ABSTRACT
Introduction Nothing seems so humdrum, commonplace, and outright simple as a warehouse. Goods go in, they are stored for a while, and then selected and shipped out. There is nothing high tech about it-running one of these places would seem to be a “career-ending move,” a job for people who cannot do more complex jobs. But
nothing could be further from the truth: historically, warehouses have acted as sophisticated players in the supply chain. Today, they serve as critical inventory buffer and switching points that enable highly efficient supply chain operations.
