warehouse problems essay

7 Warehouse Management Problems and Their Solutions

Warehouse management involves organizing, managing, and maintaining all the processes that occur in a warehouse, so that they run as smoothly and efficiently as possible. Even though some of these processes are automated and seem error-free, every warehouse operation is prone to mistakes and challenges. According to a report by McKinsey & Company in 2019, about £300 billion (approximately $385 billion) is spent each year, worldwide, on overall warehousing costs. And that amount doesn’t include the additional costs of correcting errors and mistakes.

Warehouse problems can affect the speed, efficiency, and productivity of either one particular warehouse operation or the entire chain of processes that are linked with it. In most cases, these errors are only identified after the process has begun or even after it has been completed. And by then, it’s usually too late to prevent the error—it may even be too late to reduce the amount of damage done. But with prior knowledge about the potential challenges that could occur in your warehouse operation, you can predict them beforehand and stop the damage before it starts. In this article, we will be covering some of the most common problems faced in warehouse management and what you can do to stay clear of them.

Accidental redundancy

Most warehouses perform multiple operations on each item, and those operations are strung together to create workflows. But if a workflow isn’t well organized, you may find that the same operation is being accidentally performed more than once. These redundancies increase your labor costs and take up extra time when you have to go back and reverse the mistake. This happens more often in large warehouses than in smaller ones, since there’s more space and more inventory to deal with.

Redundancy is often noticed in order picking, which is when products are picked from their storage locations in a warehouse to fulfil an order. In smaller warehouses, order picking is a one-person job which leaves little room for error. But in a larger warehouse, multiple people work together to pick products from different parts of the warehouse to fulfill a single order. Since the same order is passed around to multiple people, there’s a bigger chance for mistakes, like picking too many of the same products.

A solution is to invest in technology, such as a modern warehouse execution system (WES), that will help you automate the processes that are prone to redundancy in your warehouse. For instance, to help reduce redundancy in order picking, you could use barcode technology to scan the products that have been picked for the order and have the system notify the user of any duplicates.

Messy warehouse layout

Over the years, rising storage costs have pushed warehouse managers into making more efficient use of their warehouse space. But a survey conducted by Logistics Management back in 2018 suggests that it doesn’t always work—the average warehouse capacity utilized by manufacturers was only around 68%. Not having enough storage because of ineffective use of space is still a common pain point in warehouses.

Putting together an optimal warehouse layout can solve this problem. This includes maximizing use of the floor space and vertical space while leaving enough room for warehouse employees to pass through. It also means looking into ways to use automation and equipment to reduce labor and labor costs, improving the accessibility of products in the warehouse, categorizing inventory in a systematized way, and ensuring that inventory is stored safely.

To start optimizing your use of warehouse space:

Look into the technology that can help you organise your warehouse’s layout, such as a warehouse management system (WMS). Some WMSs can offer you a 3D model of the most optimal arrangement, if given the dimensions and measurements of your warehouse and inventory. You can also consider an automated storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), which is a network of several computer-controlled pieces of equipment that automates your putaway and picking processes. Besides improving the speed and efficiency of your processes, an AS/RS can save a huge amount of otherwise wasted warehouse floor space.

If you’re not ready to upgrade your technology, you can always start simple instead. Use your existing solution for managing your inventory and sales to figure out what items from your inventory sell the quickest. Then make sure that you’re storing those items in the most easily accessible locations, so that they can be picked and put away faster.

Bad inventory management

Have you been experiencing any of these issues?

Expecting to find a product in a certain location, but realizing that it’s actually placed somewhere else.

Accepting an order on the assumption that you have enough stock to fulfill it, and only later finding out that you don’t. Now you have to place a backorder, which significantly extends your order lead time.

Denying an order after assuming that you don’t have enough stock to fulfill it, but then finding out that you do.

Trying to put away stock that you’ve received but having trouble finding where to place it.

Any of these problems can indicate that you haven’t been maintaining accurate records of your inventory and updating them consistently. According to a study conducted by Wasp Barcode Technologies, 43% of small businesses either don’t track inventory or use a manual method. Another survey by Peoplevox, found that 34% of businesses have delayed shipping because the products mentioned in the order were not actually in stock. Miscalculations can easily happen when inventory checking processes are done manually, since this leaves plenty of room for human error. Sometimes they can also happen when using outdated software.

One way to overcome these warehouse challenges is by switching to a newer solution. This could either be a system that’s specific to inventory management or an overall warehouse management software that includes real-time inventory management features. A typical system first collects your inventory data through a handheld or fixed device such as a barcode scanner. This information is then sent to your software solution, which catalogues and tracks your inventory.

Poor preparedness for seasonal demands

Certain types of products experience the same amount of demand all year round, whereas others are more popular during specific times of the year. Sudden influxes of demand that take you by surprise can do a lot of damage, as your warehouse might not be prepared to take on the orders. This could be because you don’t have enough products in stock, or because you don’t know where to store them on such short notice. It’s important to be aware of the current market trends and the fluctuations in demand for the products that you work with, so that you’re ready to manage your changing stock levels.

Here is how you can prepare for seasonal demands:

Stay in contact with your manufacturers, distributors, retailers, transporters, and any other sources you have from your industry. This way, every part of the supply chain can have the same information about demand fluctuations and can work together to respond accordingly.  

You can also use demand forecasting techniques to figure out what products you need in your inventory for the season.

Arrange and organize your products to help push out your seasonal products faster. This means placing them in the most convenient spaces in your warehouses, so that they can be easily put away and picked for orders.

Consider warehouse equipment and automation tools such as pallet flow rack systems, forklift trucks, and AS/RS to help your processes flow better and quicker.

Unsatisfactory order management

Even though order management is one of the most important operations in a warehouse, it is also the one that reports the most errors. Order management consist of all the processes that start the minute an order is received, from accepting the order to picking, packing , and shipping the right products to the right customer, and handling post-sales processes like refunds and returns if needed. A mistake in any one of these processes can collapse the entire workflow, which means redoing all the steps from the start. This is clearly a huge waste of time and money, and will mean that your customer will be getting their order later than expected.

To help keep their orders running smoothly, a lot of businesses choose to use an order management system . This can help you manage your overall order management and fulfillment processes, including shipping, customer notifications, and depending on the type of solution you choose, even inventory management.

In addition to saving time, high order fulfillment accuracy rates can also help your profitability. A study by AMR Research found that business with excellent order rates of 80 percent or higher are three times more profitable than those with order rates of 60 percent.

Excessive spending on labor

There are several types of tasks in a warehouse that labor workers are employed to handle such as general labor like cleaning, forklift operator, material handler, shipping and receiving monitor, shipping specialist, loader, product picking, stock clerk, and overall warehouse manager. With all the technology available today, most warehouses are looking for ways to invest in it. There’s a common notion that only automation and equipment is expensive. But what several warehouse managers fail to realise is that manual labour doesn’t come cheap either. According to Kane Logistics, labor is one of this biggest expenses some warehouses spend on, ranging from 50-70% of the overall warehousing budget.

Therefore, start by reviewing all the different labor work that is done in your warehouse, then look at the solutions and systems that you are already using. See if you can increase their usage by automating more tasks. An alternative that small businesses choose to do is to consolidate their warehouses with a partnering business to save warehouse space, and use the leftover money on automating more of their tasks. This prominently reduces labor costs. Only once you feel like you’re using all of your current solutions to the maximum of their potential, and you have just enough employees to take care of tasks that can only be done manually, is it time for you to consider adding more automation tools or even hiring more labor staff is necessary.

Poor damage control

Damage is unfortunately a common issue in warehouses, especially ones that deal with a large amount of inventory and heavy-duty equipment. While it’s difficult to completely avoid damage, you can always work on ways to reduce it.

Install protective gear like pallet rack protectors, special nets for racks, guard rails, anti-slip tape, lockout systems, low clearance warning bars, and accumulation conveyor systems. Also make sure your pathways are well lit and wide enough to comfortably move around products. These measures will help you protect your employees, equipment, and inventory and alos prevent accidents in the workplace.

Conduct regular inspections throughout your warehouse to look for early signs of damage to your equipment, storage units, or transportation vehicles. For instance, check out your storage shelves and pallets for overloading, cracks, and breakage. In addition to this, look for other types of damage as well, that can eventually cause problems, such as water damage or even pests.

Warehouse management is one of the most essential processes that happen in a warehouse, and it’s definitely not one where you can afford to mess up. Since most tasks involved in warehouse management are linked in some way, a problem in one can lead to costly errors in the others as well. Accidental redundancy, having a messy warehouse, bad inventory management, poor preparedness for seasonal demands, unsatisfactory order management, excessive spending on labor, and poor damage control can cost you money and derail your warehouse operations. By educating yourself about the potential warehouse challenges your warehouse may face and their solutions, you can reduce the amount of damage caused by these errors or even prevent them from happening at al

Using a warehouse management system can help you maintain a smooth running warehouse, free of these hiccups. Check out Zoho Inventory, a cloud-based warehouse management solution  that can manage multiple warehouses, organize your sales and transfer orders, provide real-time data about your inventory, and give you accurate reports in a flash.  Try our free trial today  to learn more!

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The Warehouse Management Importance Essay

Effectiveness and efficiency, reference list.

It should be noted that warehouse management is a process that requires a considerate approach to handling commodities and orientation at work processes reduction. The basic criteria that are essential in any method of warehousing include the prevention of safety incidents, quality errors, and efficient and smart storing of items. More importantly, all the operations should be aimed at increasing the productivity and speeding up the shipping process. The purpose of this paper is to consider the particular ways of achieving efficiency and effectiveness in warehouse management.

Effective warehouse management assumes a clear and accurate accounting of the goods and the availability of reliable data on warehouse stocks. It can be achieved by means of a Lean approach to storing goods ( Behind the scenes of Amazon warehouse 2015). This approach assumes that it is necessary to identify those factors that lead to delays in work and cause large stocks ( Behind the scenes of Amazon warehouse 2015).

To apply this system, it is necessary to review the documents, tools, and commodities and remove all the unnecessary items. Then, it is useful to distribute the items in such a way that it will be convenient to work with them and maintain the same order constantly. In addition, it is essential to develop standards and work instructions that will help maintain the orderliness. The most important aspect is constant monitoring of the implementation of procedures in accordance with the sequence ( Behind the scenes of Amazon warehouse 2015).

Thus, the core of this approach lies within five phases, which are sorting, ordering, eliminating wastes, standardization, and continuous improvement. The effectiveness of this approach to warehouse management can be reflected in the fact that a quality and functional working environment is formed without unnecessary wastes that hinder the productivity and successful shipping.

Another approach to the effective management of warehousing is the Kanban system. With its help, it is possible to monitor all the stored products and commodities in the company ( FW Warehousing 2014). The aim of this management system is to store only the necessary items in the required quantity and at the right time. A card with the essential information (where the order came from and where it needs to be moved) should indicate each commodity ( FW Warehousing 2014). With this method, all processes become maximally efficient.

Efficiency is an important element of effective warehouse management. The Kanban system can be characterized by a considerable level of efficiency as space and time, as well as workforce, are used efficiently ( FW Warehousing 2014). It is important to make sure that items are stored efficiently, and no space is wasted. Specific structures and machinery can help the warehouse facilities to store lots of items.

