What a WMS is and Why You Should Invest in One
Few people are familiar with the concept of a WMS, or Warehouse Management System. While the title makes it obvious that it is a system that helps to manage the activities in your warehouse, it goes well beyond that. It is therefore necessary to know what a WMS is all about and how it works to improve your business functionality. It is essential to know that a warehouse management system is a lot more than just a means to manage inventory. It is a system that integrates various factors in the warehouse– it combines stock levels with people and computer systems, and it makes all these different factors work as one cohesive system.
Benefits of a Good WMS
• Fewer data errors: Human error always carries risk and therefore, a good WMS provides you with virtually error-free and functional data. When products are barcoded, they can be verified upon delivery and provide data on storage and expiry, location and length of storage, and the people who booked them in. This means that you will always have a handle on what goods you have, when they expire, and where they are stored in your warehouse.
• Better management of lead times: A critical factor of warehouse management is to minimise the storage time, in order to get goods to the customer as soon as possible. Typically, there are two kinds of lead times: Customer-oriented and warehouse-oriented. A good WMS helps you to coordinate them. It will help you predict customer needs and act on these proactively, taking into account the time it will take to get stock to your warehouse, and to the customer. This ensures that you do not over-order or under-order your stock, or have to deal with unnecessary storage costs, because your stock will flow in and out as needed, while you can deal with the needs of your clients in an effective way.
• Increased labour productivity: In all working environments, it is crucial to manage employees’ tasks to maximise productivity. A good WMS helps your staff prioritise the tasks and ensures that the most important things get taken care of first. The time it will take to process an order or to complete a task is calculated by the WMS, and this can help you to stay ahead of orders while completing the most critical tasks. It is also very useful for predicting required staff numbers, shifts, and the need for extra or fewer employees at specific times of the year or month.
• Optimise storage: Because storage costs so much, it is expensive to have stock sitting in the warehouse that you cannot shift within a short space of time. It is crucial to manage your stock levels to optimise the amount of storage you have, and to be able to shift stock in an effective way that will not require extra storage space or incur extra costs. A WMS can help you better utilise the space in you warehouse and save you a lot of money. Even the location of stock within a warehouse can increase productivity and storage space, and it can help your warehouse employees know exactly where to locate which product in short order. It is helpful to use locations in the storage space that will best suit the product, and for products that need particular conditions in order to remain intact for longer, your WMS can pinpoint the ideal locations within your warehouse for them.
• Increased flow: Because your WMS can predict the needs of customers and stock levels proactively, it can make the flow of products through your storage facility smoother and more effective. You should not spend money on stock that will not be used or that has to be stored for long periods, and getting a grip on what to order when, where to store it, and to move it out in a short space of time, is vital. A great WMS will help you to manage these processes and the flow of stock much more efficiently.
If you would like to find out more about a WMS for your warehouse, give our team at Lupus Consulting a call. We have all the skill and experience you need to manage your warehouse much better.