OPS assignment

Warehouse Management Systems

A long time ago, warehouse management systems were not seen as important and people did not see the value you in them. Warehouse management systems today are seen as a critical part in any business who wants to succeed. It allows you to be able to link the supply chain and the demand sides. What is a warehouse management system though? According to Margaret Rouse, a warehouse management system is a software program that supports day-to-day operations in the warehouse. This system can track the company's inventory level and stock locations. This system can be easily accessed by a tablet or desktop computer and tells you where different management tasks are managed. A warehouse management system creates an easier and quicker way of running a warehouse. “The system involves a number of processes that are important when shipping, receiving, or even putting away materials and integrates with other systems in the supply chain to ensure data transparency throughout your enterprise.” There are different types of warehouse management systems depending on how complicated your company’s systems are. You have to consider the function of the management systems, the size of the warehouse. If you have a larger warehouse, you need more systems to control it all, whereas a smaller warehouse requires less systems.

The warehouse management system allows an easier system of receiving goods be ensuring shipments are handled correctly so there are minimal losses of materials. It can also track inventory which allows the company to know when to restock their inventory and also know when to not over order their stock. Another task of the warehouse management system is slotting for efficiency, which arranges the products a certain way. The products that are heavier and get taken out quicker are stored by the door for an efficient and faster processing time. The warehouse management service improves customer service by guaranteeing the orders are received and processed on time. It also needs to make sure the right products are shipped to the right customers. They need to be an effective company in order to retain their customers. Customer service is big in every company and bigging able to get the right products and messing up the least as possible shows you are a good company.. It allows you to track lot information, expiry dates, UPC, and serial numbers. Recalls and warranty issues are quickly resolved by solving the root problem through trace back instead of just a payout to the customer.

http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/definition/warehouse-management-system-WMS

http://www.qstockinventory.com/blog/warehouse-management-system/

Picking functionality is probably one of the most important systems in a warehouse. A warehouse in a business is for keeping your products in bulk in a section of the warehouse. There are all different shapes for a warehouse, which can differ in the size of your picking. Picking efficiency will be easier if products are on shelves or a flow rack.“Product velocity and order types also affect warehouse layout and consequently the picking strategies.” There are different styles for picking and they are: wave picking, batch picking, product picking, one scan picking, and 􏰀scanner picking. There are many benefits for having a picking system. Here are a few: multiple pickers can pick in a single sales order, single picker can pick on multiple sales orders, ability to generate a packing slip after last pick, ability to assign orders to a specific user, and ability to repack item.

Another system is warehouse management is receiving. This is basically saying once a purchase order has been entered, the warehouse gets notified through computer. The WMS software will recieve items and it needs to accurately place them in the warehouse and then needs to resolve the shipment against the original purchase orders. These will be looked up on a portable computer. While they go through the orders, it is updating the ERP system. A few benefits of receiving are being able to scan the product bar code or using quick lookup functions to identify products as they are being received, print carton or pallet-ID labels as product is being received, and getting multiple orders without paperwork.

Another key system in a warehouse is counting because it allows you to know how much inventory you have. Counting the physical inventory can be done by anyone or any day but there are different methods of cycle counting. You can randomly select what products to count. Geographic counting is starting at one end of the warehouse or maybe just one select. The third method and most effective is rank-based selection, which is the products that are sold most often and the slower products can be counted less.“The more frequently an item is sold, the more chance for inventory inaccuracy.”

A warehouse management system allows you to be able to track the packages and tell you where the location is. This key system is called a store locator. This can help locate goods in the warehouse and if they have been moved around. The store locator can include “limited multi-warehouse” function where it can locate goods in multiple warehouses. If there is not enough space in the warehouse, it can restrict sales orders or purchasing orders processing. Transferring from bin to bin of inventory can be interchanged in warehouses. Another must have system in the warehouse is lot or serial number tracking. This system is enhancing the inventory warehouse management so it can track a certain serial number or allocate a lot using FIFO or capture it when receiving. You can scan the barcode to get the serial number.

The last important system in a warehouse management is wave planning. This is designed to be flexible for when packages are being picked up. Once an order is ready to be picked up, it is waved.