Moreover, space should be used efficiently at different stages starting with accepting products and packing them and ending with the delivery to the shipment area. For example, the Kanban system is efficient as no extra motion is necessary as items are placed in areas that follow the flow of products. The items are accepted, then picked up by the corresponding employees who pack and transport them to the areas of storage and delivery. It is noteworthy that the use of codes and efficient information sharing system contributes to efficiency as there can be no errors or delays since all items’ flow is easily traced.

It is necessary to note that effective management is vital to the success of a warehouse as it ensures high key performance indicators. For instance, effective management results in a high level of productivity as space and time are used efficiently. It also leads to a significant decrease in safety incidents and quality errors as the areas are properly developed for different types of tasks. The number of accidents is minimal as the areas where machinery is utilized are quite isolated. Clearly, these results positively affect the overall performance of the warehouse. Items are not lost or damaged and can be traced easily at different stages.

Thus, it can be summarized that the concept of Lean and the Kanban system allow optimizing and standardizing the management of a warehouse. Both strategies tend to eliminate the redundant processes to speed up shipping. According to the first method, it is necessary to involve all employees to achieve coordinated work and in order to determine the processes that are unnecessary and interfere with successful management. The use of the second approach can assist in achieving measurable results and accelerating all processes in the warehouse. With the help of Kanban system, the company will be able to use the warehousing space more functionally, reduce the required inventory, and improve employee productivity.

Behind the scenes of Amazon warehouse . 2015. online video, Fox 13 News, Tampa. Web.

FW Warehousing: The Kanban system explained . 2014, online video, FW Warehousing, Kansas City. Web.

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11 Warehouse Management Challenges and How to Avoid Them

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More warehouse management topics.

• Warehouse Positions & Duties
• Cost to Rent a Warehouse
• Warehouse Optimization Tips
• Warehouse Types
• Warehouse Organization
• Warehouse Inventory Management
• Public vs. Private Warehousing
• Warehouse Best Practices

The consistent flow of the entire supply chain hinges on proper warehouse management. Any little glitch or hiccup can create challenges that have a ripple effect. Learning how to avoid and overcome obstacles is the key to ongoing and long-term success.

Third-party logistics (3PL) warehouse management is a juggling act at best. It involves organizing, managing, and maintaining a multitude of processes that occur on a daily basis in a warehouse. To keep the 3PL warehouse functioning, all processes must run smoothly for maximum efficiency.

Most warehouse managers have embraced automation and warehouse management system (WMS) software to run virtually error free, but no system is without problems. Mistakes and challenges can frequently occur.

In a report carried out by McKinsey & Company, it was found that around $385 billion was spent worldwide in warehouse costs, which does not include the added expense of mistakes and errors.

Warehouse problems throw a wrench in the speed, productivity, and efficiency of operations, which then impact the entire supply chain process. Unfortunately, the errors that occur often take place after it's too late and the damage has already occurred.

Prior knowledge of the potential stumbling blocks can help you run reconnaissance to prevent the problems before they happen. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “ a n ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure .”

 1. Dangers of Accidental Redundancy in the Warehouse

Clearly, taking steps to avoid problems helps ensure that the 3PL warehouse continues to function well to ensure satisfied customers and consumers.

No one has a crystal ball and can successfully predict the future. However, a successful Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager strives to run damage control before problems occur by familiarizing themselves with the most common problems faced by the supply chain and how to avoid them.

With proper warehouse functions, eliminating redundancy is the name of the game. To function effectively, everything must flow smoothly like a well-oiled machine. If a problem occurs, then a warehouse manager expects to notice it immediately; after all, the squeaky wheel gets the grease! However, what if the problem occurs as a result of accidental redundancy?

Warehouses perform a huge magnitude of operations for each item. All of the processes are strung together to create efficient workflows. If a problem occurs in the supply chain, then operations can become duplicated. The redundancies impact labor costs and take a toll on a 3PL's bottom line.

Redundancy mistakes occur most frequently in large warehouses during order picking. Products are picked from the warehouse storage location to fulfill the order. In big warehouses, the same order is often managed by more than one person, which leads to the likelihood of problems such as picking more than one of the same product.

Investing in a warehouse management system helps to automate processes and reduce the incidences of redundancies. With order picking, the use of barcode technology that scans the products that are picked to fulfill the orders notifies the user if there are any duplicates that accidentally occur. 

 2. Warehouse Space Efficiency

Storage costs continue to increase and as the burgeoning demand for ecommerce grows, the dilemma of warehouse space takes center stage. Despite the best of efforts, storage space often remains underutilized.

Logistics Management carried out a survey that found that the warehouse capacity being used by manufacturers hovers at only around 68% in many situations. Running out of storage space due to ineffective planning has become an all-too-common pain point.

Focusing on mapping out an effective warehouse layout can often solve problems by maximizing floor space and focusing on vertical space. Ideally, employees should easily pass through the warehouse without encountering roadblocks.

The use of automation along with modern equipment will lower labor costs and improve accessibility throughout the warehouse. An effective warehouse management system improves the categorization of inventory, so it is stored easily and within accessible reach.

Tips on optimizing warehouse spaces includes:

• Examine the technology needed to organize the layout of the warehouse such as using a WMS. Many WMS software companies offer a 3D models or digital twins where you can provide dimensions and measurements of the warehouse along with inventory.
• Automate the putaway and picking processes with automated storage and retrieval systems (AS/RS), which are made up of a network of computer-controlled pieces of equipment.
• Improve speed and warehouse processes to help save wasted floor space.

Warehouse managers who are not ready to upgrade technology can instead try to improve the warehouse inventory so it can be placed in a more accessible location for easier picking at a later date.

As the business grows, such a lax process can actually cause more problems than it solves and send the manager scrambling for an innovative WMS solution to overcome the obstacles and problems.

Many are surprised that warehouse layout is so important, but the correct or incorrect design can truly make or break a 3PL. There is no ‘perfect’ design for every warehouse. The pattern that fits one 3PL might fail to meet the needs of another. Product type matters when mapping out an effective warehouse system.

The most popular items should be located at the front with easy accessibility to facilitate rapid picking and shipping. Forklifts should never have to travel to the far areas of a facility to reach the most in-demand items. Accessibility hinges on types such as pallets, cartons, batch numbers, and other factors that vary depending on the industry served.

Complex categorizations of inventory usually need voice direct systems or radio frequency to instantly obtain data and reduce the frequency of errors while improving product delivery.

 3. Poor Inventory Management

Subpar inventory management leads to a lot of problems such as the following issues:

• Misplacing products by thinking they should be in one location but are actually in another area of the warehouse.
• Not having enough stock to fulfill an order or being out of stock, which causes the need for a backorder and increases your lead time.
• Cancelling an order because you don’t think you have it in stock but later find the item in the warehouse.
• Losing an item after putting away the product.
• Delayed shipping because items are not actually in stock.
• Miscalculations that occur during the inventory checking processes which can happen during manual methods.

If a 3PL warehouse experiences any of the above problems, then the management has failed to maintain an accurate record of inventory in real-time. Warehouse management often doesn’t track inventory correctly, or they use an error-prone manual method.

Poor inventory management occurs when things are managed incorrectly with manual processes or outdated software. The best way to overcome the logistics challenges is with updated warehouse management software. Ensure that the new software offers real-time management features.

Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager is a cloud-based WMS system that offers complete inventory management, task automation, and delivery visibility to customers, so problems are reduced.

 4. Failing to Be Prepared for Seasonal Demands 

Depending on the time of year, there are seasonal demands. Some products are needed more frequently during the summer months and others during the winter, not to mention the high demand for ecommerce products during the holidays. 3PL warehouse management that fails to be prepared during the year’s different seasons can quickly sustain a great deal of financial damage.

Common warehouse management problems that occur are:

• Failing to have sufficient stock of needed items.
• Misplacing items.
• Inability to locate the needed products on short notice.

Preparing to meet seasonal demand is a necessity. Warehouse staff have to effectively manage their stock levels.

Tips to prepare for seasonal demands include:

• Remain in contact with distributors, retailers, manufacturers, transporters, and other sources.
• Maintain accurate information so that every aspect of the supply chain is ready to meet the demand fluctuations and can work together seamlessly.
• Use forecasting techniques to determine the effective methods needed to figure out seasonal inventory levels.
• Organize and arrange warehouse products to help rapidly push seasonal products.
• Place items in convenient locations throughout the warehouse to easily put away and pick orders.
• Use warehouse equipment and automation tools such as forklifts, AS/RS, and pallet flow rack systems to process the flow in a better and quicker way.

5. Poor Time Management

Failing to manage time correctly impacts picking and location of the inventory, which causes significant delays throughout the whole supply chain.

Automation tools such as RFID labels, barcode technology, order authorization, and WMS solutions all work together to manage processes in real time so repeated tasks are avoided and execution times significantly reduced to improve time management.

 6. Problems with Order Management

Order management is a cornerstone of any 3PL warehouse and is often one of the most common areas where errors occur. The process of order management starts from the second the order is received through the picking, packing, and shipping process until the order reaches the consumer. Additionally, a 3PL usually oversees the post-sales processes such as refunds and returns when needed.

A single mistake in the order management process can cause everything to collapse like a house of cards, and the entire workflow to come to a standstill.

Steps will often have to be conducted again from the beginning, which causes time loss, chisels away at profitability, and impacts the reputation of not only the 3PL but also the ecommerce customers that partner with the logistics provider.

Using an order management system (OMS) helps keep orders running smoothly by optimizing order management and fulfillment processes such as shipping, inventory management, and customer notifications. Warehouse managers can save time, achieve higher order accuracy rates and benefit with greater profitability. 

A study carried out by AMR Research showed that order rates of 80 percent or higher experienced a profitability rate that was three times more profitable than warehouse with an order rate of only 60 percent.

  7. Spending Too Much on Labor 

Laborers carry out a multitude of tasks within a warehouse such as cleaning, material handling, receiving, shipping, forklift operation, stock clerking, warehouse management, product picking, and loading.

Many warehouse owners mistakenly believe that automation and equipment account for a sizable amount of operating expenses, but manual labor is also expensive. Many warehouses spent over 50% of their budget on labor alone.

Conducting a complete review of the diverse types of labor being performed in the warehouse helps create solutions and systems that can curtail expenses. Increasing automation often lowers the costs and labor expenses, which saves on the budget.

  8. Carrying Out Too Many Procedures 

Extra operations, reprocessing, rework, and unnecessary handling that are carried out from overproduction, shortage, or defects cost the 3PL time and money. Overcoming unnecessary steps can streamline the warehouse process so it becomes more agile and faster, which promotes an improved customer and consumer experience while enlarging the company’s profit margins.

  9. Traceability and Connectivity Problems 

Software allows complete traceability throughout the supply chain. Relying on manual processes or outdated software can quickly lead to traceability and connectivity issues. Any loss of control over inventory and issues with the continuity of the supply chain can cause problems for everyone involved with the process.

WMS software provides the tools needed to maximize a 3PL’s processes and create transparency to overcome any traceability or connectivity issues.

 10. Ongoing Damage Problems

With any warehouse, large or small, inventory and heavy equipment can sustain damage. Warehouse management cannot always avoid these mishaps, but they can take steps to reduce the number of incidences.

