If a large fertilizer company seeking your advice for warehouse management then what type of warehouse would you suggest to the company and why you will advise the company to invest money on IT for warehouse management?

Private warehouses: These warehouses are owned by private entities or individuals and are used exclusively for the goods owned, imported by or on behalf of the licensee. The warehouses are usually constructed at strategic locations to cater various manufacturing, business and service units. They are flexible enough to be customized in terms of storage and placement, according to the nature of the products. Bonded warehouses: The concept of bonded warehouses was developed in order to facilitate the deferred payment of customs duty by entrepreneurs, exporters and importers, to enable them to carry out their operations with least investment. These warehouses are used to store imported goods under an undertaking or 'bond', which does not allow the release of goods until the Custom duties are paid. These are generally owned managed and controlled by both government and private parties and are established near ports. Government and private parties together manage bonded warehouses. IT adoption has the following advantages that can help warehousing players increase their competitiveness: Reduced labour costs: Automated storage and order picking systems can reduce the need for labour and wheeled machinery in the warehouses. In automated goods to person order-picking systems, the right goods are brought automatically to the right person at the right time. This eliminates the need to walk, increasing the productivity of slower-moving Stock Keeping Units ('SKUs') nearly 10 times from traditional zone-picking or pick-to-pallet approaches. Higher productivity automated systems also reduce the number of operators required for storage, picking, packing, etc. Improved space efficiency: By making maximum use of headroom and minimizing aisle widths, automated storage systems for pallets, tote-bins and cartons, we can reduce footprint requirements for stock storage and will it land and storage costs. Improved ergonomics and safety: Automated storage systems reduce the need for forklift trucks and eliminate the need to have pallet movements interleaved with other tasks such as order-picking. Automated goods to person palletizing stations provide for sliding rather than listing of cases. Also, ergonomic pick-from-tote stations for small and split-case items minimise bending and twisting, reducing injuries, complaints and lost lime. Flexibility to different order profiles: Automated order-picking systems are equally productive for small as well as large orders and the productivity is independent of the number of SKUs as against the manual systems, where more SKUs and smaller orders mean greater walking distances which reduce productivity. Higher customer satisfaction: Automated order-picking systems allow for greater flexibility with respect to how and when an order is assembled and the order to be picked up at any time, improving response times and increasing fulfillment consistency and quality. All this contributes to higher customer satisfaction. Quick response and access to information: Automation of warehouses through warehouse management systems helps eliminate paperwork and costly shipping errors by helping access the information quickly and efficiently. Track and trace: Warehouse management systems can track inventory throughout the warehouse and the movement of the product from one location to the next. Standardised procedures: Use of warehouse management systems ensures standardisation of processes and procedures such as set acceptance standards for product receipt, monitoring vendor performance, managing customer inventory, expediting orders more efficiently, etc.