Distribution departments receive and route items to the appropriate department within a company, simplifying cost management and reducing waste. They also add a layer of security to prevent employee theft. Distribution teams include a manager and operators who verify quantities, prepare paperwork, and move goods.
Distribution departments are departments responsible for receiving ordered items from suppliers and routing them to the appropriate division or department within a company. The idea is to create a situation where all goods are accounted for from the time they are delivered, until the time they are issued to a specific unit within the company. Using a distribution department simplifies cost management and reduces the potential for waste, as well as minimizing the possibility of production being delayed due to goods being shipped to the wrong department upon delivery.
The size and scope of a distribution department will vary from one business setting to another. In general, incoming goods are accepted by a receiving department, which verifies that the goods received are of the same type and quantity as reflected on the accompanying documents. From there, the goods are placed in a storage area and the paperwork is forwarded to the distribution department. There, those involved in the distribution management process make arrangements to forward the received goods to the appropriate divisions or departments within the company. Once the goods are delivered to the right department, the distribution staff records the date and time of delivery, who received the goods and then marks the transaction as complete.
Making use of a distribution department is helpful in a number of ways. First, the department adds another layer of security, as tight control of where received goods currently are in the company’s pipeline helps reduce the possibility of employee theft. The quantity of the goods must correspond to what is indicated as received by the receiving department and must also agree with the quantities that are issued or distributed to the various departments of the corporate structure. If there is some sort of oversight, steps can be taken to determine where the oversight occurred and thus make it easier to identify who might have stolen the goods.
There are usually several distribution department jobs common to this type of operation. Along with a department manager, one or more distribution operators are commonly part of the distribution team. Operators often work with the receiving department to verify quantities and types of goods, ensure they are held in the correct location while distribution to other areas of the company is in progress, and prepare the paperwork authorizing the removal of goods from storage and the their transport to their destination. Some operators may focus more on the actual movement of goods, while others deal with the administrative steps involved in the distribution process.
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