For a high-performance warehouse,
here are examples of the benefits of a WMS software on 4 major challenges.
The WMS software allows the “physical” aspect of the warehouse to be faithfully reflected. To do this, the structure of the warehouse is configured in the WMS by zone, sub-zone, location, location capacity, etc. Thus, what is done physically, is also done electronically. Connected to mobility tools (PDA, printers…), the WMS allows, for example, to confirm the goods in reception, the deposit at a stock address, the confirmation of the quantity at the location.
The WMS software is able to take into account the location of the goods thanks to a precise framing of the warehouse, in order to propose storage or picking missions to the warehouse worker “as close as possible to the physical”: path for packing, picking rounds, consolidation of orders… This allows to optimize movements in the warehouse.
When goods are received in the warehouse, they are not limited to a single reference. Thus the WMS will allow a “massification of the missions” of localization: to optimize the deposits or to propose reversed preparations, etc. In the same way for the preparations of orders, the massification can be implemented by activating functionalities like a mode “wave”, “cart” or “case”.
Thanks to the mobility tools with which it is connected (PDA, printer…), the WMS follows the movements and missions of all the operators, and makes it possible to control in real time a list of work assigned and to be carried out (missions): orders of conditioning, orders of re-approval, orders of preparation, operations of cross docking, etc.
At the heart of the warehouse, team members are often dependent on paper documents, on the experience of some (tips in preparation methods, storage techniques…), on the knowledge of the site of others…
To remedy this, digitalization techniques combine mobility tools (which allow for example to scan documents…), portfolios of warehouse operating rules written in the WMS (in reception, in localization, in reordering, in preparation…) or automatic piloting functionalities of the warehouse. ) or automatic mission control functionalities (push flows)… These techniques, implemented in a WMS software, will reduce these “dependencies” on paper or the use of memory, in order to relieve warehouse workers and lighten the mental load of team leaders on a daily basis!