There’s Nothing Wrong With Your Legacy WMS That Voice Can’t Fix
WMS vendors and consultants will probably say you should upgrade your legacy WMS before considering voice for your DC, but that's not necessarily the best idea or even the most common approach.
If you are currently considering a warehouse management system (WMS) upgrade or replacement, you might want to think about voice and mobile work execution as a way to generate immediate operational improvements at a fraction of the cost and time of a WMS implementation. You have nothing to lose by considering alternatives, and a lot to gain.
Warehouse management system vendors and consultants will probably say you should upgrade your legacy WMS before considering voice for your DC, but that’s not necessarily the best idea or even the most common approach. Installing a voice directed mobile work execution system today can prolong the life of an existing system that continues to meet your principal inventory management and control needs. And, the voice system may provide all of the new capabilities you are looking for, and more.
The majority of Lucas Jennifer voice directed solutions delivered since 1998 were integrated with a host or legacy WMS. Companies like Marcone Supply, Pet Supermarket and DoitBest Corp. have put off a WMS upgrade indefinitely. Other companies, like Eby-Brown and The Container Store, installed Lucas with a legacy system and then moved to a new WMS (SAP and Manhattan Associates, respectively). (Read more about these voice projects here.)
Lucas provides highly configurable, flexible, and efficient voice-directed workflows in addition to real-time management tools such as work management, exception reporting, and productivity tracking. These Engage management tools can fill gaps in existing systems, giving managers better insight and control of their operations.
Given the short time it takes to install a Lucas solution (3-4 months) and the rapid return on investment (less than one year), there are compelling reasons to investigate voice as an alternative to a far more costly and time-consuming warehouse management system upgrade. If your current system meets your inventory management and planning needs, a robust mobile work execution solution can:
- Immediately improve your hands-on processes – not just in picking, but also for receiving through shipping and returns.
- Fill management and visibility gaps in existing systems.
- Ease your transition to a new WMS in the future.
How To Get Started
Whether you go down the path of installing a new WMS, or choose to consider voice and mobile work execution, the first step is to identify your business and operational needs and to map the gaps in your current systems. Next, you should understand how voice or WMS offerings might meet your needs. To help in this process, Lucas provides a complimentary voice operations assessment to identify process improvement and management reporting opportunities available with voice. To learn more, contact us to schedule an on-site assessment at your DC.
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