A warehouse management system is an essential component of a company’s supply chain. It tracks products and raw materials while incorporating specialized equipment and computer software that allows full control of warehouse operations.
How Does a Warehouse Management System Work?
Central to a warehouse management system is a database that describes a wide range of standards warehouse elements. Standard warehouse elements include:
- Individual stock keeping units (SKU’s) that can consist of finished consumer goods, fabricated parts, basic materials, or assemblies
- Warehouse storage locations
- Type of storage, for example, cases or pallet
- Storage restrictions
- Expected labor units
A warehouse management system integrates these elements with all warehouse tasks, including receiving goods, inspections, acceptances, picking, packing, documentation, and shipping.
An effective system will divide orders into batches according to their locations. The system will also log products at various points as they move through the warehouse. This allows staff to know where products need to be around the warehouse at any given time.
What are the Benefits of the Warehouse Management System?
Lower Operational Costs
A warehouse management system calculates the optimal location for each warehouse element, which ensures the efficient use of space and reduces waste. It also increases the efficiency of the staff which, in turn, results in a higher output volume and lower demand for labor.
Improved Relationships with Suppliers and Customers
Quicker delivery times and less order accuracy errors mean that more customers are satisfied with their orders.
Efficiency is beneficial for supplier relationships as well. If your warehouse can accept incoming orders without delay, it means that your suppliers can start working on their next shipments.
Efficient Warehouse Staff
A warehouse management system can allocate on-the-floor tasks in a way that is as efficient as possible ensuring that the warehouse staff can meet material handling requirements in less time. The system also coordinates the warehouse staff’s activities so that there is no duplication of labor.
Enhanced Inventory Visibility
Warehouse management system software provides real-time data on inventory by making use of identifiers such as barcodes, serial numbers, and RFID tagging.
Increased visibility makes it possible to create demand forecasts, which is necessary to determine which products are most popular during specific times of the year.
What Are Some Warehouse Management Systems?
ProVision
ProVision is a high-end warehouse management system solution that is user-configurable to manage a wide range of warehouse operations and activities. This warehouse management system is popular among several reputable supply chain and logistics companies, including Brimich Logistics.
Infoplus
Infoplus is the ideal warehouse management solution for small to mid-sized companies in a wide range of industries. This warehouse system is a web-based solution and features core inventory management, demand forecasting, and inventory optimization.
Oracle SCM Cloud
Oracle is a cloud-based warehouse management system that is geared towards distribution manufacturing, inventory management, and fleet management. An additional feature of Infoplus is product development that companies can use to create a bill of material from a conceptual design.
Contact Brimich Logistics
If you feel your business could benefit from the addition of a new or updated warehouse management system, contact Brimich Logistics today for a free no-obligation quote.