Warehouse Management System: Business Applications & Case Studies
Custom Warehouse Management System To Optimize Your Supply Chain Operations
Table of Contents
- What is a Warehouse Management System?
- What are the Key Features of a Warehouse Management System?
- Three Key Drivers of Warehouse Automation
- Why Adopt Custom Warehouse Management Software?
- Benefits of Custom Warehouse Management Software
- Custom Warehouse Management System: A Case Study
- Develop Your WMS with Fingent
A warehouse management system is a must-have for any business that wants to expand their e-commerce footprint and address their omni-channel fulfillment requisites. For several years, warehouse management systems have been in the spotlight, enjoying a higher adoption rate across multiple industries.
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Allied Market Research estimates that by 2030, the market value of global warehouse management systems is estimated to reach $10.6 billion, with a CAGR of 16.3% during 2021-2030.
A custom warehouse management software reduces your delivery lead times, eliminates errors during order processing and strengthens the efficiency and productivity of suppliers, subsequently improving your customer relationships. Delivering orders precisely requires overcoming the complexities of multi-channel listing and courier management. Whether you’re a 3PL, an ecommerce retailer or a warehouse owner, you require an automated, custom warehouse management system to run the show without any interruption.
Let’s take a closer look at the features and benefits of custom warehouse management software in this blog.
What is a Warehouse Management System?
A warehouse management system is a software solution that allows organizations to manage the entire supply chain fulfillment operations of a warehouse, right from the time goods or materials enter a distribution or fulfillment center until they move out to the store shelf.
Warehouse management systems offer real-time visibility into your company’s entire inventory, both within warehouses or in transit. Besides monitoring the inventory flow, a warehouse management software offers solutions for picking, packing, processing orders and deliveries, utilizing resources, optimizing labor and storage layout, creating pick lists, analytics, and more. And it organizes all of these activities from a single interface.
A good WMS system enables e-commerce companies to manage rising order volumes and faster shipping expectations, despite the shrinking pool of warehouse labor. Modern warehouse management systems integrate with several mission-critical tools such as RFID labeling, barcode scanning, augmented reality (AR) wearables, advanced robotics, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, transportation management systems (TMS), logistics applications, and more.
What are the Key Features of a Warehouse Management System?
Modern, cloud-based warehouse management systems help you manage operations of any scale, from a single to multiple warehouses located anywhere in the world. Here are the core features of a WMS that will improve your warehouse operations.
A custom warehouse management software leverages automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology (eg: barcodes, RFID tags) to provide real-time visibility into your organization’s inventory, no matter where your warehouse is located. The WMS automates and streamlines your inventory management process, giving data-driven insights into what items should you order and when, reports on the performance of your vendors and products, the latest rates you have been charged, and more. These insights allow you to adjust the inventory levels, ensure you have the right volume of stock enough to satisfy your customers, and improve your order rates. You can also forecast the customer demand patterns using the advanced analytics provided by the WMS software.
Simply put, a good WMS software helps you allocate inventory based on custom workflows and picking logic, so your inventory moves faster, both into and out of your warehouse.
A WMS software allows you to receive, process, and put away items efficiently according to the warehouse flow and business rules. Integration of the WMS system with RFID, billing and inventory software, and other tools allows it to automatically receive, validate, and reconcile items against online purchase orders. In addition, the warehouse management software helps in the following ways:
- Scans the barcode or RFID tags affixed to each item or material to enable easier storage and retrieval
- Flags items that require inspection by QA experts
- Automates the generation of identification labels for goods, pallets, etc.,
- Suggests storage recommendations based on the size, expiry date, demand forecasts, and fragility of each product
- Facilitates cross-docking by alerting warehouse workers when goods have to be transported from the receiving zone directly to a shipping zone
- Resolves issues through status reporting of incoming receipts to warehousing and merchandising staff
A report from the University of Chicago reveals that order picking accounts for 55% of the total warehousing cost. A smart WMS system helps you lower this cost by leveraging analytics to recommend the most efficient way to store, retrieve, and pack products. Today, competent warehouse management systems use technologies like pick-to-voice or light, warehouse robotics, machine learning algorithms, and radio frequency with or without barcode scanning to optimize the picking paths. Techniques such as single order picking, discrete picking, batch picking, zone picking, wave picking, and cross-docking help streamline order fulfillment.
