Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine how a warehouse of finished goods can be made more effective with warehouse design, warehouse control, new technologies and how the current way of work must be adjusted to the new technologies. In order to achieve the purpose of the study, the writers had two research questions connected to the purpose. Method - A case study has been conducted as research strategy in collaboration with Smurfit Kappa AB. The study began by researching possible theories that could be relevant to the study. This was followed by an empirical study where interviews and observations were carried out. Documents with floor plans have also been studied to understand the current state of the warehouse. The empirical findings have been compiled, discussed, and compared to the theoretical findings. Results - At the time of the study, the warehouse house of finished goods did not have a system for storing goods. They also do not have an ERP-system and therefore the communication possibilities are limited. The company will implement an ERP-system and barcode scanners in the future which makes it possible to improve the efficiency of the warehouse with design, control, layout, zones, scanners, and standardize movement. There is also new finding of wastage that can be controlled. Findings - Even though the case company of this study can achieve improved efficiency in the warehouse by using the management methods and tools presented in this study, the most important part is to provide the employees with the right information. Thereafter the management methods and tools such as zone sectioning, barcode scanners, and standardized create more effectiveness. In addition to previous findings, two new forms of waste that can occur in a warehouse has been identified. Research limitations - Because of the decisions made by the case company of future implementation of barcode scanners, the researcher felt that there were limitations to the possible improvement proposals. If the researchers could have proposed a different tool, the outcome of the work could have looked different. If there were more interviews or several business cases the generalization it would strengthened the case study. / Syfte - Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka hur färdigvarulagret kan effektiviseras med hjälp av lagerutformning, lagerstyrning och ny teknik och hur arbetssättet måste anpassas till den nya tekniken. För att kunna uppnå syftet med studien har författarna två forskningsfrågor som stöd för att uppnå effektivitet. Metod - För att besvara studiens syfte samt frågeställningar har författarna utfört en fallstudie som undersökningsstrategi på Smurfit Kappa AB. Studien började med att undersöka vilka befintliga teorier som kan kopplas till arbetet. Därefter genomfördes observationer och intervjuer på fallföretaget. Författarna fick även ta del av ritningar för att få förståelse av det nuvarande flödet. Empirin har sedan sammanställts, diskuterats och jämförts mot det teoretiska ramverket. Nulägesbeskrivning - Fallföretagets färdigvarulager använder i dagsläget inget system för lagring av artiklar. De har heller inget affärssystem vilket gör att information inte kan kommuniceras ordentligt. Företaget ska införa ett affärssystem och streckkodsläsare. Detta gör att det finns möjligheter att effektivisera färdigvarulagret. Resultat - Företag kan öka sin effektivitet med hjälp av flera metoder, principer och verktyg. Författarna tror dock att det viktigaste är att medarbetarna får tillräckligt med information för vad som ska göras. Därefter kan olika utformningar och styrningar som layout, zonindelning, streckkodsläsare och standardiserade arbetssätt anpassas för att få ett effektivt färdigvarulager. Utöver detta har två nya slöserier som kan förekomma i ett färdigvarulager identifierats. Begränsningar - Då fallföretaget som undersöktes redan bestämt sig för vilket affärssystem och vilket verktyg som skulle användas i lagerverksamheten, i detta fall streckkodsläsare, upplevde författarna att det fanns begränsningar vid framtagning av förslag på förbättringsåtgärder. Om verktyg inte redan bestämts hade andra lösningar kunnat presenteras. Om studien hade fler intervjuer eller jämförts med fler fallföretag hade generaliseringen ökat.

