Editing Distribution center (section)

==Safety==

The distribution center industry is no stranger to occupational hazards and accidents, (95 people receive physical injuries in forklift accident every day in the USA)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://forkify.com/guides/forklift-accident-statistics/ | title=Mind-Boggling Forklift Accident Statistics You Should be Aware of &#124; Forkify }}</ref> which is why it has been designated as a priority industry sector in the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) in the United States.

To mitigate the number of accidents, it's crucial to establish a culture of safety across all levels of management within the warehouse. This means that executives and owners must enforce safety procedures and regulations to ensure a safe and productive workspace.

To achieve this goal, implementing a comprehensive safety plan that covers all areas of the warehouse and applies to all employees is paramount. Owners and managers must be willing to invest time and money towards safety measures, which should be included in the overall budget. This way, a safer working environment can be established for all those involved in the distribution center industry.

===Simple distribution center outline===
Because many distribution centers service both large and small clients, especially those which store a specific type of service as opposed to those which serve a specific company, roles and departments are generally more complicated. A simple distribution center which serves many clients of a specific theme or type of service may include:

* Goods in (or goods inward): Usually containing specialized [[containerization|container]] unloading equipment and workers, including pallet wrapping, conveyor belt unloaders (as used on 40&nbsp;ft shipping containers), forklift drivers, and administrative staff
* Bulk: As a rule, a bulk department controls and ships larger orders or orders that contain only full [[box|cartons/boxes]]. A bulk department includes [[forklift truck]] drivers to load containers and [[Railroad car|wagons]], and [[Forklift truck#Design types|''man-up'']] or ''combi'' forklift trucks to unload full [[pallet]]s from warehouse racking.
* Break-bulk: Break-bulk (also known as split case) is a lower-capacity version of the ''bulk'' department. Orders usually contain part boxes or items not requiring pallets. Due to the number of smaller customers a distribution center may serve, a break-bulk department may need more workers than a bulk department. A break-bulk department usually uses trolleys or, for palleted/heavy orders, small electric ''PPT'' or [[Forklift truck#Design types|''walkie low lift'']] trucks. Items shipped by break-bulk are usually stored in ''pick,'' which are usually the bottom two ''pick-faces'' of warehouse racking. A pick-face is the space on such a racking system onto which a pallet can be loaded.
* Export: An export department controls orders which are leaving the country of the distribution center. This department is almost identical in function to a bulk or break-bulk department; however, workers in this department build pallets conforming to different [[Pallet#Dimensions|standards]] and sizes. An export department also uses different shipping containers or haulage firms.
* Quality assurance: A [[quality assurance]] (''QA'') department performs periodic checks of random samples of stock to check quality, including from the warehouse racking, goods in, and returned stock. This department may also take on [[cycle count]] duties to find missing stock.
* Administration
* Packing and production: In many distribution centers it is not feasible to store stock in many different packaging styles or quantities, and while it may cost a customer more to do so, many customers, such as supermarkets, prefer their own packaging on stock. Because of this, packing benches are used to take raw items, such as a box of balloons, and pack them at a specific unit quantity, which are then packed into cartons and labeled accordingly for a customer. In many circumstances this may be more inexpensively done at a distribution center than by a customer or client.
* Transportation: Arranges and coordinates shipments in and out of the distribution center.
* Dedicated product departments: Divisions may be based on handling characteristics or storage characteristics, for example, refrigerated and non-refrigerated [meat and produce, frozen, dairy/deli, dry]. Each of these three areas have both shipping and receiving departments as well.

Distribution centers also have a variety of supporting departments, including [[human resources]], maintenance/facilities operations, production control, and [[accountancy|accounting]].