Measures to take to reduce damage to inventory and equipment and protect against accidents:

• Install protective pallet rack protectors on gears
• Use special nets for racks
• Install anti-slip tape and guard rails
• Hang low clearance warning bars
• Utilize lockout systems
• Implement an accumulation of conveyor systems

Conducting frequent inspections of the warehouse helps catch any early signs of damage to vehicles, equipment, and warehouse storage units. Look over storage shelves and pallets to catch cracks, indications of breakage, or overloading. It is also imperative to stay vigilant for any signs of structural issues that could lead to water damage in the warehouse or pest infiltration, which would easily destroy and taint storage items.

 11.  Gathering Delays

Entering SKUs manually slows the entire process, leading to gathering delays and human errors. To optimize gathering, you’ll want to invest in a leading WMS that both helps you plan efficient gathering routes to provide a short response time as well as substantially increases employee productivity.

With Extensiv’s leading WMS solutions, warehouse managers can better meet the needs of their customers through full integration. With our REST API platform, our cloud-based WMS effortlessly connects to systems to provide accuracy with mobile scanning, print labels, integrate shopping carts and marketplaces, manage custom integrations, and more.

Warehouse Management Best Practices

The warehouse is an crucial component of any supply chain. If warehouse operations fail, then the entire 3PL could conceivably start to crumble. A WMS is imperative to ensure an optimum customer and consumer experience every step of the way. Below you’ll find several recommendations on warehouse operation and administration.

• Focus on designing a complete supplier fulfillment program that improves the relationship that exists between companies and suppliers. The program should outline product handling information and transport times.
• Implement an electronic notification program for labor that streamlines all warehouse operations, client satisfaction, and labor planning.
• Regularly perform stock audit cycles that check inventories so you can better control your supplies and avoid any interruptions or holdups in operations.
• Rely on cross-docking techniques to effectively move goods from the supplier’s location to the customer without needing to always store them. Such a process can better optimize order fulfillment speed.
• Utilize slotting to change the location of products to meet demand.

Every company will have its own requirements with warehouse logistics . Automation is a great asset when solving challenges in the warehouse. An effective WMS will also help you manage all necessary operations.

Conduct continuous improvement techniques to avoid or correct mistakes before they become major problems. Whenever a problem arises, warehouse managers should instantly try to investigate what, where, when, and why the incident happened so they can take the steps needed to fix the problem or avoid the issue in the future.

Carrying out necessary modifications helps avoid mistakes that can prove costly or damage customer relationships.

Rely on Technology to Reduce Warehouse Management Errors

Even common warehouse errors take their toll on profitability. 3PLs that rely on manual processes and fail to incorporate technology into day-to-day operations are usually the ones that experience the most frequent problems. A WMS is easy to implement and accessible to logistics companies of all sizes.

Embracing technology might seem like a natural step for forward-thinking warehouse managers, but many continue to cling to manual processes coupled with stacks of paperwork.

Manual inventory management systems rely on humans to track all products and then take the time to enter the information into the computer accurately and quickly. The entire process is rife with human error that can occur at multiple stages. Any time an employee interacts with a product or carries out inventory processes manually, there is a substantial risk of mistakes.

A paper inventory system is inefficient and vulnerable to expensive errors. Manually conducting anything also takes up excessive employee time, which drives up labor costs.

The biggest step that a warehouse manager can take to increase efficiency, reduce workforce cost, and speed up processes is to embrace technology. A WMS can practically wipe out shipping, receiving, picking, and packing mistakes.

A WMS is designed for many functions that help a 3PL manager ensure that their warehouse is operating efficiently.

A few examples include:

• Tracking products from the minute they are received at the warehouse until they are delivered to consumers
• Monitoring all productivity
• Checking for accuracy
• Planning routes for operators
• Picking products to fulfill orders
• Automating all billing
• Sending invoices in seconds
• Integrating with accounting solutions and ERPs
• Providing flexible Extensiv 3PL Warehouse Manager pricing
• Rapidly calculating charges for storage
• Tracking all items via the cloud
• Automating orders
• Creating scalable workflows
• Utilizing directed putaway to store inventory

A WMS helps 3PLs oversee more orders, integrate their systems, and manage workflows. They can effectively grow orders by 22% while offering value-added services.

Use Your WMS to Its Full Potential

In some cases, a 3PL might have a WMS in place, but they fail to use the system to its fullest potential. One of the most underutilized aspects of a WMS is the system’s ability to perform regular cycle counts of the warehouse inventory.

The act of performing regular counts helps staff recognize discrepancies and patterns that could show a problem with the inventory and help reduce incorrect counts.

Regular counts also assist with overcoming employee theft. Just the knowledge that regular counts are performed usually acts as a deterrent to many criminal activities.

Studies have shown that employee theft accounts for 44% of inventory disappearance, so overcoming the problem helps expand the bottom line and create a more stable work environment.

A report released by the National Retail Security Survey showed that employee theft caused $34.5 billion worth of loss. A WMS utilized to the program’s fullest potential helps lower the incidences of stealing, supplier fraud, and administrative errors to help increase a 3PL's profitability.

The WMS offered by 3PL Central, an Extensiv Company, was designed specifically for 3PL warehouses. The software is trusted by over 12,000 3PL operations professionals to effectively grow their business and overcome warehouse challenges. Using an innovative WMS solution lets warehouse managers focus on operations, customer satisfaction, and business growth.

Whether you are looking to avoid costly warehouse mistakes, meet future challenges, reach more clients, or manage day-to-day operations, you’ll want to try Extensiv’s cloud-based WMS solution.

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Warehouse Management Challenge FAQs

What are the biggest challenges in warehouse management.

The biggest warehouse management challenges are a lack of or inaccurate inventory management, delays in the global supply chain, and poor time management. These challenges can be addressed by implementing a WMS.

How do you solve warehouse management challenges?

Many common warehouse management challenges can be solved by implementing a warehouse management system (WMS). These automated systems help brands and 3PLs keep track of inventory and improve their supply chain management while automating otherwise time-consuming processes.

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Managing a warehouse has always been challenging. You must tackle several problems simultaneously to ensure smooth operations. If warehouse...

By Hector Sunol • Jan 13, 2023 • 5 MIN READ

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Managing a warehouse has always been challenging. You must tackle several problems simultaneously to ensure smooth operations. If warehouse problems are not tackled, the efficiency and productivity of  warehouse operations  are greatly affected. This results in increased errors, order delays, inaccurate inventory, poor customer service, etc.

Click Here: Solve Your Warehouse Problems With This Advanced & Affordable WMS

This article will cover four common warehouse problems and how to solve them. Read the rest of the article to learn more.

4 Common Warehouse Problems and How to Solve Them

1. human error.

It is normal for humans to make mistakes. However, too many mistakes can negatively impact your warehouse efficiency, causing damages, injuries, significant delays, and poor customer service.

For example, the manual process of measuring parcels with a tape measure, calculating weight, taking photos, and uploading the data into a system is error-prone. Any error in this process may cause issues, such as a parcel exceeding a storage rack’s weight limit, not fitting in the assigned space, having incorrect information in your WMS, etc. Other errors due to manual operations include picking the wrong products, picking the incorrect quantity, or damaging products due to mishandling.

Investing in the right warehouse automation technologies can help you overcome this problem and increase warehouse accuracy and efficiency. Automated solutions can help minimize human touches, reducing the number of human errors drastically.

For example, an automated parcel dimensioner allows warehouses to automatically and accurately measure parcels’ dimensions (length, width, and height), calculate weight, and capture images. They also automatically upload the data in the WMS, reducing errors from data entry.

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are another technology that can reduce errors. It can safely move cargo around different types of warehouses with minimal human assistance, improving efficiency and reducing costs associated with human error.

2. High Labor Costs

High labor costs are another warehouse problem, as labor is one of the most significant warehouse expenses. It can take around 60% of the total warehouse budget.

There are two effective solutions to expensive labor-related warehouse problems. The first is maximizing the use of the available labor force. You can achieve this by measuring their productivity, implementing a regular feedback mechanism, investing in proper training, and recognizing them for their hard work.

The second is assisting labor with technologies that automate repetitive and tedious manual tasks. There’s a common misconception that investing in automation is expensive. However, warehouse managers must understand that inefficient labor doesn’t come cheap either. Automation technologies such as pallet dimensioners, automatic guided vehicles, autonomous mobile robots, etc., are a one-time investment with low maintenance. On the other hand, you need to pay for your labor daily/monthly, making it a recurring expense.

3. Label Issues

Issues with labels are another warehouse problem that can reduce warehouse efficiency. Warehouses are robust facilities that require equally robust barcode label solutions. Standard labels are not strong enough to withstand frequent cleaning and general wear and tear, making them unreadable. This delays operations and affects warehouse efficiency. Common label issues that may result in errors are scratched printheads, leftover adhesive ooze, missed compliance codes, peeling edges, misplaced barcodes, and color issues.

Not all labels are made up of the same material. Therefore, it is a must to choose the right label material based on the warehouse application. For example, polyester material labels are suitable for low-level storage racks. Retro-reflective labels are good for upper storage racks with hanging signs. Durable metal labels are ideal for labeling on the floor.

Additionally, choose temperature-resistant labels to withstand the harsh cold storage conditions. For outdoor storage, you should select labels that can survive rain, wind, humidity, and frequent temperature fluctuations. Your labels should be easily visible, easy to read, and durable for heavy traffic areas. Also, choosing a good contrast between the background color and the text of your labels makes them easy to read.

Effectively used warehouse labels can help you streamline your operations and increase productivity. It would be best to make the label system sequential because it allows employees to locate specific items in the warehouse efficiently.

4. Outdated Warehouse Layout

When you first established your warehouse, you designed a sleek and strategic layout. However, due to increased goods traffic, your layout is now working against you and needs an update. Inefficient use of available spaces is a common problem in warehouses with a poor layout, negatively impacting profits.

To overcome this warehouse problem, you should periodically re-slot the facility and re-evaluate the design of your layout to accommodate your business model. Consider these principles of warehouse layout design to create an optimized layout. A well-executed and optimized warehouse layout design provides easy access to stored goods, streamlines operations, and reduces travel time and expenses. It helps you improve order fulfillment rates, storage utilization, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

While warehouse problems can feel overwhelming, the above solutions can help you resolve them. As you may have noticed, it is apparent that technology solutions play a crucial role in solving warehouse problems and helping you improve efficiency and reduce costs. Now that you have understood how to improve a warehouse, it is time to implement the suggested solutions in the article.

If you are ready to resolve warehouse problems, go to our Solutions Finder tool.

For more information about warehouse technologies and optimizing other warehouse processes, follow us on  LinkedIn ,  YouTube ,  X , or  Facebook . If you have other inquiries or suggestions, please  contact us here . We’ll be happy to hear from you.

Written by Hector Sunol Hector has 17 years of experience leading IT operations for large and mid-size businesses. He holds an MBA in Management and Bachelor's degree in Information Technology. Hector has a passion for books and creating opportunities for others to grow.

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Top five warehouse management problems and how to fix them.

by Newcastle Systems , on Tue, Jul 26, 2016

Warehouse management is commonly associated with six basic tenets: accuracy, cost control, efficiency, cleanliness, safety and security, but the underlying processes are complex and dynamic, presenting major problems for warehouse managers across industries. Distributors have to deal with trade-offs due to resource limitations, leading to under performance in key functional areas.