Bakgrund: Lagerverksamheten har en väsentlig betydelse och kan vara avgörande för organisationen övergripande prestanda och framgång, i synnerhet för SMF (små och medelstora företag). Driften av lagerverksamheten kan bli särskilt utmanande om organisationen befinner sig i en stark tillväxtfas och om den aktuella artikeln kännetecknas av behov. För att effektivt kunna bedriva sin lagerverksamhet bör organisationer utgå från en lagerdesign. Däremot redogör inte dagens forskning hur SMF som befinner sig i en stark tillväxtfas samt lagerhåller en artikel med behov bör utforma en sådan lagerdesign. Syfte: Denna studie syftar till att föreslå en lagerdesign som tar hänsyn till artikelns behov. Vidare ämnar studien att undersöka vilka konsekvenser en hög tillväxtfas har på ett SMF:s lagerverksamhet. Metod: Studien har studerat organisationen Nordic Green Design AB, ett svenskt SMF vars artikelsortiment utgörs av prydnadsväxter. Artikelns behov förutsätter krav på rätt temperatur, ljus och bevattning. Datainsamlingen har utgått från intervjuer med organisationens lagerpersonal och marknadschef samt via observationer av organisationens befintliga lagerdesign. Data har därefter analyserats utifrån den teoretiska referensramen. Slutsats: Studien betonar vikten av att fastställa behov och krav i samband med utformandet av en lagerdesign, i synnerhet när artikeln präglas av behov. Fastställandet av behov och krav fastställer ramarna för vilka lagerhanteringsmetoder som är tillämpbara i lagerdesignen. Genom att skifta fokus mot fastställandet av behov och krav kan en effektivare lagerverksamhet uppnås. Vidare indikerar studien på att en stark tillväxtfas bidrar till omfattande organisatoriska utmaningar. Studiens resultat antyder att en decentraliserad organisationsstruktur har bäst förutsättningar för att hantera dessa utmaningar. / Background: Warehousing activities are essential and can be crucial to the organizations overall performance and success, especially for SMEs (small and mediumsized enterprises). The warehouse operations can be particularly challenging if the organization is in a rapid growth phase and if the stored article is characterized by requirements. In order to effectively carry out the warehouse operations, organizations need to develop a warehouse design. However, today’s research does not acknowledge how SME’s with above-mentioned prerequisites should form such warehouse design. Purpose: This study aims at proposing a warehouse design that takes into account the requirements of the article. Furthermore, the study intends to examine the consequences of a rapid growth phase on an SME's warehouse. Method: This paper has studied the organization Nordic Green Design AB, a Swedish SME, whose articles consists of ornamental plants. These products require specific care such as temperature, light and irrigation regulation. The data collection was based on interviews with the organization's warehouse staff and marketing manager. Additionally, data was collected through observations of the organization's existing warehouse design. The data has then been analyzed based on the theoretical reference frame. Conclusion: The study emphasizes the importance of identifying needs and requirements when developing a warehouse design, especially when the article is characterized by requirements. The determination of needs and requirements determines the foundation of which storage management methods that are applicable in the warehouse design. By shifting focus to the determination of needs and requirements, more efficient storage can be achieved. Furthermore, the study indicates that a rapid growth phase contributes to extensive organizational challenges. The results of the study suggest that a decentralized organizational structure has the best prerequisites for managing these challenges.

<p>Färggrossen is a warehousing company that was established in 1976. The company has over 400 customers ranging across mid and south Sweden; it stores 5,000 different types of products such as paints, wallpapers, chemicals and tools which are used for painting.</p><p>Since its establishment, the company has not changed how it manages its warehouse. Decisions are based on the warehouse manager’s personal memory and decisions, and this method worked sufficiently well until the company was bought by Mikael Lindgren in September 2008. Lindgren, the CEO, believed that the company had more potential, which is why the company has eagerly started to make changes in order to improve the warehouse operations as well as to reach its full potential. This thesis is to guide the company to reach this goal.</p><p>At our first meeting with Färggrossen, improvements regarding different processes as well as the warehouse layout were identified. As a first step, a literature study was conducted in order to gain deeper insight and understanding about warehouse layouts; also we benefited from studying literature regarding different warehouse aspects from a system perspective: inputs, processes and outputs.</p><p>Subsequent to the literature study, we identified those thesis research questions which needed to be answered in order to improve the warehouse management at Färggrossen. The next step was to decide which methods should be used in order to answer these questions. After researching different methodology options, a meeting with Färggrossen and our supervisor Bengt Ekdahl took place where we, together, decided to use the multiple case study method.</p><p>Färggrossen suggested that we study two other companies, BSAB and ECO; according to them, these companies had similar warehouses. To be able to benchmark three companies, we needed to understand the warehousing management systems of all three companies, which is why we conducted our interviews.