How is a WMS implemented?

The method to implement a WMS

Implementing a WMS requires modelling the logistics flows specific to each company. The difference between (generic) logistics processes and (specific) logistics flows could be compared to the difference we could make between a job and a profession!

These logistics flows, which are the real logistics “DNA” of the company, interweave the constraints of the topography of the warehouse (its geography), the characteristics and logistics behaviours (rules) specific to groups of articles (logistics families) and finally the rules linked to the activities of a warehousing process (reception / location / preparation / dispatch).

The intertwining of these three levels of constraints makes it difficult to model the logistics flows of a warehouse, with the aim of parameterising a WMS much more easily.

 

The rapid, concrete and reliable implementation of a WMS must therefore resolve 4 major problems:

  • How to break down this complex and thorny notion of the logistical DNA of a warehouse into simple notions?
  • In what order should these subjects be addressed?
  • How to link the logistics concepts associated with a WMS with its setup?
  • Finally, how can we propose an approach that will enable us to upgrade our WMS once it is installed?