: Universal warehouses with vast and varied nomenclature of the stored material and specialised warehouses where one type or group of materials is stored;
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According to the Volume and Aim of the Activity Performed Within Them: These can be: Central warehouses serving the entire company; departmental warehouses serving a department; workshop warehouses serving a workshop;
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By Taking into Account the Constructive System: These can be: Open warehouses, for material goods that are not damaged under the influence of atmospheric agents; barn or doom type open warehouses; closed or covered warehouses for storing the materials and protecting them against atmospheric factors;
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According to the Building Constructive Type: We distinguish: Underground warehouses, ground-level warehouses with one floor, warehouses with several floors; upper floor warehouses;
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According to the Nature of the Materials they are Built With: These can be: Warehouses made of wood; warehouses made of masonry; warehouses of concrete; warehouses of prefabs; metallic warehouses; warehouses of special materials;
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By Taking into Account the Degree of Mechanisation of Manipulation Inside the Warehouses: There are: Manual warehouses, warehouses with low or complex mechanisation; partially or fully automated warehouses;
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According to their Management System: These can be: Warehouses with manual record keeping, warehouses with mechano-graphical record keeping; warehouses equipped with technical calculation electronic.