Here’s Why the WMS Is Today’s Must-Have Technology. What would you give if you could make virtually every task in your warehouse more accurate, more efficient, and easier for your team to complete?
Depending on the state of your warehouse, you might offer quite a lot to reach a point where you can reliably understand inventory, respond to orders, bill customers, and eliminate human error along the way. The good news is that this is exactly what a Warehouse Management System can do for you. The better news is that it’s likely more affordable than you think. That’s why we know it’s a must-have technology for the ages.
Before jumping straight into a cost discussion, we want to share with you a few thoughts on what a best-of-breed WMS like your WarehouseExpert can deliver for a warehouse, or multiple warehouses, of any size for almost any industry.
Know Your Inventory
Customers want to be able to place an order with you right now and know exactly when things will be ready. If you don’t have an accurate, real-time count of your inventory, you can’t make those commitments. Or, you run a considerable risk of making a mistake that can harm relationships and reduce that ever-important customer lifetime value.
WarehouseExpert users know exactly what’s in their warehouses so they can understand what orders are possible at any given moment. Plus, they get help replenishing before they run out. There’s no more need to have the one inventory guru who can eyeball your stock levels. Easily track, reorder, and never run out again with a WMS, your must-have technology.
Better Service, Fewer Errors
Order mistakes — from improper payments and late deliveries to shipping damaged or incorrect items — all hurt your business. Every instance is a chance to lose a relationship.
Protect your company and your reputation by delivering better customer service and relying on must-have technology, like a WMS, to ensure you always bring you’re A-game.
A warehouse management system can help you verify each pick, every pack, and all orders at multiple places along the way — sometimes even automatically so your team doesn’t have to worry about adding another checklist.
Our WMS can help track barcodes for when a product is received or created, and then track based on that barcode along every step of the way. So, we’ll catch mistakes and ensure that the right things are in the right boxes.
By automating the order fulfillment, we also empower you to have the right shipping labels and carrier deals to be able to live up to your promises when you tell a customer their product will arrive by a certain date.
More Partners Are Adopting eCommerce
Even if you’re in the B2B space, eCommerce is playing a significant role in today’s distribution models. More providers are putting parts and catalogs online, while SaaS services can be installed and updated through digital dashboards, and even the most specialized industrial gear now tends to have a chatbot somewhere that can send you info sheets and schematics.
The WMS comes into the scene when you try to create online inventory lists that are accurate as someone places an order. Your WMS is also your best tool to streamline orders from all channels into a funnel for your fulfillment.
You’ll just end up drowning in emails, printouts, and sticky notes if you try to use a traditional, analog ledger to track all these orders plus any recurring items as well as your inventory.
Maximize Space and People
We believe 2018 will be a year of running leaner and facing more competition, no matter what industry you’re in or size of customer you have. There are big upticks in economies around the world, and many new businesses are focusing on using must-have technology to upset existing models and relationships.
Staying ahead of these new competitors requires a laser focus on expense management and maximizing the utility of your assets and workforce. A WMS can help with labor productivity by managing worker tasks, prioritizing different elements, and having a smart queue that keeps fulfillment moving through the proper workflow.
Our WarehouseExpert can also help you analyze activities happening in your warehouse to make it easier to plan and manage teams. Find out the peaks and valleys in activities, products, and more with these robust planning tool.
In the same light, you often can improve operational efficiency by adjusting the layout of your warehouse. Setting inventory locations, picking lanes, and slot allocation based on orders and usage can make it easier for your team to fill orders accurately and more quickly.
See the time savings you can achieve when you choose the best location for each item based specifically on your orders.
Cut Your Overhead
While you’re busy running a more efficient operation with a reliable WMS, you can also start to cut back on some of your expenses. Here are a few big ways we can help you save today:
- Cross-docking allows you to time deliveries and order fulfillment so that you can move more goods without having to store them.
- WMS can automate many recording and counting tasks, so you can have the same staff accomplish more.
- Fewer incorrect or late orders mean fewer returns, while a WMS can also handle exception management to save more time too.
- Integrate directly with common ERP and other tools to share data in real time to faster manage orders, bill customers, and get paid.
Those are just a few of the reasons we think 2018 is going to be a momentous year for your warehouse when you adopt a new or improved WMS.
Get a taste of what’s available by seeing ours in action at no cost, risk, or commitment.
