What is a Warehouse Management System?

Supply Chain

What is a Warehouse Management System?

A warehouse management system (WMS) is a software solution that is designed to support supply chain operations and distributions. Its purpose is to ensure that goods are moved through warehousing facilities in the most efficient and cost-effective way. It allows users to manage their fulfilment, shipping and movement of goods within the warehouse. This is done through a customer-facing dashboard which offers full visibility of the business’s inventory and operations. When goods are picked or being put away the WMS syncs this data to ensure that the user has the most up-to-date information on their inventory. This increases the efficiency, accuracy and profitability of a business.

When should I consider using a WMS and what benefits will it bring?

As your business continues its growth, the ability to manually maintain stock and orders becomes complex and it will only continue to be difficult to manage as you begin to scale your business even further. It is important that you choose a WMS solution that has the capabilities to meet your business goals and handle your business growth. You also need to consider how easy the integration and implementation process will be.

Poor Inventory Management

If there are a lot of inaccurate details beginning to surface in logged and recorded data, it’s best to invest in a WMS. This will allow you to check all of your records within a single click and obtain stock reports within minutes. Integrating with a WMS provides you with real-time tracking and reporting, making it easier for you to manage your inventory across multiple locations. The improved accuracy and monitoring of the inventory data will then ultimately increase warehouse efficiency, production and planning allowing you to improve lead times and product flows. A WMS ensures all elements of warehousing services are integrated, reducing wait times across the whole of your supply chain operations.

Business Expansion

If you are wanting to expand your business, it is important to maintain efficiency within the warehouse to deliver a streamlined service to your customers. Using a WMS allows you to expand your business not only within the country your business operates in, but across the globe. This will help you maintain peak season challenges and any new opportunities that will help towards the expansion of your business.

Poor customer experience/service

Customers are your main priority. If you are struggling with shipments and the delivery of your orders then it’s probably time to implement a WMS into your business’s operations.  This allows more efficient delivery of products to your customers and stops delayed shipping. By making your fulfilment process quicker using a WMS you will not only improve your customer’s experience but allow them to make their purchases quickly no matter where they are, at any given time. These improvements mean faster deliveries, fewer inaccuracies and an increased brand reputation.

Slow implementation and order fulfilment

You want to find a provider that can implement with multiple systems. An integration process could vary from a few weeks to a few months depending on the type of WMS a provider uses. A more advanced WMS system which is a cloud-based WMS will allow integrations to happen within a few weeks. This is a major benefit to continuing the development of your business in a fast-paced environment. Implementing your chosen platform with a WMS will then allow pickers and packers to work more efficiently and effectively, reducing fulfilment latency and processing times.

Cost and Time

An unorganised system reduces your business’s efficiency and ability to deliver to peak standards. A WMS can help you organise stock and identify which items need to be picked and packed first. It can also help you determine the most cost-effective way to utilise your warehouse space and move stock to reach your business’s peak efficiency. WMS technology such as a barcode scanner will also reduce the time manually spent performing stock takes and doing administration.

Integrating with Elanders

At Elanders one size does not fit all, we provide bespoke services to each of our customers. Our cloud-based WMS allows you to align your inventory management and fulfilment services, giving you complete transparency and a real-time view of your stock and orders. We also offer worldwide shipping and have warehousing facilities not only across the UK but also in Europe, Asia and North America. So no matter where in the world you are or whether you are wanting to trade worldwide we’ve got you covered.

Single point integrations can also be offered for businesses, so if you are a business starting out in the UK you won’t have to build new integrations for the U.S. or EU and vice versa. E-commerce fulfilment is as simple as getting you set up and sending your products to us.

Our bi-directional data flows allow complete transparency of your operations. Elanders allows integrations and data errors to be logged and surfaced in your customer-facing dashboard in the warehouse management system for exception management and proactive response. Providing discounted shipping rates, most of your integrations can be completed within 2-6 weeks.

Order management systems can fulfil customer needs across all of the e-commerce platforms and sales channels you’d expect, including your website or e-commerce stores. Elanders partners directly with platforms and marketplaces such as Shopify, Amazon, eBay and TikTok Shop to streamline order fulfilment for your business. Our highly trained staff will also use proven picking methods within our warehousing facilities to get your orders out fast and increase your business’s customer satisfaction. We can handle all of your customer’s orders and save time allowing you to focus on your core business.

Conclusion

A warehouse management system gives you all the tools and opportunities for you to expand your business and increase the efficiency of workflows. It’s crucial to try and find new ways to stay successful in such a competitive and fast-paced environment. A WMS allows you to respond quickly to these changes and match the standards that your business requires.

If you want to find out more about how Elanders can help you. Visit our integrations page to see if we can integrate with your chosen platform!