Unified Warehouse Addressing for Shared Inventory Substitution
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Warehouses face inefficiencies due to empty spaces where no products are stored, particularly for low-sales-frequency products, leading to increased storage needs and management loads.
Innovation Solution
A management system that collectively manages products across multiple warehouses and companies, using unified addresses to optimize storage and shipping, and substitutes out-of-stock products from one client with those from another when necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If products of multiple clients are stored separately in different warehouses, then client product management is simplified, but warehouse use efficiency decreases due to empty spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments product management by assigning unique addresses to each product that encode both the warehouse location and client identification. This allows logical separation of client products while maintaining physical consolidation in shared warehouse space, resolving the contradiction between management simplicity and space utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The warehouse management system is designed to handle multiple clients' products simultaneously through a unified addressing and management framework. The same warehouse infrastructure serves multiple clients, improving space efficiency while the address-based system maintains individual client product tracking and management capabilities.
2Quantity of substance
If more warehouses are established to store low-sales-frequency products, then product storage capacity increases, but management load and transportation costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges storage resources across multiple clients by allowing low-sales-frequency products to be stored in shared warehouse spaces. The unified address management system tracks and manages these products without requiring separate dedicated storage facilities for each client, thereby increasing effective storage capacity while reducing management complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The address-based management system acts as an intermediary that enables efficient tracking and management of diverse products from multiple clients in a consolidated storage environment. This intermediary layer provides the organizational structure needed to handle increased storage capacity without proportionally increasing management load.
3Reliability
If out-of-stock products cannot be substituted, then client product requirements are strictly met, but delivery time increases when stock is unavailable
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses the address information embedded in product data to provide feedback on product availability across different client inventories. When a product is out of stock for one client, the system can identify and substitute with identical products from other clients, maintaining reliable fulfillment while reducing delivery time delays.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of product identification from strict client-specific tracking to a more flexible system that recognizes identical products across different clients through standardized address coding. This parameter change enables substitution capabilities that reduce delivery delays while maintaining product requirement fulfillment.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A management device according to an embodiment includes a setting unit and a management unit. The setting unit sets addresses for products of a plurality of clients. The management unit manages the products in a plurality of warehouses by the addresses.