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Supply chain and warehouse management have always been challenging. As your business grows it gets harder and harder to control and optimize all essential processes. If your company has an impeccable reputation and constantly increasing income, you cannot risk it all and let the reduction of productivity happen. All processes in your company should keep working like clockwork. But how can this be achieved? The answer is – with the help of a WMS (warehouse management system).
Basically WMS is a complex multi-functional software aimed to automate numerous supply chain processes and optimize routine work of your employees. Depending on the needs of a particular company, warehouse management systems may have different custom options. But the main features this software should always have are:
- Inventory management (options that allow to control placement of goods, optimize size of storage space and layout, perform orders tracking and billing);
- Employee management (options helping to reduce manual work and paperwork, various built-in databases, knowledge bases with information about goods and orders);
- KPI measuring (tools that are able to collect, analyze and process data to make calculations related to key performance indicator);
- Reporting and analytics (tools for collecting huge loads of data, analyzing it and generating periodic reports).
It is understandable that a warehouse management system including such complex tools cannot be cheap. The development price of such solutions is really high. But these systems are definitely worth investing in. Are you wondering how your company can benefit from using WMS? We are ready to explain.
Why do you need to develop custom WMS?
Many business owners involved in supply chain think that they do not need to invest in the software. No wonder, because many of them have a set of more or less working tools (like Excel, online solutions with inventory alerts and reports, dashboards, internal CRMs, etc.). But usage of many separate programs for managing your warehouse leads to chaos. Warehouse management system is a much better and profitable solution. And here is what your business can achieve if you build WMS:
Reduce human error. You may have the most reliable and attentive employees in your team, however they all are not computers. Inventory management is quite a routine process that requires constant attention. If there is a “hot season” (like holidays, when people order the most) and your company has to deal with numerous orders, errors can easily occur and lead to financial loss.
According to statistics 62% of respondents claimed that main inventory issues usually appear because of manual process management. There is no need to make your employees enter tons of information and numbers into the internal system manually if WMS can automatically do this.
Moreover you can integrate ERP and avoid using or replicating numerous tools or systems serving for the same purposes. It is easier to control all working processes if you have one well-organized system. If you choose cloud-based WMS then it would be even more effective. Your head specialists will be able to access all necessary data from any device and therefore control processes and resolve issues better and faster.
Increase customer service and profit. Warehouse management systems can improve the productivity of your business. All you need to do is to perform better inventory control to satisfy your customers’ needs and stop losing money. You pay for your warehouse space and you need to be sure that it is used as efficiently as possible. With WMS you can timely check your stock levels. This allows to either add best-selling or missing goods or sell overstocked ones before they lose their value.
If your customers made orders they want to receive what they asked for. Due to the ability of a warehouse management system to process orders, check inventory, assign responsible employees, organize and track picking and shipment routes, your customers will get their goods on time. Moreover, they will be able to track their orders too and get updates. With WMS you can sell much faster and organize your workflow accordingly.
Ensure high security level. Warehouse management systems are built in such a way that all your reports, data and plans cannot be accessed by third parties. Your employees will have to log into the system using their credentials. In such a way you can track their actions and provide access to highly important information to department heads only. Your competitive advantage will be safe with WMS as information about your business cannot leak unnoticed.
Use JIT practice. Just-in-time is a practice of inventory management when goods are not stored in your stock for a long time and instead move quickly in a warehouse. You can receive goods just in time when they are needed to fill in the customer’s order but your stock level will remain low. It sounds like a complicated process but in fact WMS can handle it. Due to various analyzers and ability to forecast the demand, warehouse management systems can calculate the appropriate level of inventory and number of required goods. The calculations will be quite accurate which can eliminate the concern regarding lack of goods or their excess.
Focus on the business growth. If your goal is to make your business bigger, you definitely need to invest in a warehouse management system. With numerous options this software offers you can be sure that you will avoid supply chain breakdowns and can easily manage customers influx.
WMS performs various index and metrics tracking on different levels and provides accurate information regarding problematic moments. If you have such information at your disposal, you can fix everything on time. It is easier to understand what services within your business can be improved if you have actual data about them all. F.e. with the help of WMS you can measure the time spent on certain processes. Let’s say you find out that picking goods takes too much time. In this case you will need to consult with your employees to discover what exactly slows down the process and how this can be fixed.
To Conclude
When it comes to a business it is always better to consider getting tools for its optimization. You may think that everything works great for you and meanwhile lose your growing potential. Supply chain implies a high level of competitiveness. That is why it is better to be a step ahead and invest in a custom warehouse management system. It may be costly but the business is all about tomorrow. With a flexible solution fully suitable for your business you will see the changes and growth fast.