</p><p>Once we finished gathering the required data, we defined the three companies’ activities in a manner to correspond with the terminology which is used in the literature.  In the analysis chapter we compared the three companies, and also used the information from the literature in order to provide Färggrossen with recommendations on how to improve the warehouse processes and layout. These are categorised as main, secondary and future recommendations; the main recommendations are the most important and inexpensive to implement, which is why we strongly suggest that they are prioritized.</p><p>The two most important recommendations to improve the outputs of the warehouse system are implementing a serialized locater addressing system and defining a bulk area to support the replenishment process. These particular modifications will improve the overall efficiency of the warehouse system as well as the product availability and the customer satisfaction.</p><p>The overall efficiency of the warehouse system will be further improved by eliminating manual labour as much as possible and combining the inspections whih are done in the receiving process with the putaway process.</p><p>The product condition will be improved if the following recommendations are implemented; a small shelf solution which is used in ECO, a fixed slot system in the wallpaper area and the implementation of safety precautions in the company.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis was to map and analyze Färggrossen in order to improve the inventory, warehouse layout and the methods being used in the warehouse management. With our recommendations, the company will have an improved and new warehouse layout, the processes will be improved and the efficiency will be increased.</p>

Background: Nordic E-commerce group (NECG) consists of affiliated companies NordicInk, NordicFeel and PetsOnline. Three different types of companies in one warehouse area contribute to a wide range of products held in inventory. NECG’s problem derives in the fact that the company’s warehouse layout needs to handle a larger volume of sales, but is not capable of doing this in a structured way today. This matter of fact has led to new thoughts concerning improvements of the layout. The warehouse layout referred to in this thesis includes input and output doors, receiving and outgoing areas, material handling equipment and the placement of articles in inventory. Although article placement is per definition a part of warehouse layout, it will be given extra emphasis in this thesis as it is one of NECG’s most critical issues.   Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to identify NECG’s current warehouse layout and article placement and the problems associated with it, as well as to provide suggested actions for improvements. This is to be done so NECG can better utilize the warehouse space, and thus prepare the warehouse to handle a larger volume of sales.   Methodology: Qualitative and quantitative data was collected through semi-structured interviews and observations at NECG, as well as through excel files containing transactional data for NordicInk’s products. Through a non-probability, snowball selection the respondents were chosen. There have not been any requirements from NECG regarding confidentiality in terms of the warehouse layout.   Findings: There are a number of suggested actions that NECG may apply to improve the warehouse layout; two separate doors for incoming and outgoing deliveries, one designated receiving and one outgoing area, and a flow shop layout combined with a U-form layout would be the most beneficial for NECG’s warehouse. Furthermore, NECG needs a more consistent article placement and it is recommended for the company to apply a floating location system to its high-picked products and a fixed location system for its low-picked products. This will make NECG take better use of the available space and a more structured warehouse will be achieved. / Bakgrund: Nordic E-commerce Group (NECG) består utav dotterbolagen NordicInk, NordicFeel och PetsOnline. Då lagret består utav tre olika företag finns ett brett utbud av produkter. NECG:s problem härrör i att företagets lagerlayout inte har följt med i företagets utveckling. För att kunna hantera en större försäljningsvolym, behöver lagerområdet kunna hantera nuvarande och framtida lagervolymer, men är inte kapabel till att göra detta på ett strukturerat sätt i dag. Detta har lett till nya tankar om förbättringsförslag kring lagerlayout. I detta examensarbete avser lagerlayout ingående och utgående portar, inkommande och utgående lagringsområden, materialhanteringsutrustning och artikelplacering i lager. Även om artikeln placering är per definition en del av lagerlayout, kommer det att ges extra fokus i detta examensarbete eftersom det är en av NECG mest kritiska frågor.   Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att identifiera NECG nuvarande lagerlayout och artikel placering samt vilka eventuella problem som finns, för att kunna ge förslag på förbättringar. Detta ska göras så att NECG kan utnyttja sitt lagerutrymme bättre och förbereda sig inför ökade försäljningsvolymer.   Metod: Kvalitativ och kvantitativ data samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer på NECG, samt genom excel filer innehållande transaktionsdata kring NordicInk’s produkter. Genom ett icke-sannolikt, snöbollsurval valdes respondenterna ut. NECG har inte uttryckt några krav om att sekretessbelägga arbetet kring lagerlayout.   