What Is Warehouse Management Software?

Warehouse management software is a comprehensive platform that helps businesses manage the supply chain from the distribution and/or fulfillment center to the store or customer. It gives business owners and facility managers end-to-end inventory visibility via apps and the web. This enables them to maximize space, enhance labor utilization and effectively manage equipment.

WMS helps manage all aspects of supply chain operations, such as manufacturing, distribution, service and asset-intensive businesses.

Cloud-based WMS aligns supply chains, fulfillment and inventory with digital transactions. They increase efficiency in day-to-day operations and help create a better customer experience. When a business is just starting, it’s acceptable to maintain inventory with spreadsheets.

But, as a business grows, maintaining spreadsheets, even with fewer users and smaller inventories, can get clumsy and tedious. It’s more critical than ever to identify opportunities for growth while cutting costs. To decide the right system, you must determine which features will benefit your business the most.

Essential Warehouse Processes

Let’s understand the various processes involved in warehouse management.

Essential Warehouse Processes

Receiving

The steps to controlling the timely delivery of the right quantity and quality of product to your warehouse include:

  • Placing an order.
  • Allocating space.
  • Automated or manual unloading.
  • Checking quantities.
  • Updating the database.

Putaway

After receiving the order, the next step is to put it in the allocated space. Next, you verify its various SKUs and transfer them to the right place. Space management and slotting are crucial here.

Picking

Once you receive an order, you need to identify and pick the right product. Voice systems and barcoding devices help reduce process time and human errors. You may also use methods such as wave picking, zone picking and cluster picking.

Packing

Next, collect the order items, check for quality and ready the product(s) for shipment. Automatic wrappers can reduce packing time, but you should also know the type of packaging material you need and its cost.

Shipping

Sending products to the customer should be done with the help of tracking systems, scheduling and labor management to ensure timely delivery and happy customers.

Returns

Returns are an important part of eCommerce, and you should prepare for them. Managing pickups and refunds requires identifying, re-stocking, discarding or repairing returns.

Let’s now take a look at the primary benefits of WMS for small businesses.

Primary Benefits

Warehouse management software for small businesses, whether vendors offer it as part of a supply chain management, enterprise resource planning suite or as a standalone module, can streamline business operations. Most solutions help:

  • Save Money: Tools like vendor-managed inventory, demand reporting and forecasting ensure you don’t waste products. They help manage floor space and reduce search times. Applying material rotation using rules like FIFO, LIFO or FEFO can streamline the process.
  • Reduce Human Error: Features like barcoding reduce human error and make warehouse operations like sorting, picking, counting and receiving smoother.
  • Serve Customers: The platform reduces the time taken to pick, pack and ship products, resulting in customers receiving their orders sooner. It can pick products and lets managers batch, zone and wave picking, providing holdups and other issues.
  • Increase Transparency: Reporting capabilities give a broader view of inventory. It increases transparency and reduces miscommunication between you, your vendors and your customers.
  • Improve Visibility: WMS provides real-time insights into inventory so you can avoid backorders and estimate supplies. Some tools like support scanning and RFIDs ensure transparency and help track down items. Boosting visibility reduces the loss and misplacement of inventory.

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