Warehouse managers face the challenge of maximizing performance while balancing trade-offs under uncertain conditions. This article examines the top five warehouse management problems and their solutions.

Redundant Processes

Traditionally, warehouse employees have been likely to handle a product several times due to the nature of the warehousing process. This tendency lingers on in current practices. A notable redundant process in warehouses is where warehouse workers pass the same ticket through multiple hands.

While necessary in some instances, such redundant procedures are time-consuming and increase the cost of labor. Using barcode technology streamlines the warehousing process, removing redundant processes while maximizing resource utilization. Automated systems are evolving fast, a trend that compels warehouse managers to maintain up-to-date systems to achieve the desired results. 

Poor Facility Layout  

Efficient use of space is a critical success factor in warehousing.  Inadequate storage space and inefficient use of available storage are common problems in warehouses with poor facility layout. Poorly configured warehouses are a major cause for worry for managers because of the inherent potential for negative impacts on profits.

The optimal layout factors both the floor space and the vertical space available for use. In addition to maximizing the use of space, a good layout maximizes the use of equipment and labor, accessibility to all items and the security of all items. Using forklifts that reach the roof of the warehouse allows for a configuration that maximizes both the horizontal and vertical space.

The complementary solution is to ensure that the highest-selling inventory is easily accessible by placing it at the most accessible point.

Seasonality in Demand

Fluctuations in demand pose serious challenges for warehouse managers. The dip in sales due to the recent global financial crisis resulted in major cost problems for warehouses due to increased inventory levels. Although it did not affect all industries alike, the problem highlights the challenge of fluctuations in demand due to forces outside the control of the warehouse.

Managing seasonality in demand requires timely and accurate information about manufacturing, retailing and the industry. Information gaps between the warehouse and other relevant entities or the industry limit the ability of the distributor to monitor and respond to changes in demand effectively. It is necessary for warehouses to use timely and accurate information in planning and forecasting demand as well as in providing supply chain visibility.

Rearranging the products to match changes in demand helps minimize the negative impacts of seasonal demand. Such a rearrangement involves correct positioning of the items by placing the products with high demand during the current season at the front of the picking aisle and at the correct height.

Dealing with seasonality in demand, however, goes beyond just layout and picking. The problem also requires proper management of transportation networks and strategic sourcing of transportation services. These long-term solutions build a lasting capability with strategic value for the distributor.

High Labor Costs

Warehouse managers strive to increase productivity while minimizing labor costs in a labor-intensive environment. Inbound Logistics estimates that labor constitutes about 65% of the operating budgets of most warehouses. A typical warehouse uses expensive equipment and employs a large labor force, presenting a challenge that is for the most part unique to warehousing operations. 

The staff ranges from cleaners and packers to managers and administrative personnel. Attempts to reduce the cost of labor should take into consideration the impacts of the move on other costs. The two major strategies for addressing labor-related problems include maximizing available labor and replacing labor with automated systems.

> Action item: use our ROI calculator to see how you can lower labor costs <

Developing the right mix of expertise through workforce planning helps managers hone the skills necessary for successful labor force practices. A combination of the right skills and motivation, through practices such as excellent working conditions, training and flexible hours, enhances employee productivity and the performance of the warehouse.

Inaccurate Inventory

Accuracy and efficiency in handling inventory in warehousing go hand in hand. Inaccurate inventory causes problems such as maintaining improper stock levels and buildups of obsolete inventory.  Picking problems also arise when pickers rely on inaccurate information, leading to inefficient processes. Other costs of inaccurate stock information include increased expenses, lost revenue and low productivity. Automation is a key factor in solving accuracy-related problems.

Automated systems offer real-time, accurate information about stock levels and composition. The technology employed in managing inventory in a warehouse is critical to success because the value of the automated system is just as good as the quality of the system itself. A low-quality system retains some of the risks associated with inaccurate inventory. A careful and informed selection process reduces the risk of procuring an automation system that does not meet the needs of the warehouse.

Warehouses face increasingly dynamic environments as remote events in the global supply chain become more relevant to local business environments. The desirable approach when dealing with the challenges that arise due to new developments is to use inexpensive solutions that offer sustainable best practices. Warehouse managers should monitor and track changes in the business environment and adopt responsive solutions.

Common warehouse problems such as redundant processes, poor facility layout, seasonality in demand, high labor costs and inaccurate inventory information require robust systems that keep managers informed about changes and gaps that require attention.

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Storage Location Assignment Problem in a Warehouse: A Literature Review

• Conference paper
• First Online: 23 May 2023
• Cite this conference paper

• Lucy Medrano-Zarazúa 7 ,
• Jania Astrid Saucedo-Martínez 7 &
• Johanna Bolaños-Zuñiga 7  

Part of the book series: EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing ((EAISICC))

Included in the following conference series:

• International Conference on Computer Science and Health Engineering

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Warehouse management is one of the many companies’ operations that is a main part of the supply chain. Storage takes up between 2 and 5% of the total cost of sales in an organization (Hwang and Cho (Comput Ind Eng 51(2):335–342, 2006)). The storage allocation of products is an activity inside the warehouses that help managing a good flow of the products. It is a complex issue since it depends on many parameters such as the number of spaces, the quantity of products, and the number of rack levels that are in the warehouse, and the resources to move, among other things. When optimizing the flow of operations in the warehouse, good decisions have to be made, and, in this work, through a systematic literature review, different academic papers published between 2005 and 2021 on the SLAP are analyzed and classified according to the solution methodology, objectives, and other characteristics, so that the most used methods in the literature are obtained for this type of problem as well as the parameters that are most taken into account to solve it.

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Medrano-Zarazúa, L., Saucedo-Martínez, J.A., Bolaños-Zuñiga, J. (2024). Storage Location Assignment Problem in a Warehouse: A Literature Review. In: Marmolejo-Saucedo, J.A., Rodríguez-Aguilar, R., Vasant, P., Litvinchev, I., Retana-Blanco, B.M. (eds) Computer Science and Engineering in Health Services. COMPSE 2022. EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34750-4_2

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Strategic Warehouse Management, Essay Example

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Introduction

Possessing a reliable warehousing and distribution strategy is crucial for an organization’s success in today’s global environment (Ackerman, 2007). Strategic warehouse management, Inc. company seeks to design, develop, manage, and implement a preliminary plan for a non-resident company. The company has identified marketing opportunities in Australia; consequently, the company needs to exploit the new market through the non-resident company. This paper explores the logistic needs of establishing a non-resident company before the commencement of operations. The paper explores management issues related with setting up of new warehouses (Inmon, Strauss, & Neushloss, 2008)

The paper provides a preliminary development plan which entails submitting warehouse operations in any city situated in Australia. The report also strives to explore key strategic warehouse management implications like design of the management structure of the warehouse, workforce implications, analyze fundamental regulations and other management implications, amongst other strategic warehouse management issues.

Supply chain

Ackerman (2007) argues that strategic warehouse management present practices aimed at maintaining a healthy inventory level as well as lowering logistics costs. Strategic warehouse management presents a management tool designed to protect an organization against conventional changes in warehouse requirements. Strategic warehouse management commences with an effective supply chain design (Ackerman, 2007). A supply chain refers to a network established amongst distinct companies producing, managing, and/ or distributing a specific product. This report is interested in presenting the steps required to get a service or good from the supplier to the customers (from USA to Australia and vice versa). Supply chains are a crucial strategy for many organizations, as such, this report strives to design the most optimized supply chain with the aim of managing operational costs. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. (SWM) is determined to extend their operations in Australia. The company’s marketing team has identified untapped marketing opportunities in Australia and seeks to maximize on the opportunity (Inmon, Strauss, & Neushloss, 2008)

The proposed new branch is a non-resident Company and can be opened in any city in Australia. The new business will offer warehouse services for a variety of businesses situated in Australia. Firstly, this report proposes that any organization or dealers interested in contacting the services of Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. should be incorporated into the supply chain (Ackerman, 2007). The supply chain should be deployed in ways that augment shareholder value and profitability. The marketing team of Strategic Marketing, Inc. should consider sourcing techniques result to the best financial performance. The preliminary plan should specify the optimal number of plants, distribution centers, and available warehouses to maximize long-term gains (Prabhu, 2011).

Warehouse Design Requirements

Prabhu (2011) continues by stating that data warehousing is one of the powerful tools available to sustain a business enterprise. In present day most of businesses employ warehouse based programs in the designing and executing of data in warehouse database. The process of designing a good warehouse is exhaustive and detail laden. A good design process is one that focuses on location and design. An ample preliminary warehouse design should be managed and sustained by specialized individuals who are also team members. Selecting a location presents the initial step of designing a warehouse. The selection process should realize that the facility’s location performs the function of getting a company close to its clients (Prabhu, 2011). The main performance issue for a warehouse is lead time. This is because the society is marred by high levels of impatience, as such; warehouses should strive to eliminate delay constraints. Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. should decide whether they require that the non-resident company should be a stand-alone warehouse to cater for nationwide demands. Alternatively, the organization should also consider whether the non-resident company will complement an existing association with another facility or an alternative for another facility (Prabhu, 2011).

Hawkins and Humphries (2009) suggest that the course of designing the warehouse, Strategic Warehouse Management should understand the culture and preferences of Australia clients. Moreover, the multiple enterprise implications call for an extended research into the nature and form of each business that require the warehouse service. A crucial consideration is whether the clients require high availability needs or short lead times. The distance of the warehouse to the clients is also an essential consideration, as it determines consumer choice (Ackerman, 2007).

Organization Structure

Before implementing a warehouse design, it is crucial to define the structure of the warehouse and depict it in the management system for successful establishment. The initial step involves definition of individual warehouses, for instance high rank storage, picking area, block storage, and sundry (Prabhu, 2011). Classification of the various storage types is important, as well as grouping. The warehouse number is essential as it helps define various storage locations for a particular plant.

An organization structure illustrates the scope of business operations performance measurements. It also offers the platform for measuring, analyzing, and controlling activities in a warehouse. The operations in a warehouse entail receiving input from suppliers and extending the same to its clients. As such achieving excellence in a warehouse is an ongoing process and is achieved through continuous improvements (Ackerman, 2007). Management implications in a warehouse should be concerned with inventory accuracy, productivity, storage occupancy, and customer service.

Workforce management

Superior service is often the distinguishing element in market growth and customer retention. The business venture that has opened up for Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. is complex as it involves numerous business enterprises. Consequently the warehouse in question ought to be extremely huge and requires a big workforce. The complexity of the nature of business service required also calls for high specialization and division of labor with respect to the workforce. The employees contracted should be competitive enough to contribute effectively and efficiently to the organization’s financial and service goals. The organizations’ executive should also aim at developing a workforce that undertakes performance reporting and optimize labor planning with the aim of driving revenues higher.

Mobility is another critical consideration for workforce requirements while constructing a warehouse design. Designing a convenient solution for the workforce can be a daunting task. A portable workforce has the right experience and sufficient knowledge on the industry. Moreover, management of the workforce should be swift and efficient and should aim at reducing workloads and employee inefficiencies (Ackerman, 2007).

