“How much WMS do you really need?”

I have several partners who are immersed in the nether world of WMS. I am an old-timer, constantly on the lookout for quick and dirty solutions to small and medium sized operations. So, when we need to determine the level of sophistication for the information systems support, I argue for as much simplicity as possible. They, on the other hand, seem to always gravitate toward systems that can do everything but scrub the kitchen sink.

Why can’t we have just a simple locator system, and printout all of the orders in product number sequence? That would be OK, but how would you manage the reserve inventory, they ask? Or, what will you do when a product becomes obsolete and you don’t need the picking location anymore? move all of the other products one space to the left??

When an order needs a full case, or a full pallet quantity, will you take those from the pick face, too? Wouldn’t it be better to break the order into separate picking tasks based on the unit of measure requested? OK, I agree, I’m sure that it would be more efficient.

Should we send the pickers out looking for product that is not there, or compare the order with on-hand inventory in the pick face, and only include those products on the pick list that we believe are there, and available for this customer?

Do you want to print out the pick lists as the orders are received, or wait until it is time to process them and check the most current availability? Or, might we want to hold them until we have several orders for products in the same area, and pick them as a batch?

Do we really want to print them at all? Would it be more efficient and more accurate to use radio frequency terminals and scanners to direct the picker?

If we know that products are scheduled for receipt today, would we want to wait to pick the order until they were here? Or, if popular products have been on back-order, do we want to wait until they have made their way to the pick face, or could we intercept them at the receiving dock and get them out today?

Where do you want to put the workstation for weighing the order, selecting the carrier and labeling the cartons? Or, would you rather pre-print the shipping labels based on weights in the product data base and pre-established rules for carrier selection?

Do we care who received the product, put it away or picked the order? Or, should we just berate the whole staff for mistakes that we find? How will we establish expectations for the time required to perform a task? How will we identify the best, and worst performers? Wouldn’t it be great to know right away versus waiting for the weekly, or monthly, history report?

When do you want to shut down the operation for 2-3 days and bring everybody in for 10-12 hours to take the physical inventory? Wouldn’t it be nice to check the inventory in each location periodically as the operator is there to perform a put-away or picking task? And, have a staff party once a year to celebrate our high count and location accuracy?

These guys keep asking me so many embarrassing questions that I’m afraid to argue anymore. Steve Mulaik says that he’s got only 875 more to go.

Maybe that fully functional WMS package is a good investment after all.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James M. Apple, Jr. is a Director in The Progress Group. Prior to co-founding The Progress Group in 1991, he was a Partner with Coopers & Lybrand's SysteCon division. During 1992-1995 he served as a Senior Systems Advisor with Vanderlande Industries, a major conveyor and systems provider in Europe.

Jim is an internationally recognized thought leader in the area of facility design and integrated distribution systems. His contributions to the improvement of distribution practices have been recognized by his receipt of the prestigious Reed-Apple Award, which is given for lifetime contributions to the advancement of the material handling profession. Jim has also received the Institute of Industrial Engineers' Facilities Planning and Design Award. He has written numerous articles and handbook chapters on warehousing and logistics operations and is a popular speaker on logistics seminar and conference programs.

Prior to SysteCon, Jim worked as an Industrial Engineer with IBM, was Supervisor of Facilities Planning for the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors and was Executive Vice President for an automotive aftermarket parts supplier. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.