1. WAREHOUSING AND DISTRIBUTING CENTERS

2. Warehousing ? It is a place where a goods are stored for future use.
An Arrangement by which goods are stored when they are not immediately needed and kept in such a manner to protect from damage.

3. Warehousing Functions
Material Storage Function
Warehousing Functions
Information Handling Function
Material Handling Function

4. Types of Warehouses- On the basis of ownership
Public and private warehouse
Co-operative and institutional warehouse.
On the basis of operations
Plant and base
Distribution centers warehouses
On the basis of services
Bounded, cold storage, special commodity, general merchandise warehouses.

5. Types of Warehouses- Public warehouses- Licensed by government.
Used by large and small firms
Provides storage facilities to the general public for a certain charge
A public warehouse is also known as duty paid warehouse.
Public warehouse are very important in the marketing of agricultural products.
Public warehouse are generally located near the junctions of railways, highways and waterways.

6. Advantages of public warehouses
Storage services provide opportunity to expand -outsourcing solve this problem.
A popular product could be produced in full force and stored in public warehousing. Your supply can now meet the demand of your customers.
Public warehouses not only store the goods but also provides the facilities of transport and cleaning of goods.

7. It provides marketing facilities such as sorting and packaging.
It also provides the facility of financing.
Public warehouses are generally established at some central place where the manufacture other person can stock easily.

8. Private Warehouse
Own by big manufacturers and merchants to fulfill their own storage needs.
A big manufacturer or wholesaler may have a network of his own warehouses in the different parts of country.

9. Advantages of private warehouses
Better control over movement and storage.
Designing is done according to the suitability of owner.
Greater flexibility with material handling needs.

10. Co-operative warehouses
Facilities at most economical rates to members.
Owned, managed, controlled by co- operative societies.

11. Institutional warehouses
Established their warehouses because of their activities. Food corporation of India, bank.
Government warehouse-operated by state and central government.

12. Distribution centers
a distribution center as a "facility from which wholesale and retail orders are filled”, adding that "the term is used to describe a high-velocity operation as opposed to a static storage warehouse."

13. Primary functions of a true distribution center –
A distribution center offers value-added services:
Rather than simply offering static storage, DCs provide a myriad of services for clients, whether those customers are external or internal company departments and functions.
A well-organized and managed distribution center will provide such services as transportation, cross-docking, order-fulfillment, labeling and packaging along with whatever services are necessary to complete the order cycle, including order processing, order preparation, shipping, receiving, transportation, returned goods processing and performance measurement.

14. A distribution center is customer focused: While a warehouse is focused on the most efficient cost effective methods of storing products within its walls, a distribution center's sole mission is to provide outstanding service to its customers.
A distribution center is technology- driven: The distribution center of today must have in place state-of-the-art order processing, transportation management and warehouse management systems if it is to receive, scan bar codes, locate and store product efficiently, pick/pack and process orders, and plan loads.

15. A distribution center is relationship-centric: 
Whether its clients are outside companies or other intra-company units, a distribution center must remain focused on its customers' requirements.
A distribution center is the principal link between suppliers and customers, and its management must be conversant not only with the customers' needs but also with the most efficient and cost- effective methods of meeting those needs.
By contrast, a storage warehouse is so inwardly focused, in most cases, that there is very little understanding of what customer service really means.