A non-resident company implies that Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. Company seeks to maintain the control of the warehouse (located in Australia) in the United States. As such, the company should develop strategic plans aimed at promoting efficiency in collaborative ventures with the entire supply chain of the company based in Australia. The company should also strive to ensure that their Australian clients; with interests in exploring the United States markets, are assisted in their quest. The company can achieve this through maintaining a constant supply chain cost, and offering their clients an analytic paradigm for the improvement and success of their ventures (Ackerman, 2007). The company should develop a strategy that will sustain efficiency in operations and see to it that products get to the distributors and customers at a minimal cost. Strategic warehousing should strive to offer their Australian clients a business foundation for their stock and inventory so that they, in part, focus on sales and marketing.

Import procedures

The United States import and export procedures are stringent but business friendly. Import and export rules and regulations are designed to protect consumers against exploitation and harmful products. Under the provisions of the United States law included in the United States Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, importers of various products are obligated to ensure that the products are sanitary, safe, and labeled with respect to United States requirements.

Products imported into the United States; especially, food substances, are considered to be interstate commerce. However food importers are highly advised that Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not authorized by law to approve, license, certify, or otherwise sanction single food importers. The importers are allowed to import food substances into the United States without prior consent by Food and Drug Administration. This holds as long as the facilities, which produce, store, or handle food products are registered with the body. A prior indication of incoming shipment is offered to Food and Drug Administration.

Australian Imports

Companies and individuals with interests in bringing their goods and services into the United States for sale should employ the services of Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. Company. The company specializes in the construction, as well as the integration of all functions and services across the supply chain. In addition, the physical location of the company will aid in monitoring clients’ products across the United States market. The company will also assist the Australian import class acquire worldwide logistics for novel solutions that aid in planning business strategies, accelerate order times, enhance customer service, as well as tighten the control of the supply chain .

This report established that all importers are required to adhere to United States import procedures and the requirements of Prior Notice. Companies shipping products to the United States, at some instances, may find their shipments subject to “Detention Without Physical Examination” by United States import authorities. Importers are strongly advised to maintain their patience as the products are held at the port of entry. This gives import authorities ample time to carry out additional scrutiny, analysis, and testing. The delays arising from detention without physical scrutiny could be lengthy to businesses suffering the loss of time. Furthermore, the delays could lead to poor delivery schedules. In such instances, importers are strongly advised to always seek assistance from import authorities to prevent further loss of business opportunities.

Export Implications

Exporters from the United States should contact the customs and Border Protection Organization (CBP). The body addresses all export concerns of business people and offer export guidance. Export rules vary with country of trade (Prabhu, 2011). For instance, there is no general licensing for exporting to the United Kingdom or some European Union countries. Exported food products should; however, bear general requirements which include special invoice declarations, special labeling requirements, and Certificate of Origin. The Certificate of Origin is mostly required for products containing animal byproducts.

Supply Chain Risks

Risks are a fraction of life and are evident in every business activity. Warehouse owners indulge in risks because of the potential reward associated with the risky venture. Most of the decisions in supply chain management are highly risky (Hawkins and Humphries, 2009). Nevertheless, strategic warehouse management companies always strive to ensure that they adopt effective strategies meant to prevent, reduce, or even eliminate the risk. Uncontrolled risk can be detrimental to the success of the supply chain of Strategic Warehouse management, Inc. company. Supply chain risk management is about identifying risks and mitigating operations against natural disasters and other events.

Some of the major risks associated with supply chain management include routine fluctuations in demand and supply (Hawkins and Humphries, 2009). In addition, mishandling daily fluctuations could present severe implications to the warehouse as the changes accumulate (Prabhu, 2011). Consequently, the phenomenon could result to obsolete and excess inventory, as well as poor customer service if fluctuations are not professionally managed. Other risk implications include rapid growth of the inventory, counterfeit and contaminated goods, changes to IT systems, and changes to the supplier base.

Possible Mitigation

The initial step in mitigating risks to chain supplies is the determination of the most hazardous risks to the business. This report recommends that Strategic Warehouse Management should, in their risk mitigation exercise, identify their most reliable suppliers, as well as major clients. This exercise ensures that the most lucrative revenue source is identified for possible risk mitigation procedures (Hawkins and Humphries, 2009). After prioritization of the supply base with respect to revenue contribution, risk elements which apply to every supplier should be analyzed. The order of assessment should reflect the importance in terms of revenue contribution to the warehouse.

Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. should outsource the services of actuaries for possible risk identification and mitigation exercises (Hawkins and Humphries, 2009). The company should consult the services of actuarial scientists to help them manage possible risk scenarios likely to be encountered by the non-resident company in Australia. The research experts will help the company handle supply chain risks which come in many forms. The research experts will mostly come in handy in helping the company deal with external risk factors like regulatory, political, environmental, and others. The initial stages of a venture are crucial as they determine future growth and development implications of the venture. Contracting actuaries situated in Australia will work a great deal in putting up a successful start for Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc.

Direct Management

As time moves on, risk factors will change, as well as mitigation strategies. As such, the management of Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. should align themselves to the recommendations forwarded by the Australian actuaries (Hawkins and Humphries, 2009). An Australian actuarial firm is highly recommended as the firm is located in SWM’s domain of interest. The management of the firm should maintain the strategic plan developed during the initial stages of the non-resident company. The management should strive to manage the warehouse alongside the organization’s principles. A transformational leadership is prerequisite to establish a good organizational culture for the company. Adhering to import, export, and non-resident company rules and regulations should form top priority in the organization’s agenda.

Budget Line Items

Budget line items that need to be considered in Strategic Warehouse Management’s preliminary plan include fixed and variable cost items (Hawkins and Humphries, 2009). Most of the items in the budget line represent operational tools designed to enhance the efficiency of the warehouse. These include salaries of employees, benefits, taxes, and allowances, expenses for space and utilities (rent), communication and postage expenses, consultant/ contractual expenses, and sundry.

This report recommends that the sales levels attained and the trends in inventory should form as the basis for measuring the success of the non-resident company in Australia. An effective warehouse is determined by the flow of goods in and out of the warehouse during operations (Prabhu, 2011). The magnitude of operations per given time should be determined, for consecutive periods. The general trend in the operations (sales and inventory) should be used to dictate the success of the non-resident warehouse located in Australia.

Hawkins and Humphries (2009) recommend that Australian business people should set an effective collaborative venture with Strategic Warehouse Management, Inc. Company. Collaboration will help them realize high sales volume in the United States market, as well as cement their economic influence in the region (Prabhu, 2011). On the other hand, Strategic Warehouse Management Company should adhere to tax and registration requirements of Australia for a successful take-off (Prabhu, 2011).

The company will facilitate the order of supplies across the supply chain, thereby facilitating the development of Australian brands in the United States.

Prabhu, S., & Venkatecan, N. (2007). Data mining and warehousing . New Delhi: New Age International (P) Ltd., Publishers.

Ackerman, K. B. (2007). Practical Handbook of Warehousing . Boston: Kluwer.

Prabhu, C. S. R. (2011). Data warehousing: Concepts, techniques, products and applications . New Delhi: PHI Learning.

Inmon, W. H., Strauss, D., & Neushloss, G. (2008). DW 2.0: The Architecture for the Next Generation of Data Warehousing . Burlington: Elsevier. Data Warehousing Fundamentals for It Professionals . (2011). S.l.: John Wiley & Sons.

Humphries, M., & Hawkins M. C. (2009). Data warehousing: Architecture and implementation . Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall PTR.

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Opinion We have a radical democracy. Will Trump voters destroy it?

For some time, it was possible to believe that many voters could not see the threat Donald Trump poses to America’s liberal democracy, and many still profess not to see it. But now, a little more than six months from Election Day, it’s hard to believe they don’t. The warning signs are clear enough. Trump himself offers a new reason for concern almost every day. People may choose to ignore the warnings or persuade themselves not to worry, but they can see what we all see, and that should be enough.

Adapted from “Rebellion: How Antiliberalism is Tearing America Apart — Again” by Robert Kagan. Copyright © 2024 by Robert Kagan. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Random House. All Rights Reserved.

How to explain their willingness to support Trump despite the risk he poses to our system of government? The answer is not rapidly changing technology, widening inequality, unsuccessful foreign policies or unrest on university campuses but something much deeper and more fundamental. It is what the Founders worried about and Abraham Lincoln warned about: a decline in what they called public virtue. They feared it would be hard to sustain popular support for the revolutionary liberal principles of the Declaration of Independence, and they worried that the virtuous love of liberty and equality would in time give way to narrow, selfish interest. Although James Madison and his colleagues hoped to establish a government on the solid foundation of self-interest, even Madison acknowledged that no government by the people could be sustained if the people themselves did not have sufficient dedication to the liberal ideals of the Declaration. The people had to love liberty, not just for themselves but as an abstract ideal for all humans.

Americans are going down this route today because too many no longer care enough whether the system the Founders created survives and are ceding the ground to those, led by Trump, who actively seek to overthrow what so many of them call “the regime.” This “regime” they are referring to is the unique political system established by the Founders based on the principles of universal equality and natural rights. That, plain and simple, is what this election is about. “A republic if you can keep it,” Benjamin Franklin allegedly said of the government created by the Constitutional Convention in 1787. This is the year we may choose not to keep it.

A healthy republic would not be debating whether Trump and his followers seek the overthrow of the Founders’ system of liberal democracy. What more do people need to see than his well-documented attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power with the storming of the U.S. Capitol, the elaborate scheme to create false electoral slates in key states, the clear evidence that he bullied officials in some states to “find” more votes, and to persuade Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the legitimate results? What more do they need to know than that Trump continues to insist he won that election and celebrates as heroes and “patriots” the people who invaded the U.S. Capitol and smashed policemen’s faces with the stated aim of forcing Congress to negate the election results? As one 56-year-old Michigan woman present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 , 2021, explained: “We weren’t there to steal things. We weren’t there to do damage. We were just there to overthrow the government .”

Trump not only acknowledges his goals, past and present; he promises to do it again if he loses this year. For the third straight election, he is claiming that if he loses, then the vote will have been fraudulent. He has warned of uprisings, of “bedlam” and a “bloodbath,” and he has made clear that he will again be the promoter of this violence, just as he was on Jan. 6. Trump explicitly warned in 2020 that he would not accept the election results if he lost, and he didn’t. This year he is saying it again. Were there no other charges against him, no other reason to be concerned about his return to the presidency, this alone would be sufficient to oppose him. He does not respect and has never pledged to abide by the democratic processes established by the Constitution. On the contrary, he has explicitly promised to violate the Constitution when he deems it necessary. That by itself makes him a unique candidate in American history and should be disqualifying.

This kind of open challenge to our democracy was never meant to be addressed by the courts. As the Founders well understood, you don’t serve a subpoena to a would-be tyrant and tell him to lawyer up. Nor was it meant to be addressed by the normal processes of democratic elections. They knew, and feared, that a demagogue could capture the allegiance of enough voters to overthrow the system. That was why they gave Congress, and particularly the Senate, supposedly more immune from popular pressures, the power to impeach and remove presidents and to deny them the opportunity to run again — and not simply because they violated some law but because they posed a clear and present danger to the republic. After Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government in 2020, Congress had a chance to use the method prescribed by the Founders in precisely the circumstances they envisioned. But Senate Republicans, out of a combination of ambition and cowardice, refused to play the vital role the Founders envisioned for them. The result is that the nightmare feared by the Founders is one election away from becoming reality.

