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Integral Warehouse Management: The Next Generation in Transparency, Collaboration and Warehouse Management Systems

International research identifies a 20-30 percent gap in logistics costs between the best-in-class companies and the majority of their peers. Dutch warehousing expert Jeroen van den Berg shows in his book ‘Integral Warehouse Management’ how to bridge this gap. ‘A whole generation of logisticians have made us believe that reducing inventories, shortening response times and eliminating activities were the ultimate goals in supply chain optimization’, says the author. He admits that these initiativ

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Warehouse Management guide

Warehouse management is the art of movement and storage of materials throughout the warehouse. Warehouse management monitors the progress of products through the warehouse. It involves the physical warehouse infrastructure, tracking systems, and communication between product stations. Warehouse management deals with receipt, storage and movement of goods usually finished goods and includes functions like warehouse master record, item/ warehouse cross-reference lists and such things as on hand, allocated, transfers in process, transfer in process, transfer lead time, safety stock, fields for accumulating statistics by location.

A warehouse manager needs to perform several crucial functions such as overseeing and recording deliveries and pickups, loading and unloading materials and supplies, maintaining inventory records and tracking system, determining appropriate places for storage, rotating stock as needed and adjusting inventory levels to reflect receipts and disbursements. An individual handling the warehouse management needs to have knowledge about inventory control and warehousing systems, loading and unloading procedures, risky and materials storage and mathematical knowledge.

A warehouse management system is a critical component of an effective overall supply chain management systems solution. Warehouse management system began as a system to control movement and storage of materials within a warehouse. Today it even incorporates tasks such as light manufacturing, transportation management, order management, and entire accounting systems.

Implementation of Warehouse Management System (WMS) will provide you an increase in accuracy, reduction in labor costs if the labor employed to maintain the system is less than the labor saved on the warehouse floor and a greater ability to service the customer by reducing cycle times. WMS may not serve you with inventory reduction and greater storage capacity. An increase in accuracy and efficiency receiving process might lead to reduction in level of safety stock required. But the consequence of this reduction will hardly be visible to the overall inventory levels. WMS might just not affect the factors (lot sizing, lead times and demand variability) controlling the inventory levels. However WMS is instrumental in more efficient and organized that leads to increased storage capacity.

Lately in the field of warehouse management, Infor, the largest global enterprise software provider is developing solutions for the manufacturing and distribution industries. Infor’s management technology is meant for enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Infor technology can be used for single as well as multiple warehouses. It allows manufacturers and distributors to perceive and monitor the location of particular items within the facility. The technology is also extremely beneficial in ascertaining the size and weight of incoming shipments to set up the perfect way to transport and place them in the warehouse. The professional experts at Infor are planning to integrate it into Infor’s Microsoft.Net based ERP system for manufacturers.

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Seminar Delivers Information on Warehouse Management and Warehouse Control System Differences

A recent seminar by a leading provider of integrated material handling systems, based in Lakeland, FL, helped companies evaluate if a Warehouse Management System or Warehouse Control System Technology is the right choice for their operation.

     Hosted by TriFactor, LLC, distribution professionals attended the seminar, which was held in both Lakeland and Jacksonville. Presenters were Jerry List, Vice President of QC Software, Inc., who discussed Warehouse Control Systems, and Kevin Tedford, Principal with KT Consulting, LLC, who discussed Warehouse Management Systems. Topics focused on how the technology can reduce labor costs and improve both productivity and accuracy.

     Tedford described how Warehouse Management Systems first took hold in the 1980s, and how many companies knew the time was right to implement a WMS into their distribution center operation when they saw delivery and labor costs start to escalate, and the need to control inventory increase. “It was the moment they first began to realize they had no control,” Tedford told the audience. “A Warehouse Management System changed all that.”

    List addressed the Warehouse Control System side of the seminar by stating that companies still need to be educated on what a Warehouse Control System does. List explained how Warehouse Control Systems came into existence as Warehouse Management Systems began to take on more responsibilities, creating a gap that Warehouse Control Systems nicely filled.

    “A WCS works in real time and adapts to situations on the spot,” explained List.  “It is able to make a ‘last-minute decision’ based on current activity and operational status.” List commented that Warehouse Control Systems are newer and haven’t been around as long as the WMS. “Hopefully, those who chose to attend now have a better understanding of its capabilities, and what it can do to make them more productive,” said List.

     “We put together the seminar in order to give attendees the knowledge they needed to make an informed decision as to the benefits of a Warehouse Management System and Warehouse Control System,” said J.J. Phelan, Chief Operating Officer for Trifactor, LLC. “Jerry and Kevin did an excellent job answering a lot of the questions that came up. Hopefully, everyone left with a little more knowledge on this important topic.”

     TriFactor, LLC has extensive expertise in planning, designing and implementing innovative material and information handling solutions that shorten the order-to-delivery cycle for manufacturers and distributors.

QC Software (www.qcsoftware.com) is the leading provider of Tier 1 warehouse control systems to the warehousing and distribution industries.   Since 1996, QC Software, utilizing state of the art technology combined with extensive research, development, and rigorous testing, has developed the QC Enterprise suite of products.  Designed to be modular in nature, easily configurable, and platform independent, this highly scalable solution satisfies the needs of any size warehouse. 

QC Software, Inc.

www.qcsoftware.com

Jerry List

JerryList@qcsoftware.com 

 (513) 469-1424

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