Warehouse Management Systems for Supply Chain Management
As your business grows your order volumes will increase, number of warehouses double, the complexity of the fulfillment processes increase, and sales multiply. You will also begin to notice that eventually you are outgrowing the warehouse functionality that is available to you in your Order Management Systems (OMS).
Purchasing or building a warehouse management system (WMS) is the next step to take to give your company the advantage over your competitors in supply chain management.
Companies are using warehouse management systems as a tool to improve warehouse throughput and overall productivity, efficiently manage the complexities of operations and to gain the control over larger inventories.
These warehouse management systems also achieve the level of support needed to manage multiple warehouses, complex fulfillment processes and various levels of warehouse automation.
F. Curtis Barry & Company has been collaboratively working with companies since 1984 in evaluating and project managing the installation of warehouse management systems that will provide the required support in all areas of distribution and control over the inventory within the warehouse.
Warehouse Management Systems Give Greater Support for Supply Chain Management
Just as we start with in our client’s order management systems projects, we assist in developing sound strategies to form the foundation for implementing a successful warehouse management system and supply chain management strategy. The direction that we head in for managing the supply chain depends on many factors such as:
- How many warehouses do you have in your fulfillment model?
- What is the core function for each of your facilities— for example; is it product fulfillment, bulk reserve storage, product assembly and kitting, or light manufacturing?
- For the warehouse management systems that you are looking at, what are the major benefits of system and how will they be used in the supply chain to help improve the overall supply chain management?
- What are the integration points between the new warehouse management system and the other current systems used to manage the warehouse and supply chain?
A successful long term warehouse management system strategy is developed by reviewing and fully understanding the current operation and future vision for your business’ fulfillment and distribution. You must also know what functionality is available from warehouse management systems, what your business’ hardware requirements are, what the estimated capital investment for a new system is, and what the schedule and milestones are to implement the selected system.
We bring our industry knowledge and experience to every warehouse management systems project that we work on. We will listen to your plans, fully understand the unique things about your business and operations, and collaboratively work with you to develop the long term systems strategy that is appropriate for your company.
Take the first step and contact our marketing manager Jeff Barry at (804) 740-8743 or e-mail him at jbarry@fcbco.com.