The problem with Trump is not that he has some carefully thought-out plan for seizing power, much less an elaborate ideological justification for doing so. (Others do have such plans and such justifications, including many of those who will populate his administration — more on that in a moment.) With Trump, everything is about him and his immediate needs. He will run roughshod over the laws and Constitution simply to get what he wants for himself, his family and his business interests. Americans know that if he is elected, he would abuse the justice system to go after his opponents. They know this because he says so. “I am your retribution!” he declares, and by “your” he means “my.” Americans know he would use his power as president to try to solve his financial problems. He did it as president and is doing it now as a presidential candidate . They know he would not respect the results of fair elections if he loses, which is the very definition of a tyrant.

So, why will so many vote for him anyway? For a significant segment of the Republican electorate, the white-hot core of the Trump movement, it is because they want to see the system overthrown. This should not come as a shock, for it is not a new phenomenon. On the contrary, it is as old as the republic. Historians have written about the “liberal tradition” in America, but there has from the beginning also been an anti-liberal tradition: large numbers of Americans determined to preserve preliberal traditions, hierarchies and beliefs against the secular liberal principles of the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights. The Founders based the republic on a radical set of principles and assertions about government: that all human beings were created equal in their possession of certain “natural rights” that government was bound to respect and to safeguard. These rights did not derive from religious belief but were “self-evident.” They were not granted by the Christian God, by the crown or even by the Constitution. They were inherent in what it meant to be human.

This is the central tenet of liberalism. Before the American Revolution no government had ever been founded on liberal principles, and the vast majority of human beings had never believed in these natural rights — certainly not the Christian church in either its Protestant or Roman Catholic versions nor Islam nor Judaism nor Hinduism nor Buddhism. People might be equal in the eyes of their god, but no government or religious institution had ever been based on the principle of equal rights. Not even the English system was based on this principle but rather on monarchy, a ruling aristocracy, and a contract between crown and subjects that was modified over the centuries but was not based on the principle of universal “natural” rights.

The Founders knew these ideas were radical, that they were inaugurating, in their own words, a novus ordo seclorum — a new order of the ages — that required a new way of thinking and acting. They knew, as well, that their own practices and those of 18th-century American society did not conform to their new revolutionary doctrines. They knew that slavery was contrary to the Declaration’s principles, though they permitted slavery to continue, hoping it would die a natural death. They knew that established churches were contrary to those principles because they impinged on that most important of rights, “freedom of conscience,” which was vital to the preservation of liberty, yet a number of states in the 18th and 19th centuries retained all kinds of religious tests for office. In short, they knew that a great many Americans did not in fact believe in the liberal principles of the Revolution. As Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, put it, “We have changed our forms of government, but it remains yet to effect a revolution in our principles, opinions and manners so as to accommodate them to the forms of government we have adopted.” They did not insist that citizens believe in those principles. One could be an American citizen whether one believed in the Declaration or not.

And a great many did not. Leaders of the slaveholding South called the Declaration “a most pernicious falsehood.” South Carolina’s John C. Calhoun called the very idea of equal rights a “false doctrine.” They believed in democracy, but only if it was an exclusively White democracy. When democracy turned against them in 1860, they rebelled and sought an exit from the system. That rebellion never ended. It has been weakened, suppressed — sometimes by force — and driven underground, but it has never gone away. Although the South was militarily defeated and deprived of its special advantages in the Constitution, its hostility to the Founders’ liberalism did not abate. As Southern writer W.J. Cash observed in 1941, if the war had “smashed the southern world,” it had nevertheless “left the essential southern mind and will … entirely unshaken” and Southerners themselves determined “to hold fast to their own, to maintain their divergences, to remain what they had been and were.” In 1956, almost a century after the Civil War, a fifth of Congress, almost all Democrats — signed the “Southern Manifesto” calling on states to refuse to obey the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision to end segregation in public schools. Nothing had changed. Are we so surprised that for many Americans, nothing has changed even today?

Nor has anti-liberalism only been about race. For more than a century after the Revolution, many if not most White Anglo-Saxon Protestants insisted that America was a Protestant nation. They did not believe Catholics possessed equal rights or should be treated as equals. The influential “second” Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s was anti-Catholic and anti-Jewish as well as anti-Black, which was why, unlike the original Klan, it flourished outside the South. Many regard today’s Christian nationalism as a fringe movement, but it has been a powerful and often dominant force throughout America’s history.

For two centuries, many White Americans have felt under siege by the Founders’ liberalism. They have been defeated in war and suppressed by threats of force, but more than that, they have been continually oppressed by a system designed by the Founders to preserve and strengthen liberalism against competing beliefs and hierarchies. Since World War II, the courts and the political system have pursued the Founders’ liberal goals with greater and greater fidelity, ending official segregation, driving religion from public schools, recognizing and defending the rights of women and minorities hitherto deprived of their “natural rights” because of religious, racial and ethnic discrimination. The hegemony of liberalism has expanded, just as Lincoln hoped it would, “constantly spreading and deepening its influence, and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of colors everywhere.” Anti-liberal political scientist Patrick Deneen calls it “liberal totalitarianism,” and, apart from the hyperbole, he is right that liberalism has been steadily deepening and expanding under presidents of both parties since the 1940s.

The fury on the anti-liberal right against what is today called “wokeness” is nothing new. Anti-liberal movements in America, whether in defense of the White race or Christianity, and more often both together, have always claimed to be suffering under the expanding hegemony of liberalism. They have always claimed that a liberal government and society were depriving them of their “freedom” to live a life according to Christian teachings and were favoring various minority groups, especially Black people, at their expense. In the 1970s, influential theologian R.J. Rushdoony complained that the Christian in America had “no right to his identity” but was forced to recognize “all others and their ‘rights.’” And he was correct if a Christian’s “rights” included the right not only to lead a Christian life oneself but to impose that life on the entire society, or if a White person’s “freedom” included the freedom to preserve white primacy in society. In the 19th century, enslavers insisted they were deprived of their “freedom” to hold human beings as property; Southerners in the post-Reconstruction era insisted on their “freedom” to oppress Black citizens in their states.

Today, anti-liberals in American society are indeed deprived of their “freedom” to impose their religious and racial views on society, on public schools, on the public square and on the laws of the nation. What Christian nationalists call “liberal totalitarianism,” the Founders called “freedom of conscience.”

Six decades ago, people like Rushdoony were responding not to “woke” corporations or Black Lives Matter but to civil rights legislation. Today, anti-liberal conservatives complain about school curriculums that acknowledge the racism that has shaped America’s history, but even five decades ago, before the invention of “critical race theory,” anti-liberal White people such as Rushdoony insisted that the “white man” was being “systematically indoctrinated into believing he is guilty of enslaving and abusing the Negro.” Nor is it new that many White people feel that the demands of minority groups for both rights and respect have “gone too far” and it is they, the White people of America, who are suffering the worst discrimination. In the 1960s, surveys taken by the New York Times showed that majorities of White people believed even then that the civil rights movement had “gone too far,” that Blacks were receiving “everything on a silver platter” and the government was practicing “reverse discrimination” against White people. Liberalism is always going too far for many Americans — and certainly for anti-liberals. Anti-liberals these days complain about wokeness, therefore, but it is the liberal system of government bequeathed by the Founders, and the accompanying egalitarian spirit, that they are really objecting to, just as anti-liberals have since the founding of the nation. Many of Trump’s core supporters insist they are patriots, but whether they realize it or not, their allegiance is not to the Founders’ America but to an ethnoreligious definition of the nation that the Founders explicitly rejected.

Some do realize it. The smartest and most honest of them know that if people truly want a “Christian America,” it can only come through “regime change,” by which they mean the “regime” created by the Founders. The Founders’ legacy is a “dead end,” writes Glenn Ellmers, a scholar at the Claremont Institute. The Constitution is a “Potemkin village.” According to Deneen and Harvard Law School’s Adrian Vermeule, the system established by the Founders to protect individual rights needs to be replaced with an alternative form of government. What they have in mind is a Christian commonwealth: a “culture that preserves and encourages order and continuity, and support for religious belief and institutions,” with legislation to “promote public morality, and forbid its intentional corruption,” a “forthright acknowledgment and renewal of the Christian roots of our civilization,” “public opportunities for prayers,” and a “revitalization of our public spaces to reflect a deeper belief that we are called to erect imitations of the beauty that awaits us in another Kingdom.”

These anti-liberal conservatives know that bringing such a commonwealth into being means jettisoning the Founders’ obsession with individual rights. The influential advocate of “conservative nationalism,” Yoram Hazony, wants Americans to abandon the Declaration in favor of a nationhood built on Protestantism and the Bible. America is a “ revolutionary nation ,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) insists, not because of the principles of the Declaration and not even because of the American Revolution itself, but “because we are the heirs of the revolution of the Bible” that began with “the founding of the nation of Israel.” There could hardly be a statement more at odds with the American Founders’ liberal, ecumenical vision.

Expressing a belief in God is no threat to the Founders’ system, but reshaping society in accord with Christian teachings is. To build the nation Hawley and Hazony imagine would require jettisoning not only the Declaration but also the Constitution, which was designed to protect the Declaration’s principles. The Christian commonwealth would not and could not be a democracy because the majority of people can’t be trusted to choose correctly. According to the Claremont Institute’s Ellmers, “most people living in the United States today — certainly more than half — are not Americans in any meaningful sense of the term.” They are a “zombie” or “human rodent” who lives “a shadow-life of timid conformity.” Only “the 75 million people who voted in the last election” for Trump are true Americans. Instead of trying to compete with Democrats in elections that don’t reflect the will of the people, Ellmers writes, “Why not just cut to the chase and skip the empty, meaningless process?” The “only road forward” is “overturning the existing post-American order.”

For these intellectuals, Trump is an imperfect if essential vehicle for the counterrevolution. A “deeply flawed narcissist” suffering from a “bombastic vanity,” as Deneen and Ellmers note, he has “lacked the discipline to target his creative/destructive tendencies effectively.” But this can be remedied. If Trump failed to accomplish the desired overthrow in his first term, Deneen argues, it was because he lacked “a capable leadership class.” Things will be different in his next term. What is needed, according to Deneen, is a “self-conscious aristoi,” a class of thinkers who understand “both the disease afflicting the nation, and the revolutionary medicine required for the cure,” who know how to turn populist “resentments into sustained policy.” Members of Deneen’s would-be new elite will, like Vladimir Lenin, place themselves at the vanguard of a populist revolution, acting “on behalf of the broad working class” while raising the consciousness of the “untutored” masses. Indeed, according to Harvard’s Vermeule, it will be necessary to impose the common good even against the people’s “own perceptions of what is best for them” — a most Leninist concept indeed.

The Christian commonwealth, then, would require a powerful executive freed from the Constitution’s liberal and democratic constraints. The new state, Vermeule wrote, with its “robust executive,” would “sear the liberal faith with hot irons,” wielding the “authority to curb the social and economic pretensions of the urban-gentry liberals.” The whiff of violence and oppression in such statements is intentional. The anti-liberal intellectuals understand that changing the liberal system will require far more than an election and a few legislative reforms.

