Operations & Fulfillment: How to Make Your Warehouse More Profitable
Cost Categories
In general, retailers and logistics providers face three major warehouse cost categories:
- Labor: There are two types of labor costs: direct and indirect. Direct labor costs refer to the people that carry out warehouse activities, such as handling materials and packing orders. Indirect labor costs refer to the people affected by warehouse work, such as customer service, accounting and sales.
- Facilities and equipment: These costs are related to physical aspects of the warehouse, including warehouse leasing and storage costs, insurance, taxes, stocking fees, energy costs and utilities fees, equipment leasing, and general office expenses.
- Automation: Some providers may choose to implement an automated warehouse management system that streamlines several processes and operations. This may include extensive conveyors, automated storage, retrieval systems or other material-handling solutions.
For most retailers, the strategic management of these three cost categories will deliver the largest gains in efficiency and profitability. As you develop and implement warehouse improvements, constantly evaluate how these buckets can be better utilized in your operation.
- Places:
- Europe
Maria Haggerty is CEO and one of the original founders of Dotcom Distribution, a premier provider of B2C and B2B fulfillment and distribution services. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration from University of Houston, C.T. Bauer College of Business with a concentration in Accounting. Maria plays an integral role in developing and defining all aspects of the business, including sales and marketing, operations, finance and IT. As CEO, she is responsible for providing strategic leadership, establishing long range goals, and developing strategies for the senior leadership team. Maria has developed the systemic and procedural infrastructure necessary to provide timely and accurate analysis of budgets, financial reports and financial trends in order to assist the Board, senior executives and clients in performing their responsibilities while achieving favorable results. She works closely with the leadership team to enhance, develop, and enforce procedures that will improve the overall operation and effectiveness of the corporation. During her tenure at the Dotcom, Maria has developed an environment of continual improvement by supporting the Senior Leadership Team and their department managers on continuous process, space labor, automation, and financial best practices. Prior to founding Dotcom, Maria was a CPA at Arthur Andersen and was later the CFO of GoodTimes Home Video where she helped grow the company’s distribution business. When Maria is not in the office, she enjoys traveling around the world and practicing her photography skills.
