Warehouse Optimization: The Next Step In The Supply Chain

For years, Warehouse Managers were urged to get control of the operations inside the four walls of their warehouses. That meant moving from paper based manual operations to what was then the next step in warehouse productivity: Real-time wireless data collection systems and supply chain execution software systems like warehouse management software (WMS), transportation management software (TMS), yard management systems (YMS), and small parcel manifest systems.

Fast forward to the "Internet Revolution". With visions of the end-to-end supply chain dancing in their heads, many companies shifted their focus away from optimizing their operations to seamlessly connecting their suppliers and customers.

While the promise of the connected supply chain was alluring, it missed a crucial point: order execution inside the four walls of the warehouse is still where the rubber hits the road. That has brought the focus back to the value gained from an integrated suite of supply chain execution applications including Radio Frequency (RF) enabled, wireless data collection devices for real-time visibility inside your warehouse. But what if your company has already implemented the building blocks of an integrated, real-time order fulfillment solution? How do you get even more productivity from your warehouse and distribution center? That's where warehouse optimization comes into play.

Warehouse optimization strives to get the most from your overall processes, rather than the individual process steps, by determining the optimal way to execute and ship orders given all constraints. This emerging practice requires you to look beyond the cheapest way to ship or the most efficient way to pick. Instead, optimization determines the most cost-effective way to pick and ship while also meeting customer service requirements. Juggling those three balls at one time is no easy feat. And it is impossible without a realtime wireless data collection network.