Deneen and Vermeule are often dismissed as mere intellectual provocateurs, but their writings stand out because they have the courage to acknowledge that what they seek is incompatible with the Founders’ liberal system. While others conceal their views under a phony fidelity to American liberal principles or claim that what they want accords with the Founders’ true intent, Deneen, Vermeule and other anti-liberals acknowledge that the country they want, a country subservient to the Christian God, a country whose laws are based on the Bible, cannot be created absent the overthrow of the Founders’ liberal and defiantly secular system. Even a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, Neil M. Gorsuch, speaks of the “so-called separation of church and state.” Anti-liberalism at the Supreme Court is nothing new, either.

And the anti-liberals know as well that this year may be their last chance to effect their counterrevolution. The percentage of the population made up of White people (let alone White Protestants) is steadily shrinking. Just as the anti-liberal conservatives of the pre-World War II years closed the immigration gates too late and were overwhelmed by a tide of non-Nordic peoples from Southern and Eastern Europe, so the immigration wave of largely non-White people since 1965 has brought the nation to the cusp of a non-White majority. The anti-liberals thus face the task of engineering the revolution with only a minority of the electorate committed to “regime change.”

Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party makes this possible. Trump is not a unique figure in American history. In each generation, anti-liberal forces have turned to the same breed of demagogue, the flouter of norms, the boorish trampler of liberal nostrums. William Buckley noted that the very “uncouthness” of George Wallace seemed to “account for his general popularity.” James Burnham marveled at how Joseph McCarthy’s “inept acts and ignorant words” had a “charismatic” quality that well expressed the fears and angers of his devoted followers.

What their critics saw as boorishness and malevolence, however, their followers saw as strength and defiance against a liberal system stacked against them. They were rebellious opponents of the system, “wreckers,” unabashedly anti-liberal in both thought and manner, and that is precisely what made them popular among a broad swath of White Americans who felt themselves losing ground in the culture and society — to Black people, Catholics, Jews and immigrants from non-Nordic countries. Today, exactly a century after the most overtly racist immigration restriction in American history, Trump once again calls for more immigrants from “nice” European countries, such as Denmark, Switzerland and Norway.

Trump did not just stumble into leadership of this movement of White rebellion. He summoned it. He made his debut as presidential aspirant on an unabashed white supremacist platform, championing the birther conspiracy that America’s first Black president was not in fact an American. Riding that issue alone, he catapulted to the front of the Republican pack, according to polls in 2011, before bowing out to continue his hit show, “The Apprentice.” Whether his debut as a white supremacist was opportunism or sprang from conviction hardly matters — it certainly has not mattered to his followers. The fact is, white supremacy has been his calling card, and millions have responded to it to the point where white nationalists have become the core of his movement. Many Christian nationalists already see him as a suffering Christ, and in this bizarre sense it is true that the prosecutions have “helped” him: The more adversity he faces, the more court battles he must wage, the more allegations that are slung at him, the more devoted they are to him.

No other group can be counted on for such absolute loyalty. While some Republicans wobble when asked if they would support Trump if convicted of a crime, White Christian Evangelicals overwhelmingly say they will support him no matter what. Trump needs that unshakable loyalty because he is fighting for his life. The thought that he might end up in jail has given him every reason to hew as closely as possible to the people who will stick with him even if he is convicted. These are also the people he will need to back him unconditionally in challenging the results of the election should he lose. If he wins, he will need them in what are sure to be titanic fights with Democrats and the legal system and to keep the Republican Party in line.

This is one reason Trump has so far shown no inclination to reach out beyond his base, to Nikki Haley voters, to more moderate suburban Republicans, to those who are made uncomfortable by his statements and actions. He may show flexibility on the important issue of abortion to secure his own election, but since clinching the nomination, he has only hardened his Christian nationalist message. His “poisoning the blood” campaign, his “dictator-for-a-day” comments, his release of the Trump Bible, his claim that, upon taking office, he will create “a new federal task force” to fight “anti-Christian bias to be led by a fully reformed Department of Justice,” are all aimed directly at his white Christian nationalist base without much concern for how millions of other Republican voters feel about it. Christians are “under siege,” he claims in hawking his Bible. “We must make America pray again.”

Besides, his hard tack toward white supremacy and Christian nationalism has cost him little among the broader Republican electorate.

Why not? Why is there so little resistance to Trump even as he commits ever more deeply to a Christian nationalist program for undoing the Founders’ liberal project?

For many, the answer is simply narrow self-interest, either a positive interest in supporting him or a negative interest in not opposing him or being seen to oppose him. This seems to be the answer for corporate America. Having first followed marketing data to appeal to the broadest cross-section of Americans by embracing communities only recently enjoying more of the full panoply of rights, businesses learned the hard way that Trump and his movement will not tolerate this and have mostly retreated to silence and neutrality. But they have also gone further, making clear as much as possible that they will not be a problem for him — either before he is elected or after.

This was the message JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon sent, from Davos, Switzerland, of all places, early this year when he declared that Trump was “kind of right about NATO, kind of right about immigration,” that he “grew the economy quite well.” There is no reason to doubt that he spoke for many of the richest Americans and for other corporate leaders. There was no outcry among them that anyone could hear. The truth is, they have no financial reason to oppose Trump. They know that Trump’s White working-class followers don’t have to be paid off economically because most care chiefly about the culture wars. Trump can still cut taxes and reduce federal regulations and other obstacles to corporate profit. The rich and powerful will always have some purchase in a Trump administration if only because he needs and respects money and will want to make deals for himself and his family, as he did in a first term. Whatever moral or political qualms business leaders may have about Trump, the bottom line dictates that they get along with him, and if that means turning a blind eye to his unconstitutional actions — Dimon’s favorable recounting of Trump’s first term notably ignored his attempt to overthrow the government — then so be it.

We already know that little or no opposition will come from the Republican Party ecosystem. Among elected officials, the few willing to stand up to Trump have either been driven out of the party or are retiring so fast that they cannot even bear to finish out their terms. Those who remain have accepted Trump’s iron rule and therefore now have an interest in his success.

But what about the average Republican voter, the “normal” Republicans who happily voted for George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney? Do they not see the difference between those Republicans and Trump — or do they not care? They, too, may feel their narrow interests are served by a Trump victory, and although they may not be Christian nationalists themselves, their views as White Americans make them sympathetic to the complaints of the anti-liberals. They, too, may feel they — or their children — are at a disadvantage in a system dedicated to diversity and wokeness. Their annoyance with a liberalism that has “gone too far” makes them susceptible to Trump’s appeal, and, more importantly, unconcerned about the threat he poses. Left to their own devices, they would not be interested in overthrowing the regime. But neither are they inclined to stand in the way of those who are.

Are these voters and GOP power players right to believe that they, like Dimon, will be just fine in a system no longer faithful to the Founders’ liberal ideals? Perhaps so. They will not be the first to suffer from a shift back toward a 1920s America. White Americans tolerated the systematic oppression of Black people for a century after the Civil War. They tolerated violence in the South, injustice in the courtrooms, a Supreme Court that refused to recognize the equal rights of Black people, women and various minorities. Will they rise up against a second Trump term infused by Christian and white nationalism, or will they acquiesce in the gradual dismantling of the liberal gains of the past eight decades?

The shame is that many White people today seem to have conveniently forgotten how much they and their forebears have depended on the Founders’ liberalism to gain their present status as fully equal members of American society and to enjoy the freedoms that they take for granted.

Most White Republicans, after all, do not have the “legacy European” lineage that Tucker Carlson praises. They do not have ancestors who stepped off the Mayflower or fought in the Revolution. The ancestors of the great majority of “White” Americans today were not considered “White” when they first set foot on American shores. Irish Americans may no longer remember that the Thomas Nast cartoons of the late 19th century depicted the Irish as apelike creatures. Many Italian Americans may not recall that a riot made up of “New Orleans’ finest” lynched and murdered 11 Sicilian immigrants and were never charged.

Many Catholics seem to have forgotten that they were once the most despised group in America, such that one of the Founders, John Jay, wanted them excluded from citizenship altogether. Most White Americans were at one time members of despised immigrant groups. They were the victims of the very anti-liberalism they are now voting back into power. They climbed to equality using liberalism as their ladder, and now that they have reached their destination they would pull away the ladder and abandon liberalism. Having obtained their equality using the laws and institutions of liberalism, their passion for liberalism has faded.

The Founders understood, and feared, that the fervor for rights and liberalism that animated the Revolution might not last. Writing in 1781, two years before the end of the war, Thomas Jefferson predicted that once the war ended, “we shall be going down hill.” The people would return to their quotidian lives, forgetting their passionate concern for rights, intent only on “making money.” They might never again come together “to effect a due respect for their rights,” and so their government would stop being solicitous of their rights. Over a half-century later, Lincoln, in his famous Lyceum address, lamented that the original spirit of the Revolution had dissipated with time, leaving Americans with only the normal selfishness of human beings. The original “pillars of the temple of liberty” had “crumbled away.” A little over two decades later, the nation fell into civil war.

If the American system of government fails this year, it will not be because the institutions established by the Founders failed. It will not be because of new technologies or flaws in the Constitution. No system of government can protect against a determined tyrant. Only the people can. This year we will learn if they will.

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Guest Essay

Why Losing Political Power Now Feels Like ‘Losing Your Country’

By Thomas B. Edsall

Mr. Edsall contributes a weekly column from Washington, D.C., on politics, demographics and inequality.

Is partisan hostility so deeply enmeshed in American politics that it cannot be rooted out?

Will Donald Trump institutionalize democratic backsliding — the rejection of adverse election results, the demonization of minorities and the use of the federal government to punish opponents — as a fixture of American politics?

The literature of polarization suggests that partisan antipathy has become deeply entrenched and increasingly resistant to amelioration.

“Human brains are constantly scanning for threats to in-groups,” Rachel Kleinfeld , a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote in a September 2023 essay, “ Polarization, Democracy, and Political Violence in the United States: What the Research Says .”

“As people affectively polarize, they appear to blow out-group threats out of proportion, exaggerating the out-group’s dislike and disgust for their own group, and getting ready to defend their in-group, sometimes aggressively,” Kleinfeld argued.

Kleinfeld acknowledged that “a number of interventions have been shown in lab settings, games and short experiments to reduce affective intervention in the short term,” but, she was quick to caution, “reducing affective polarization through these lab experiments and games has not been shown to affect regular Americans’ support for antidemocratic candidates, support for antidemocratic behaviors, voting behavior or support for political violence.”

Taking her argument a step further, Kleinfeld wrote:

Interventions to reduce affective polarization will be ineffective if they operate only at the individual, emotional level. Ignoring the role of polarizing politicians and political incentives to instrumentalize affective polarization for political gain will fail to generate change while enhancing cynicism when polite conversations among willing participants do not generate prodemocratic change.

Yphtach Lelkes , a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, succinctly described by email the hurdles facing proposed remedies for polarization and antidemocratic trends:

I don’t think any bottom-up intervention is going to solve a problem that is structural. You could reduce misperceptions for a day or two or put diverse groups together for an hour, but these people will be polarized again as soon as they are exposed once more to campaign rhetoric.

The reality, Lelkes continued, is that “a fish rots from the head, and political elites are driving any democratic backsliding that is occurring in America. Most Republican voters do not support the antidemocratic policies and practices of their elected officials.”

