Step by step to WMS
October 1st 2005 According Red Ledge, the safest WMS selection is a database driven system that will be able to meet your business requirements in the future as well as today
The boons of warehouse information technology are well known but trying to achieve them through the right choice of software needs careful assessment. Not only are there many packages of different capabilities but there are also various routes. One could, for example, choose a large, fully integrated suite but long implementation time means it rarely, if ever, fully meets a company's requirements as the requirements have usually changed by the time the system is fully running.
Another route is to go for basic, off-theshelf stock location packages but while these can offer big gains over paper-based manual systems, unless they are harnessed to other IT functions, like stock forecasting, simulation, EPOS, EDI, DRP and radio data terminals, then users face serious competitive disadvantage. Basic programmes are also inflexible and not written with consideration to the individual companies implementing them.
Probably the safest route is to choose a database driven system that meets business requirements exactly now and in the future when business circumstances change. It should also be entirely modular so that buyers have the choice of installing and paying for one function at a time.
Additionally, it ought to be easy enough for users to tweak themselves without calling in the suppliers at high cost. This ‘bunny hop’ approach, according to Alan Wilcockson, of WMS supplier, Red Ledge, means it is less disruptive to a company's business and quick wins can be followed by staged integration.
Integrated suites If choosing a fully integrated suite to be installed in stages by module, it is important to check how comprehensive the separate functions are. Many integrated suites, for example, claim to offer a good stock forecasting programme but when thoroughly examined are found to be limited. Can, for example, the programme react in real time to daily weather forecasts, which can be crucial for many companies in the food and drinks sector?
A good stock forecasting programme is crucial because it can cut total stocks by one third while still improving customer service.
Given that the cost of holding inventory can be as much as all other warehouse costs combined, it is important to vet the forecasting programme carefully.
Buyers should also consider how broad they want the inventory tracking and analysis function to be.
Knowing where all stock keeping units are is not much use if there are too few of some items and too many of others, leading to stockouts and frustrated customers. This is why most medium-sized and large companies today are not content with just monitoring stocks within a warehouse. They want to know the status of stocks at suppliers' stores, on 'planes, trains and lorries and out on the factory shop floor. Only this breadth of functionality will allows users to halve the costs of logistics, normally 10% of sales, by exploiting effective supply chain management planning.
To be really logistically smart, however, businesses need to interface their warehouse/inventory management side with real time production control and this is where even the most costly of large scale integrated suites are found wanting. One exception is Red Ledge's Sprint, a fully modular, database-driven system born out of frustration with existing IT companies which, according to the company, has no equal for its comprehensive coverage. Multi lingual, Sprint combines:-
Sales and purchase order processing Point of sale credit card processing Managing warehouse facilities, using RF terminals, including stock returns Process control (machine control) Inventory tracking throughout the world Ensuring production and employee accuracy and quality Ensuring correct product labelling (barcode and RF tags)
Within the warehouse management module, Sprint can deal with up to 100 mixed items at one location or on one pallet. This has big implications for warehouse space. Efficient loading of cases onto pallets and container/trailer stuffing are also covered. Each SKU can be given a full colour photo identifying the product.
Sprint's stock forecasting includes the ability to change in real time to daily changes in weather forecast or any other kind of influence. Being database-driven, it can also handle Activity Based Costing or Direct Product Profitability, which measures the resource involved each time an SKU is moved. A good example of this is Red Ledge's client, Ora Mobile Phone Accessories.
Support level agreements
Some of Red Ledge's clients, like Bayer Healthcare, tweak Sprint themselves. Bayer uses Sprint for real time production control and found that it paid for itself in one day.
Red Ledge's after sales service, however, allows users to call in the company based on a range of support level agreements.
Any software company will say that interfacing is always the sticking point and the most costly portion of a project. Sprint, on the other hand, integrates seamlessly with existing or legacy systems, either using Microsoft Data Transformation Service, or Transoft Screen Adapter technologies. In this way, Sprint can interface to BAAN, BPCS, Exchequer, JD Edwards, Oracle, Sage, SAP and Red Ledge's own financial application package, SBA. More articles from Kinesys Solutions & Technology: | 
