Useful information
June 1st 2005

Ask a computer a question and it will give you the answer. But Proteus Software MD, Howard Turvey, says it would be much more useful if the computer automatically told you what you need to know – without being asked. Brendan Coyne reports If it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ doesn’t really apply when improving efficiency and accuracy – essentially the two main elements of an effective WMS. To this end, Proteus Software MD, Howard Turvey (left), says the company is working on new software to bring increasingly useful information to managers.

“Computers are great at telling you what you ask of them,” says Turvey. “Ask for stock levels and it will give you the answer. But we’re trying to make [our WMS] far more proactive in terms of telling customers what’s happening in their warehouse.

Because that’s what people want to know: not the 95 per cent that is OK – but the 5 per cent that isn’t.” That’s not to say Proteus’ existing offerings don’t have significant benefits.

(Although mentioning no names, Turvey says a current customer has doubled picking productivity in the four years since installing its WMS. During that period, the business has also doubled, but without increasing staff and the extra trucks this would have necessitated. “So they probably justified the cost on equipment savings alone.”) Rather what Turvey means is while you can check on an expected incoming order at regular intervals, it would be far more useful to be informed as [and when] goods don’t arrive on time. “And that’s what we’re working on: bringing ‘exception’ information to management as it occurs.

Receiving pertinent information – without having to find it.” Dubbed ‘Smart Alert’ information can be sent by email or SMS. “So for example someone could be sitting on the beach in Spain and get a text telling them what’s happening in their warehouse, says Turvey.

Not that they’d want to. But the capability is there….” Although ‘Smart Alert’ functionality is already available, the software suite will be officially launched at a series of joint Proteus/Belgravium seminars in November.

Immediate future: Voice operations Over the next few years Turvey believes voiced directed operations will become more popular as equipment costs diminish: I think one of the impediments in the past has been the cost, because it’s considerably more expensive than scanning. Plus, the equipment is not that flexible: generally you can only use it for one purpose – e.g.

mostly for picking but not put away and replenishment. Whereas with scanning the same equipment can be used. But the cost will come down in the next two or three years – making voice activated systems more popular.” He says current developments using combined scan and voice terminals will also offer improved efficiencies as the technology evolves.

Future: RFID RFID will bring much to warehouse management systems in the future.

Although Proteus has no current ‘live’ projects, it is active in small scale projects to determine possible applications.

According to Turvey, while tag costs are currently too high to justify in bulk, the technology will be particularly useful in applications such as re-useable totes, roll cages or pallets “anything coming back through the supply chain – depending on the value of the product and whether it is cost-justifiable.” “We’re making our WMS much more proactive.

Because what people want to know is not the 95 per cent that is OK – but the 5 per cent that isn’t” While there may be benefits from using RFID tags in a ‘closed loop’ within the individual warehouse, Turvey says real enhancements will come when the whole supply chain uses RFID. “So that when the pallet leaves you en route to your customer, the customer can track it: and as it arrives, they already know what’s on that pallet.” Increased demand for WMS With an increasing emphasis on accuracy and efficiency, demand for WMS is rising in tandem. So is Turvey’s job getting easier? “Easier and harder,” he says. “It’s getting easier because the trend is is pushing towards greater efficiency. Customers are getting more demanding – the large supermarkets, for example, are very strict on whether goods arrive on time – with big penalties if you are late and fines for inaccuracies. It’s also getting easier because the trend is towards importing goods from Eastern Europe and China. That poses a problem to the warehouse in the middle of the supply chain. Because on the goods inward side you’ve got to import in bigger quantities – and it takes quite a while to get here. Yet on the flip side customers want smaller quantities more often for ‘just in time’ business. Whether it’s retailing, wholesaling or manufacturing, people want less more often in order to economise on their own stock holding, warehouse space and handling. Which is driving people to improve their systems,” says Turvey.

“But it's getting harder because other software companies have picked up on that. So it’s a competitive market – and you just have to try and be the best.”

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