In their March 2024 paper, “ Uncommon and Nonpartisan: Antidemocratic Attitudes in the American Public ,” Lelkes, Derek E. Holliday and Shanto Iyengar , both of Stanford, and Sean J. Westwood of Dartmouth found that public opposition to antidemocratic policies is not adequate to prevent their adoption:

More ominous implications of our results are that 1) public support is not a necessary precondition for backsliding behavior by elites, and 2) Americans, despite their distaste for norm violations, continue to elect representatives whose policies and actions threaten democracy. One explanation is that when partisanship is strong, voters place party and policy goals over democratic values. Indeed, one of the least-supported norm violations — removing polling places in outparty-dominated areas — has already been violated by elected officials in Texas, and there are concerns about pending similar laws in other states. Such unconstrained elite behavior suggests that threats to democracy could well manifest themselves in both parties in the future.

The level of public support for democratic institutions will be a crucial factor in the 2024 elections. President Biden is campaigning on the theme that Trump and his MAGA allies are intent on strengthening authoritarian leadership at the expense of democracy.

Political scientists and reform groups seeking to restore collegiality to political debate and elections have experimented with a wide variety of techniques to reduce partisan hostility and support for antidemocratic policies.

These efforts have raised doubts among other election experts, both about their effectiveness and durability. Such experts cite the virulence of the conflicts over race, ethnicity and values and the determination of Trump and other politicians to keep divisive issues in the forefront of campaigns.

I have written before about the largest study of techniques to lessen polarization, which was conducted by Jan G. Voelkel and Robb Willer , sociologists at Stanford, along with many other colleagues. Voelkel and Willer are the primary authors of “ Megastudy Identifying Effective Interventions to Strengthen Americans’ Democratic Attitudes .” Given the heightened importance of the coming election and the potential effects of polarization on it, their study is worth re-evaluating.

Voelkel, Willer and 83 others

conducted a megastudy (n=32,059) testing 25 interventions designed by academics and practitioners to reduce Americans’ partisan animosity and antidemocratic attitudes. We find nearly every intervention reduced partisan animosity, most strongly by highlighting sympathetic and relatable individuals with different political beliefs. We also identify several interventions that reduced support for undemocratic practices and partisan violence, most strongly by correcting misperceptions of outpartisans’ views — showing that antidemocratic attitudes, although difficult to move, are not intractable.

Their own data and their responses to my inquiries suggest, however, that the optimism of their paper needs to be tempered.

In the case of the “six interventions that significantly reduced partisan animosity,” the authors reported that two weeks later “the average effect size in the durability survey amounted to 29 percent of the average effect size in the main survey.”

I asked Voelkel to explain this further, posing the question: “If the initial reduction in the level of partisan animosity was 10 percentage points, does the 29 percent figure indicate that after two weeks the reduction in partisan animosity was 2.9 percentage points?” Voelkel wrote back to say yes.

In an email responding to some of my follow-up questions about the paper, Voelkel wrote:

I do not want to overstate the success of the interventions that we tested in our study. Our contribution is that we identify psychological strategies for intervening on partisan animosity and antidemocratic attitudes in the context of a survey experiment. We still need to test how big the effects could be in a large-scale campaign in which the psychological mechanisms for reducing partisan animosity and antidemocratic attitudes get triggered not once (as in our study) but ideally many times and over a longer period.

Voelkel cautioned that “one-time interventions might not be enough to sustainably reduce affective polarization in the mass public. Thus, successful efforts would need to be applied widely and repeatedly to trigger the psychological mechanisms that are associated with reductions in affective polarization.”

Willer sent a detailed response to my queries by email:

First, to be clear, we do not claim that the interventions we tested have large enough effects that they would cure the problems they target. We do not find evidence for that. Far from it. I would characterize the results of the Strengthening Democracy Challenge in a more measured way. We find that many of the interventions we tested reliably, meaningfully and durably reduce both survey and behavioral indicators of partisan animosity.

Willer wrote that “the interventions we tested were pretty effective in reducing animosity toward rival partisans, particularly in the short term. However, we found that the interventions we tested were substantially less effective in reducing antidemocratic attitudes, like support for undemocratic practices and candidates.”

Other scholars were more skeptical.

I asked Lilliana Mason , a political scientist at Johns Hopkins and a leading scholar of affective polarization: “Are there methods to directly lessen polarization? Are they possible on a large, populationwide scale?”

“If we knew that,” she replied by email, “we would have definitely told people already.”

There is evidence, Mason continued, that

it is possible to correct misperceptions about politics by simply providing correct information. The problem is that this new correct information doesn’t change people’s feelings about political candidates or issues. For example, you can correct a lie told by Donald Trump, and people will believe the new correct information, but that won’t change their feelings about Trump at all.

“We think of affective polarization as being extremely loyal to one side and feeling strong animosity toward the other side,” Mason wrote, adding:

This can be rooted in substantive disagreements on policy, identity-based status threat, safe versus dangerous worldview, historical and contemporary patterns of oppression, violations of political norms, vilifying rhetoric, propagandistic media and/or a number of other influences. But once we are polarized, it’s very difficult to use reason and logic to convince us to think otherwise.

Similarly, “there are methods that reduce polarization in academic research settings,” Westwood, an author of the March paper cited above, wrote by email. He continued:

The fundamental problems are that none “cure” polarization (i.e., move the population from negative to neutral attitudes toward the opposing party), none last more than a short period of time and none have a plausible path to societywide deployment. It is impossible to reach every American in need of treatment, and many would balk at the idea of having their political attitudes manipulated by social scientists or community groups.

More important, in Westwood’s view, is that

whatever techniques might exist to reduce citizen animosity must be accompanied by efforts to reduce hostility among elected officials. It doesn’t matter if we can make someone more positive toward the other party if that effect is quickly undone by watching cable news, reading social media or otherwise listening to divisive political elites.

Referring to the Voelkel-Willer paper, Westwood wrote:

It is a critically important scientific study, but it, like nearly all social science research, does not demonstrate that the studied approaches work in the real world. Participants in this study were paid volunteers, and the effects were large but not curative. (They reduced partisan hatred and did not cure it.) To fix America’s problems, we need to reach everyone from fringe white nationalists to single moms in Chicago, which is so costly and logistically complicated that there isn’t a clear path toward implementation.

One problem with proposals designed to reduce partisan animosity and antidemocratic beliefs, which at least three of the scholars I contacted mentioned, is that positive effects are almost immediately nullified by the hostile language in contemporary politics.

“The moralized political environment is a core problem,” Peter Ditto , a professor of psychological science at the University of California, Irvine, wrote by email:

Unless we can bring the temperature down in the country, it is going to be hard to make progress on other fronts, like trying to debias citizens’ consumption of political information. The United States is stuck in this outrage spiral. Partisan animosity both fuels and is fueled by a growing fact gap between red and blue America.

Ditto argued that there is “good evidence for the effectiveness of accuracy prompts (correcting falsehoods) to reduce people’s belief in political misinformation,” but “attempting to reduce political polarization with accuracy prompts alone is like trying to start a mediation during a bar fight.”

Attempts to improve political decision making, Ditto added, “are unlikely to have a substantial effect unless we can tamp down the growing animosity felt between red and blue America. The United States has gone from a politics based on disagreement to one based on dislike, distrust, disrespect and often even disgust.”

Citing the Voelkel-Willer paper, Jay Van Bavel , a professor of psychology and neural science at N.Y.U., emailed me to express his belief that “there are solid, well-tested strategies for reducing affective polarization. These are possible on a large scale if there is sufficient political will.”

But Van Bavel quickly added that these strategies “are up against all the other factors that are currently driving conflict and animosity, including divisive leaders like Donald Trump, gerrymandering, hyperpartisan media (including social media), etc. It’s like trying to bail out the Titanic.”

Simply put, it is difficult, if not impossible, to attempt to counter polarization at a time when partisan sectarianism is intense and pervasive.

Bavel described polarization as

both an illness from various problems in our political system and an outcome. As a result, the solution is going to be extremely complex and involve different leadership (once Trump and his inner circle leave the scene, that will help a lot), as well as a number of structural changes (removing gerrymandering and other incentive structures that reinforce extremism).

Affective polarization, Bavel added,

is really just a disdain for the other political party. Political sectarianism seems to be an even worse form because now you see the other party as evil. Both of these are, of course, related to ideological polarization. But affective polarization and political sectarianism are different because they can make it impossible to cooperate with an opponent even when you agree. That’s why they are particularly problematic.

Stanley Feldman , a political scientist at Stony Brook University, pointed to another characteristic of polarization that makes it especially difficult to lower the temperature of the conflict between Republicans and Democrats: There are real, not imaginary, grounds for their mutual animosity.

In an email, Feldman wrote:

There is a reality to this conflict. There has been a great deal of social change in the U.S. over the past few decades. Gay marriage is legal, gender norms are changing, the country is becoming more secular, immigration has increased.

Because of this, Feldman added:

it’s a mistake to suggest this is like an illness or disease. We’re talking about people’s worldviews and beliefs. As much as we may see one side or the other to be misguided and a threat to democracy, it’s still important to try to understand and take seriously their perspective. And analogies to illness or pathology will not help to reduce conflict.

There are, in Feldman’s view,

two major factors that have contributed to this. First, national elections are extremely competitive now. Partisan control of the House and Senate could change at every election. Presidential elections are decided on razor-thin margins. This means that supporters of each party constantly see the possibility of losing power every election. This magnifies the perceived threat from the opposing party and increases negative attitudes toward the out-party.

The second factor?

The issues dividing the parties have changed. When the two parties fought over the size of government, taxes and social welfare programs, it was possible for partisans to imagine a compromise that is more or less acceptable even if not ideal. Compromise on issues like abortion, gender roles, L.G.B.T.Q. rights and the role of religion is much more difficult, so losing feels like more of a threat to people’s values. Feldman continued:

From a broader perspective, these issues, as well as immigration and the declining white majority, reflect very different ideas of what sort of society the United States should be. This makes partisan conflict feel like an existential threat to an “American” way of life. Losing political power then feels like losing your country. And the opposing parties become seen as dangers to society.

These legitimately felt fears and anxieties in the electorate provide a fertile environment for elected officials, their challengers and other institutional forces to exacerbate division.

As Feldman put it:

It’s also important to recognize the extent to which politicians, the media, social media influencers and others have exacerbated perceptions of threat from social change. Take immigration, for example. People could be reminded of the history of immigration in the U.S.: how immigrants have contributed to American society, how second and third generations have assimilated, how previous fears of immigration have been unfounded. Instead there are voices increasing people’s fear of immigration, suggesting that immigrants are a threat to the country, dangerous and even less than human. Discussions of a “great replacement” theory, supposed attacks on religion, dangers of immigration and changing gender norms undermining men’s place in society magnify perceptions of threat from social change. Cynical politicians have learned that they can use fear and partisan hostility to their political advantage. As long as they think this is a useful strategy, it will be difficult to begin to reduce polarization and partisan hostility.

In other words, as long as Trump is the Republican nominee for president and as long as the prospect of a majority-minority country continues to propel right-wing populism, the odds of reducing the bitter animosity that now characterizes American politics remain slim.

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Thomas B. Edsall has been a contributor to the Times Opinion section since 2011. His column on strategic and demographic trends in American politics appears every Wednesday. He previously covered politics for The Washington Post. @ edsall