7 Qualities to Look for in Your Warehouse Management System
A Warehouse Management Solution or WMS seems complicated, but at the core is simply a tool for your distribution center. However, it is a vital one, especially when you move from a manual solution to an automated one.
The difficulty with buying a WMS is that it can be a challenge to ensure that you get the best ROI. When you buy a new conveyor system you can tell that it is in good shape and will work for the application. But you can’t pick up a WMS and hold it and look at it. So, in order to be prepared to enter the market, let’s arm you with some of the qualities that make up the best WMS’s.
1. A WMS tracks all aspects of inventory (items, quantities, attributes, etc.) and manages location utilization. Want to know where every widget is and how many you have in each color? Your WMS knows and can give you the information instantly.
2. A good WMS controls generation of work (movements, QC, VAS, etc.) using configurable strategies. In laymen’s terms, the WMS directs what needs to happen to get product out of or into the distribution center. Let’s say the WMS is told that 6 widgets need to go to A, it then translates that into the work to be done to meet that goal.
3. The WMS manages the delegation of work to a resource, be it a person or A-frame, crane or conveyor. An important note is that the WMS issues the work to not just the resource that can accomplish the task, but also the one that can accomplish the task most efficiently.
4. Your WMS manages the fulfillment of demand and execution of work by resources, using system processes that have been personalized by your specific requirements. The “resource” to do a job at one distribution center is rarely the same as one used at another DC, and even more rarely is it done in the exact same way. For the WMS to be the best tool possible, it needs to be customized to work with the labor and machines that it has at its disposal.
5. Your Warehouse Management System keeps historical data records of activity for auditing and planning use. Not only is your WMS a tool for “now” but a tool for “then”. With a good WMS, you can mine historical information by the minute, day week, or year, and use it in preparation for the future. Who or what touched this widget and why and when?
6. The best WMS has a flexible integration to customer host systems, forming part of a customer’s larger supply chain execution strategy. It will interact with your other systems and can even be “plug and play” to ensure that there is as little disruption as possible to your supply chain.
7. In the best case, your WMS provides a platform for optimizing processes that increase efficiency and accuracy, thereby reducing costs. The WMS should manage and assign work and communicate with the rest of the system so that efficiencies are maximized and your automated distribution system works in the best way possible.
Bear in mind that a WCS (Warehouse Control System) can complete some of these functions, however only a robust WMS can complete all of them. Is there is anything we missed about what the best WMS should do? Let us know by commenting below.
Schaefer Systems International, Inc., the North American subsidiary of the SSI SCHAEFER group of companies, established headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1989.
SCHAEFER’s automation integrates to any existing system earning us an international reputation as the global leader in the material-handling industry for returnable packaging, static racking, and highly complex, automated distribution systems. With over 70 years of experience and a 100% commitment to quality behind every SSI Schafer system, we focus on providing our clients with unconventional picking and storage solutions delivering best value