How to Determine if You Need a Warehouse Management System
When catalog order management systems were first developed in the 1970s, they were designed to manage all aspects of catalog operations: from order entry, customer service and customer database management to response analysis, inventory management, purchasing, fulfillment, and returns.
Thirty years later, they still are, which is why so many direct merchants can run their businesses on these applications without a need to add specialized solutions for things like warehouse management.
Some companies, however, find their catalog management systems don’t provide the flexibility or sophistication they need to address their inventory or fulfillment challenges. For them, a warehouse management system (WMS) is a necessary investment.
Of course, your decision to acquire a WMS may not be driven by a goal of greater efficiency, but by sheer order volume. When you’ve reached the point where your order management system simply can’t handle the movement of inventory required to support order volume in a timely fashion, there’s a WMS in your future.
Benefits of a WMS
The most common benefit of a WMS is the management of warehouse automation. If you want to employ pick-to-light, carousels, automated picking or complex conveyor and gate/diversion management, you likely will need a WMS to do so. The same goes for radio frequency (RF) workforce management with handheld or truck-mounted units. Though many catalog management systems support RF devices, a WMS may be better suited for the job.
Another major reason for implementing a WMS is improved space utilization. This can range from directed or random put-away to more sophisticated slotting, which optimizes SKU placement in your warehouse based on turn velocity.
Supply chain management also may dictate a WMS for handling advanced shipment notices (ASNs), supporting electronic data interchange, taking full advantage of supplier-generated, case “license plates” or supporting radio frequency identification.
Even creation of good, old-fashioned, item-level barcodes or bin labels may be better done with a WMS than with a catalog management system.
