Warehouse Management Systems - An Overview

Warehousing

Warehousing is one of the key activities in a supply chain. Products are intermediately stored in a warehouse before being delivered to the final customer. Warehousing activities can be classified into three sub groups – Inbound operations, Outbound Operations and Inventory management.

In inbound operations, products are received into the warehouse and are stored in appropriate locations. In outbound operations, the orders are allocated, products are picked from most beneficial locations and are shipped to the customers. In inventory management operations, the movement and processing of products within a warehouse are handled.

 

Warehouse management systems are used to manage and control inventory movements in a warehouse. They can be broadly classified into 3 tiers.

Tier 3 WMS products are least expensive and contain the basic features of WMS applications.

Tier 2 WMS are more robust compared to tier 3 WMS products. They have enhanced features to cover almost all aspects of warehousing.

Tier 1 WMS products are most expensive and features best in class architecture and functionalities.  They are robust to meet the needs to most complex warehousing operations. They are easily configurable to meet the varied needs of warehousing.

 

WMS Tier	Warehousing Features
Tier 3 WMS	Directed putaway, Directed picking, Inventory transfers & Management, Pallet controls, Cycle counting, Paperless picking, Warehouse Zoning and Location management, Replenishments
Tier 2 WMS	Wave picking, Zone picking, Cross Docking, Pallet building, Cluster picking, Putaway optimizations, Returns authorization & Processing, Task management, EDI integrations, Lot/Serial Number/Expiry date tracking, Well defined user authorizations and controls, Kitting
Tier 1 WMS	Appointment Scheduling, Yard management, Slotting, Task Interleaving, Web visibility, Integrated packaging kit, Voice based picking, RFID support, Dynamic slotting