Guideline for the Selection of a Warehouse Management System

Today, a warehouse management system is used for more than just the administration and organization of a warehouse.

Entrepreneurs require an optimization of processes, a reduction of costs and transparent processes.

Especially internationally active companies require a warehouse management system that can control the entire material flow with only one version - also in different languages and for the individual requirements of different sites.

The flexibility of the software and the degree of integration are also important, for example in order to be able to connect complex storage technology such as automated storage units, material handling systems or Pick-by-Voice.

Therefore, it is important to meet current and future requirements to the full extent.

Often, warehouse management systems that are only a few years old do not meet current requirements, as requested functions or settings are not available in the software.

Experience has shown that the requirements of logistics are often underestimated.

Many companies for example work with paper list in different areas although it has been proved that better results could be obtained using system-based picking techniques.

Especially in the spare parts industry or in the online wholesale, voucher-less technology, such as radio frequency or Pick-by-Voice can obtain significant increases in efficiency.

The warehouse modernization study of the Institute for Applied Warehouse Logistics carried out early in 2011 supports this observation.

In the study, the participants documented the objectives attained with a warehouse modernization with regards to the reduction of unit costs, the improvement of processing times and the reduction of stock. 51 % of the participants rated their results as “good”, 10 % even with the highest grade “very good”.

Logistics is an important sector of most companies’ business administration that needs to be permanently developed.

In most cases, the continuing improvement of a company’s logistic processes leads to a competitive advantage.