Modern warehouse management systems are capable of automatically generating packing lists, shipment invoices, bills of lading, and other crucial notifications, which will give you real-time visibility into the status of every consignment. For instance, you can oversee if the packages arrive on time and are delivered to the right destination. Automatic shipment notifications expedite your order fulfillment process. The WMS software also helps you:
- Schedule the shipments judiciously by optimizing the delivery routes to reduce the travel time
- Calculate the shipping time and rates by integrating with the shipping carriers’ applications
- Merge multiple orders addressed to the same consignee into a single shipment
- Track the entire shipment history
- Ensure faster and timely delivery of shipments off the dock and in transit to the right destination
A custom warehouse management software featuring configurable dashboards that can be tailored to display important metrics adds value to your warehouse operations. Tailor the dashboard to view your inventory accuracy, on-time shipping data, order fill rate, cycle time to process orders, labor and storage utilization, inventory return reports, distribution costs, and more. Automated report generation eliminates the errors caused by manual data entry. Use data visualization techniques to share the warehouse operational reports and metrics with your key stakeholders. Viewing mission-critical, real-time insights on a single interface helps you make the necessary adjustments to optimize the warehouse operations in future.
An intelligent warehouse management system helps schedule your workforce based on the labor requirements for order fulfillment during a specific time. Based on a procurement and shipping schedule, the WMS software can dynamically assign tasks to your warehouse workers and support task interleaving depending on the priority and proximity, which will minimize your workforce’s idle time as well as travel time. The warehouse management software also helps monitor your labor performance against pre-defined KPIs and throws light into your labor costs, response times, productivity gaps, and trends that matter to you.
In warehousing, reverse logistics refers to the process of controlling the movement of in-process inventory or finished goods from the point of consumption to the point of origin for recovering value or ensuring proper disposal. A good WMS software automates the routing of returned inventory to a suitable warehouse by tracking the return order and flagging the returned inventory for further processing such as a quality assurance check.
Case Study: Optimizing last-mile delivery: Software suite development for an e-commerce locker company helps gain 50% reduction in internal workload.
Three Key Drivers of Warehouse Automation
1. E-commerce and Rapid Order Fulfillment
- 66% of customers choose e-vendors based on the delivery options
- 63% select an e-vendor based on delivery speed
- 77% are willing to pay for faster delivery
2. Cost of Operations
- 66% of a warehouse’s functioning budget is consumed by labor costs
- 27% of fulfillment issues are caused by staff turnover
3. Growth of Technology
- AI and Deep Learning
- Blockchain
- Industrial IoT
- Connected warehouse systems
Why Adopt Custom Warehouse Management Software?
Like every other industry, there is no one size fits all solution in warehousing, as the requirements vary from business to business. Custom warehouse management systems improve the internal operations and services of your logistics, retail, or warehousing business by offering several features which aren’t provided by off-the-shelf software.
Develop The Ideal WMS
Control Your Software Spend
Secure Your WMS from Cyberattacks
Own a User-Friendly WMS
Round-the-Clock Support
Develop The Ideal WMS
Get the ideal, customized solution for your warehouse management with the required software integrations, modules, and functions that will simplify business management and accelerate your growth. A custom software development partner understands your requirements precisely and focuses on developing the solution that best-fits your warehouse’s operational needs.
Control Your Software Spend
Most off-the-shelf solutions require you to subscribe to third-party apps and pay multiple licensing fees. Most biz owners end up paying full price for several unwanted features. Some companies would want to integrate estranged business applications to increase the usability of their shelf software. All these challenges lead to increased software spending.
Secure Your WMS from Cyberattacks
Ready-to-use software is highly vulnerable to cyberattacks due to the widespread availability of code and proliferation of users. Owning custom code places your warehouse business under lock and key and keeps your sensitive information hack-proof. Customized solutions offer built-in security with a specialized approach to development. Better compliance and data governance improves your warehouse operation’s reputation and trust.
