Table of Contents
Complete Guide of Warehouse Management System
What is Warehouse Management?
The main function of a warehouse is to store raw materials as well as finished goods after production, before distributing it to various places. So, when goods continuously flow in and out of a warehouse you have to ensure that the items are secure and able to be found quickly. A warehouse management system allows you to efficiently and accurately deliver products at the right time and to the right places.
Why do We Have to Manage Product Inventory?
Stock management or inventory stock is making sure that product levels in the warehouse are always balanced. The inventory stock has to correspond to the amount of products that are sold. If the stock level is too high, there will be a risk of financial losses. Take for example perishable goods such as foods, if it is kept too long in a warehouse, it will spoil by the time it gets in the stores.
How do You Measure Performance?
An efficient warehouse is reliant upon the speed and accuracy of product moving from the packing and distribution areas. Generally, there are two ways to measure it. Firstly, you can measure it by the accuracy of fulfilling customers’ orders. This means that the product received by the customers are in the right quantity, product type, and destination.
Secondly, you can measure it by the speed of fulfilling customers’ orders. You can start tracking it by the time it leaves the production warehouse or even when you’re printing a unique identity code on each product if you choose to do so (read: why digital product identity can give you a smoother supply chain process).
How can a Software Optimize Your Warehousing?
It’s not unusual to find operators’ labor time on processing order is mostly spent on finding the product. A huge time is taken up by walking around the warehouse and finding the correct product to pack.
Warehouse management is a complex system that involves a lot of variables and people. Here are a couple of benefits you can achieve by using the software.
1. Increased operational efficiency
Tagging on the product helps increase pick accuracy and cut down on time spent looking for a product. The system can keep track of exactly how many products are available and how many can be moved for a day. This way, managers are always on the right track to hit their KPIs.
2. Seamless warehouse flow
By leveraging data, the system can suggest the right warehouse flow that works for your business specifically. For instance, products that historically sell faster are stored near the doors while slower products can be placed further away. This will be a huge benefit, especially for forklift operators.
3. Improved customer experience
Faster fulfillment means a better customer and supplier relationship. Whenever a customer files a request, the system based in a cloud can quickly identify the location in the warehouse and meet the demand.
4. Faster workflow to other supply chain layers
The system can match the products with the right driver based on their availability and area of distribution.
5. Stay competitive
With a cloud-based system, you can ramp up your fulfillment better than your competition. Advotics warehouse management system is always updated with the industry’s current best practices. So your company doesn’t need to spend more resources whenever you want to upgrade your system.
What to Look for in a Warehouse Management System?
Finding the correct Warehouse Management System for you depends on a variety of aspects unique to your business. But here are the main things you need to think about when deciding:
- Digitize your mundane operations: keep your data organized, tracked and documented. The system must hold a history of every activity in the warehouse for KPI reporting and performance reviews.
- Fast to implement: Nothing more frustrating than a complicated software. Make sure it’s easy to use so that your employees from a variety of backgrounds can easily pick it up.
- Easy to integrate: the platform needs to be flexible or all-in-one solutions that are capable of handling not only warehouse but also other aspects of the supply chain.
Advotics warehouse management system has all of the above benefits and more! Our system has been trusted and proven by the industry’s leaders to help them achieve their most optimal warehouse management system.
If you want some more help or just a bit of guidance, you can visit our product digitalization management page or contact us to talk to our representative.