Resultat: Det finns ett antal förslag på åtgärder som NECG kan tillämpa för att förbättra lagerlayouten: två separata dörrar för inkommande och utgående leveranser, ett designerat område för inkommande och ett för utgående leveranser samt en flow shop layout kombinerat med en U-form layout skulle vara mest fördelaktigt för NECG:s lager. Vidare behöver NECG en mer konsekvent artikelplacering och det rekommenderas för företaget att tillämpa ett flytande system för dess högfrekvent plockade produkter och ett fast system för dess lågfrekvent plockade produkter. Detta kommer att göra så att NECG bättre utnyttjar det tillgängliga lagerutrymmet och ett mer strukturerat system kommer att uppnås.  Bakgrund: Nordic E-commerce Group (NECG) består utav dotterbolagen NordicInk, NordicFeel och PetsOnline. Då lagret består utav tre olika företag finns ett brett utbud av produkter. NECG:s problem härrör i att företagets lagerlayout inte har följt med i företagets utveckling. För att kunna hantera en större försäljningsvolym, behöver lagerområdet kunna hantera nuvarande och framtida lagervolymer, men är inte kapabel till att göra detta på ett strukturerat sätt i dag. Detta har lett till nya tankar om förbättringsförslag kring lagerlayout. I detta examensarbete avser lagerlayout ingående och utgående portar, inkommande och utgående lagringsområden, materialhanteringsutrustning och artikelplacering i lager. Även om artikeln placering är per definition en del av lagerlayout, kommer det att ges extra fokus i detta examensarbete eftersom det är en av NECG mest kritiska frågor.   Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att identifiera NECG nuvarande lagerlayout och artikel placering samt vilka eventuella problem som finns, för att kunna ge förslag på förbättringar. Detta ska göras så att NECG kan utnyttja sitt lagerutrymme bättre och förbereda sig inför ökade försäljningsvolymer.   Metod: Kvalitativ och kvantitativ data samlades in genom semistrukturerade intervjuer och observationer på NECG, samt genom excel filer innehållande transaktionsdata kring NordicInk’s produkter. Genom ett icke-sannolikt, snöbollsurval valdes respondenterna ut. NECG har inte uttryckt några krav om att sekretessbelägga arbetet kring lagerlayout.   Resultat: Det finns ett antal förslag på åtgärder som NECG kan tillämpa för att förbättra lagerlayouten: två separata dörrar för inkommande och utgående leveranser, ett designerat område för inkommande och ett för utgående leveranser samt en flow shop layout kombinerat med en U-form layout skulle vara mest fördelaktigt för NECG:s lager. Vidare behöver NECG en mer konsekvent artikelplacering och det rekommenderas för företaget att tillämpa ett flytande system för dess högfrekvent plockade produkter och ett fast system för dess lågfrekvent plockade produkter. Detta kommer att göra så att NECG bättre utnyttjar det tillgängliga lagerutrymmet och ett mer strukturerat system kommer att uppnås.

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to identify a distribution center's deficiencies in the warehouse layout and article placement to enable streamlining in the order picking process.  In order to enable a response to the purpose, the following three questions have been formulated: 1. What problems may occur in the warehouse layout of a distribution center that affects the effectiveness of the order picking process? 2. What problems may occur in the article placement at a distribution center that affects the effectiveness of the order picking process? 3. What improvements can be made to the warehouse layout and article placement at a distribution center to streamline the order picking process? Method – In order to define the problem area, a pilot study was conducted at a distribution center, which formed the purpose and questions of the study. To enable its answer, a case study and literature review has been conducted as methods. The case study consisted of observations, surveys, document studies and benchmarking to generate empirical data to the study. Literature review has been designed to create a theoretical framework around warehouse layout and article placement effect on the order picking process. The data collected has then been analyzed and discussed to enable improvement proposals. Findings – Several problems have been identified in the warehouse layout and article placement that directly impact the order picking process. In order to prevent and change these problems, understanding the complexity of warehouse building is required. It is important to have a clear strategy for which articles that are considered most important to the company. A recommendation may be to place the most high-frequency products in connection with the packing station. Once the strategy is determined, the storage systems can be dimensioned and the route method set. When all these processes interact with each other, a more efficient order pick will occur, which will allow companies to reduce costly waste. Implications – The authors have founded the study within a problem area where there already exist a lot of theories. Therefore the implication of the study consisted of highlighting a new point of view of the already existing theory of warehouse layout, article placement and order picking. The new point of view, therefore, can assist businesses to get a better discussion and understanding of how their warehouse layout and article placement should be designed, which may allow the study to affect the development of other companies. Limitations – The limitations of the study consist of studying only one business as well as some lack of information. Should more businesses and respondents be presented within the study, more deficiencies could have been identified and the results had become more credible and generalizable. Some missing information has also affected the study. Within improvement measures, there was no access to some article information required in the ABC-analysis. Furthermore, poles were discovered in the warehouse layout that affected the formation of the improved warehouse layouts. The lack of information may therefore have affected the final result.

