Warehouse Management Systems and the Cloud

Posted April 20, 2022
There is no question that Warehouse Management Systems – WMS – were late to the Cloud versus Transportation Management and other types of supply chain software, for a variety of reasons. Those included concerns that there would be issues with processes that require millisecond response times, such as communicating with material handling systems or even label printing. The good news: many of those concerns appear to be far overblown, especially if the WMS was architected to maximize Cloud response times. Lately, we’ve seen about two-thirds of new WMS implementations as cloud-based deployments.
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A Statistical Approach to Labor Management in Distribution

Posted March 16, 2022
Outside of few sectors such as grocery and food service, our perception is that the interest in full blown engineered labor standards in Distribution is waning a bit. Companies, it seems, are increasingly reluctant to invest in the initial development and especially the on-going maintenance of engineered standards as things change over time. But that hardly means companies aren’t interested in detailed labor reporting by individual, comparing performance against a standard, such as cases or units picked per hour. Quite the opposite.
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Zone Management in the Distribution Center + WMS

Posted February 18, 2022
Zoning is one of the fundamental concepts in Warehouse Management from both a software and operating perspective. In general, it involves grouping some set of individual storage locations of all types into defined zones that can be used by the WMS to improve operational effectiveness and precision.
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Mobile Robots + the New Task Interleaving

Posted January 12, 2022
“Task Interleaving” is one of the core concepts of warehouse management systems. At a high level, it involves linking two or more tasks, most commonly for workers on lift trucks. For example, a full pallet putaway could be linked with a full pallet replenishment. With the rise of autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, a new type of interleaving has emerged.
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Understanding Directed Putaway in the Distribution Center Using WMS

Posted November 22, 2021
One of the core concepts relative to Warehouse Management Systems is that of “directed putaway.” While many logistics professionals are very familiar with this topic, it is clear from conversations with many companies that others don’t really have all the details – and that quite a few lack directed putaway capabilities with whatever software system they are currently using to run their distribution center.
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Cost of Warehouse Management System Software

Posted September 01, 2021
There are many drivers for companies looking for new WMS. It is useful to think of costs in terms of on-time/upfront costs and recurring costs. But the model for those cost categories has been dramatically changed by the emergence of WMS delivered in the Cloud, with the software and other cost elements moving from a fixed to a recurring cost and creating a shift in how some deployment costs are incurred.
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Inventory Management vs. Warehouse Management

Posted July 25, 2021

With the strong interest in Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) in an era of ever growing complexities in order fulfillment, companies – especially for executives outside the supply chain – often ask what the differences are between a WMS and IMS - an Inventory Management System.

That may be because a company might already have an inventory system and wonders what additional capabilities they will get with a new WMS.

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