Types of Warehouses

Functions of warehousing have significantly changed with the arrival of Third-party logistics and ECommerce companies such as Xpressbees, Delhivery, Snowman, Flipkart, Nykaa, etc, which are transforming the commercial sector of India.

A warehouse is a space used for commercial activities such as storing different types of goods or Inventory for a certain period before the delivery to their location. It’s an integral part of a logistic supply chain.

Warehouses are broadly divided into two kinds:

Generic Warehouse

A generic warehouse is a storage facility that is used to store a wide range of goods and products, rather than being specialized for a particular type of item. These warehouses for rent in Bangalore may be used by a variety of different businesses and organizations, and may be privately owned or operated by a third party logistics (3PL) company. They are typically large, multi-level structures that are designed to maximize the use of space and allow for efficient storage, handling, and distribution of goods.

Cold Storage

Cold Storage warehouses are mainly used to store perishable goods as their main objective to maintain temperature. Some examples of such goods are medical supplies, Agri products, etc. to extend their lifespan. Depending on the uses, It can be split further in two types:
  • Refrigerated with a controlled temperature of 0 to 10°C. Utilized for storing/preserving agricultural products such as fruits and vegetables etc.
  • Freezing, with the controlled temperature at -70 to 0°C. Utilized for storing/preserving medicinal products such as pharma products, surgeries, vaccines, ETC.
Cold Storage and Generic Warehouses can be further classified based on usage. They are as follows:
  • Raw materials Warehouse
  • Sortation Centers
  • On-Demand Warehouse
  • Bonded Warehouse

Explaining the types of Warehouses:


Raw materials Warehouse:

The raw material warehouse is the primary stage in the logistic supply chain, where the required raw materials for making the finished products are stored. Examples of types of raw materials stored are:

  • The bulk quantity of chemicals
  • Plastics
  • Metals
  • Clay
  • Sand
  • Food Products

Sortation Centers:

Sortation centers fall before the final stage of the delivery in the logistic Supply chain; this is where the finished goods/transhipment goods arrive to be sorted out based on their location and finally dispatched to their destination. It’s used mainly by Retail and the E-commerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon, Big Basket, Reliance Retail, More, ETC. Use Sortation Centers to sort the products.

On-Demand Warehouse:

The on-demand warehouse allows clients to store their goods in a warehouse for a short period.

On-demand services help the client by giving them

  • Flexibility
  • Free to move the goods (next day delivery) ETC.

Bonded Custom Warehouse:

Bonded warehouses are different from regular warehouses. Here the imported or related goods are kept until the custom duty is paid.

Types of bonded warehouses:

  • Temporary Storage Areas
  • Public Bonded Warehouses
  • Private Bonded Warehouses
  • Free Warehouses

Conclusion

Warehouses are an integral part of a Supply chain; at the beginning, they were mainly used as a storage space, but as we move forward with the changes in technology happening day by day, the warehouse is evolving from a storage space to a data-driven automated warehouse by helping the clients, and suggesting the best locations for renting warehouse.

To know more about the emerging warehousing demands and evolution ofthe industry, head to our other blog: The Rise of Hyper-Local Delivery and Last mile Delivery Startups

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