The benefits of WMS are,
Customer Service
- Better Informed Warehouse Manger – Information like percentage of order that has been completed, expected shipment date and problems in meeting schedule can be passed on to customer for his satisfaction by an informed warehouse manager.
- Improved Customer Relationship – WMS aids in providing a comprehensive database of customers and their preferences in terms of product demand.
- Accurate Shipping of Material – The system keeps an intensive check of the goods or stock units meant for different customers and flash an alarm/warning if the goods meant for one customer are mistakenly placed in cartons meant for other.
Productivity
- Optimum Utilization of Resources – Automation and streamlining of processes ensures that operational bottlenecks are eliminated and productivity increases.
- Better Efficiencies – As the items are systematically stored and retrieved, no time is wasted in searching for items not in stock and more than one order can be processed at any given time.
- Better Productivity Monitoring – By keeping track of the operator’s and staffs’ activities, their productivity can be monitored.
- Multiple Order Processing – More than one order can be processed at any given time helping in better resource utilization.
Costs
- Low inventory carrying Cost – The main goal of WMS is controlling and streamlining the flow of inventory in a profitable and productive manner thus optimizing all resources.
- Short Payback Period – Payback period of WMS project will be very short because warehousing area is where at-least 60% of organization’s working capital is tied.
- Optimal Level of Inventory – In an ideal situation warehouse should maintain optimal level of inventory at any given time avoiding both under and over stocking. If the Warehouses are overstocked that means excess working capital is tied in inventory which is dead money. Under stocking leads to delay in customer orders and even cancellation of orders at times.
- No Extra Skills Required – In WMS the programs are so designed that no special skills are required to operate the system even at lower level as compared to automation which requires technical skills. Programs for shop floor are specifically designed to run on hand held radio frequency terminals and emphasis is on scanner based data inputs. Therefore same workforce can very effectively be used for implementing WMS.
- Better Revenue Realization – Companies often loose considerable amount of revenue due to Excessive / under stocking, Incorrect tendering due to inaccurate knowledge of available stock , Over / under shipping to customers, Wrong consignments, Inaccurate billing, Delay in order processing leading to order cancellation. WMS helps in controlling these losses to a large extent.
- Improved Transparency – Each and every activity can be tracked, reported, monitored and consequently controlled. These reports are web based and are platform independent applications. Therefore reports are visible to anyone who is willing and authorized to see, beneficial for multi location Warehouses and sales offices.
- Higher Security – WMS incorporates distinct features for functions to be performed by Manager or Operators thereby eliminating the chances of wrong data entry. WMS makes information readily available to only those who have permission to see it. For example the operators are not entitled to view the important MIS reports.