Lagerhantering avser aktiviteter som mottagning av varor, inlagring, lagring, orderplockning, omlagring, sortering och frakt. Enligt tidigare studier, av bland annat Drury (1988), uppstår 55% - 60% av lagrets kostnader i orderplockning och omlagring. Idag finns teorier och modeller om hur lagerhantering kring orderplockning och omlagring kan optimeras. Dock behandlas bulklager sällan i forskning eller litteratur. Detta arbete hade således i syfte att undersöka vedertagen teoris anpassningsförmåga på en verksamhet med bulklager. Studien har uppfyllt syftet genom en fall- och litteraturstudie med både kvalitativa och kvantitativa tillvägagångssätt i form av intervjuer och observationer. Lagerutformning och lagerstyrning kan med fördel ses som grundläggande metoder som förutsätter effektivitetsutveckling inom plockning och omlagring i bulklager. Metoder som MUDA och 5S skapar förutsättningarna att identifiera, upprätthålla och genomföra effektivitetsförbättringar.  De vedertagna metoderna som studerats kunde genom observation och intervju konstateras som implementerbar eller icke implementerbar. Som sammanfattning kunde en övergripande mall av metoderna sammanställas där det gemensamt och separat kunde bidra till effektivisering. Fallföretaget kunde förses med förbättringsförslag som rekommenderas att införas i både mindre etapper och under större, mer omfattande projekt. / Inventory management refers to activities such as receiving goods, storing, in storage, order picking, rearranging, sorting and shipping. According to previous studies, by Drury (1988), 55% - 60% of the warehouse costs incur in order picking and rearrangement. Today there are theories and models on how inventory management around order picking and rearrangement can be optimized. However, bulk stocks are rarely addressed in research or literature. Thus, this work was aimed at examining the adaptive theory of customary methods in a business with bulk storage. The study has fulfilled its purpose through a case and literature study with both qualitative and quantitative approaches in the form of interviews and observations. Inventory design and inventory control can advantageously be seen as basic methods that require efficiency development in picking and rearranging in bulk storages. Methods such as MUDA and 5S create the conditions for identifying, maintaining and implementing efficiency improvements. The customary methods studied could, through observation and interview, be found to be implementable or non-implementable. In summary, an overall template of the methods could be compiled where they could jointly and separately contribute to efficiency improvements. The studied company could be provided with improvement proposals that are recommended to be introduced in both smaller stages and during larger, more extensive projects.

Färggrossen is a warehousing company that was established in 1976. The company has over 400 customers ranging across mid and south Sweden; it stores 5,000 different types of products such as paints, wallpapers, chemicals and tools which are used for painting. Since its establishment, the company has not changed how it manages its warehouse. Decisions are based on the warehouse manager’s personal memory and decisions, and this method worked sufficiently well until the company was bought by Mikael Lindgren in September 2008. Lindgren, the CEO, believed that the company had more potential, which is why the company has eagerly started to make changes in order to improve the warehouse operations as well as to reach its full potential. This thesis is to guide the company to reach this goal. At our first meeting with Färggrossen, improvements regarding different processes as well as the warehouse layout were identified. As a first step, a literature study was conducted in order to gain deeper insight and understanding about warehouse layouts; also we benefited from studying literature regarding different warehouse aspects from a system perspective: inputs, processes and outputs. Subsequent to the literature study, we identified those thesis research questions which needed to be answered in order to improve the warehouse management at Färggrossen. The next step was to decide which methods should be used in order to answer these questions. After researching different methodology options, a meeting with Färggrossen and our supervisor Bengt Ekdahl took place where we, together, decided to use the multiple case study method. Färggrossen suggested that we study two other companies, BSAB and ECO; according to them, these companies had similar warehouses. To be able to benchmark three companies, we needed to understand the warehousing management systems of all three companies, which is why we conducted our interviews. Once we finished gathering the required data, we defined the three companies’ activities in a manner to correspond with the terminology which is used in the literature.  In the analysis chapter we compared the three companies, and also used the information from the literature in order to provide Färggrossen with recommendations on how to improve the warehouse processes and layout. These are categorised as main, secondary and future recommendations; the main recommendations are the most important and inexpensive to implement, which is why we strongly suggest that they are prioritized. The two most important recommendations to improve the outputs of the warehouse system are implementing a serialized locater addressing system and defining a bulk area to support the replenishment process. These particular modifications will improve the overall efficiency of the warehouse system as well as the product availability and the customer satisfaction. The overall efficiency of the warehouse system will be further improved by eliminating manual labour as much as possible and combining the inspections whih are done in the receiving process with the putaway process. The product condition will be improved if the following recommendations are implemented; a small shelf solution which is used in ECO, a fixed slot system in the wallpaper area and the implementation of safety precautions in the company. The purpose of this thesis was to map and analyze Färggrossen in order to improve the inventory, warehouse layout and the methods being used in the warehouse management. With our recommendations, the company will have an improved and new warehouse layout, the processes will be improved and the efficiency will be increased.