Using Warehouse Management System To Improve Supply Chain In Logistics

Retail companies thrive on instant gratification. Thus efficiency becomes crucial for warehousing and supply chain companies. Still relying on outdated technology, manual counts, paper inventories etc., can put these companies in great risk. Implementation of the WMS or Warehouse Management system can upgrade the workings of these companies thereby making them efficient and cost-effective.

Simply speaking, the installation of the WMS software enables supervisors, business owners and warehouse managers to get a bird’s eye view of the whole system. It enables tracking of every item individually from their entry into the warehouse till the time they leave it.

There are several advantages involved in the setting up of the WMS. The important advantages are:

• Better inventory management: Manual counts and the insurmountable mounds of paperwork characterised the traditional methods of inventory management. This resulted in inaccuracy and a sluggish work process. With the introduction of the WMS, logistics was able to cope up with the increased demands of the industry. When coupled with such accessories as Bluetooth markers or RFID, WMS enables real-time tracking. Efficiency increased since it was now possible to:

                        o   Track historical information,

                        o   Predict future demands and

                        o   Optimise customer service.

• Accuracy: An efficient inventory tracking increases the accuracy of order processing. Inventory mismanagement loses thus get minimised. Additionally, the introduction of the WMS helped reduce unnecessary inventory and employee movement. This increases workflow efficiency and work environment productivity thus enabling Supply Chain Companies in India to cope up with increased business demands and generate increased revenues.
• Cost-cutting: All advantages of WMS point to one single outcome—cost-efficiency or cost-cutting. Proper inventory management enables this by:

                        o   Preventing loss of inventory,

                        o   Enabling better utilisation of time,

                        o   Reducing employee work hours etc.

The ability to save money increases as one opts to implement the high-end WMS available. Today there are warehouses which have already started using robots to increase accuracy and generate better ROI.

• Increase work diversity: Before the implementation of WMS, a warehousing facility was just a storage facility to put goods-in-transit from the manufacturer to the consumer. Today its role has diversified. It is now an agile facility which can support e-commerce, brick-and-mortar, home deliveries, B2B, parcel shipments etc. The implementation of the WMS has made this possible. With awareness increasing, it is now considered to be a strategic business asset by all top warehousing companies in India.

Future of WMS

Advancement of technology has resulted in the easy availability of such technologies as automation, virtual reality, RFID, robotics etc. The use of these advanced technologies has enabled WMS to evolve to the next level. Today the use of autonomous mobile robots is slowly gaining momentum. The WMS software is evolving to come up with better supply chain solutions, technologically advanced and more accurate inventory tracking systems etc.

Some of the evolutions of the WMS that are already in the process of happening are:

• Personalisation and customisation which enables the software to adapt to specific needs of the company using it,
• Amalgamation of the two processes of WMS and WCS or warehouse control systems to come up with a solution which is almost complete in all aspects of warehousing,
• The use of autonomous robots for doing specific jobs on the warehouse floor,
• Robots are also being increasingly used to coordinate and collaborate with the warehouse personnel workforce etc.

The future of WMS is very bright. The advantages and benefits that it is slated to bring to companies dealing with Warehouse services are almost incomprehensible. It has now become a tool which ensures the survival of all companies involved in logistics and warehousing in the highly competitive 3pl world.