Own a User-Friendly WMS
Rolling out enterprise-wide canned software that commands an advanced level of technical expertise will inflict more harm. It will complicate the processes for your employees and incur heavy training costs. Complex shelf software will fail the very purpose of technological innovation, that is, to simplify human efforts. If only less than 20% of your employees find the software workable, it’s better to build a customized solution.
Round-the-Clock Support
Your warehouse operations might come to a standstill if the technology behind your WMS stops working. A typical readymade software provider puts you into a long wait with back-to-back support tickets and repeated calls, whereas a dedicated custom software development partner offers access to a direct line of technical support to resolve your issues immediately.
Off-the-Shelf vs. Custom Warehouse Management System
Off-the-Shelf Warehouse Systems
- Designed commonly for different types of users
- Requires additional components to function
- Needs high-end customization
- Slow to change with industry needs
- Subscription/ licensing costs are high
- Jam-packed with unwanted features
Custom Warehouse Management System
- Tailored to address your specific needs
- Highly adaptable and sustainable
- Scalable to your future requirements
- Integrates with your existing systems and third-party software
- Long time value- Easy to maintain and customize
- An investment for a profitable future
Benefits of Custom Warehouse Management Software
Here’s what makes custom warehouse management software the right choice for your business:
On-demand Functionality
Custom warehouse management software development allows you to build the required architecture and functionality designed to fit all your warehouse needs. When you choose to build a WMS, you have the option to modify the features list anytime during the development process. Thus, your WMS will be equipped to meet the ever-changing business needs.
Improved Scalability
When you build a warehouse management software, you can implement the required level of scalability based on the number of users and warehouses, number and frequency of orders handled, and other aspects during the process of development. Ideally, custom software development allows you to invest once and scale your business on the go. A scalable custom WMS allows you to add as many users as you need free of cost.
Integration Opportunities
Unlike many off-the-shelf warehouse software that provide a fixed list of out-of-the-box integrations, a custom warehouse management system supports on-demand integrations. If you are running a large e-commerce store with several multi-component business operations, the only way to automate your workflow is to integrate your WMS with the multiple platforms you use. A custom WMS software can be integrated with hundreds of products through APIs and plugins.
Custom Modules for Each Functionality
Custom WMS development enables you to integrate discrete modules tailored to meet your inventory, shipping, logistics, scheduling, cross-docking, and other supply chain fulfillment needs. You can also implement the software on any platform, say desktop, laptop, smartphones, wearable devices, and more. Cross-platform WMS implementation helps you keep track of all the inventory directly from any device.
Cloud-based Warehouse Management Solutions
Custom-built warehouse management software hosted on the cloud offers you higher security advantages. Your application will be hosted on a virtual private server which keeps your data safe. This is highly beneficial for businesses handling high-value inventory.
If you want to avoid scalability and integration issues and require a future-proof platform architecture, developing a custom warehouse software is the best choice.
Custom Warehouse Management System: A Case Study
We’ve simplified what was once considered complex order processing, with custom-built warehouse management and order processing software that lets customers place orders quickly and allows warehouses to track every order with improved efficiency and sophistication.
Texas-based Cheetah Transportation Systems leveraged Fingent’s custom software development services to implement a personalized transportation management system. The new system allows Cheetah’s customers to view their order status in real-time and access up-to-date shipping data. With a customized software solution, Cheetah re-imagined their logistics and supply chain operations:
- Streamlined and accelerated ordering, tracking, and delivery processes
- Cut licensing and subscription costs by eliminating complex third-party software integrations
- 30% improvement in Turn Around Time (TAT)
- 40% time-saving attained through automated tasks and real-time reporting
Develop Your Warehouse Management System with Fingent
The primary goal of a warehouse management software is to ensure that the right product is delivered to the right person at the right time. When you’re in complete control of your warehouse operations, you will attain better visibility, productivity, and cost control.
Our core experience in developing B2B e-commerce applications, customized product ordering systems, tailored self-service payment portals, and an array of bespoke software solutions makes us a trusted software development partner to hundreds of organizations worldwide, including Fortune 500 companies. We help you develop custom warehouse management software for businesses that deal in logistics, shipping, transportation, eCommerce, third-party logistics (3PL), and more. If you want to discover our services further, please chat with our consultant.
