Looking at the current scenario; of the economy and the ongoing situation, businesses have realized the importance of warehousing to exhibit their true potential. Before discussing any other plans and aspects of developing a warehouse management software system, let us first know what it is.
What is Warehouse Management Software System?
It is a software or an app created for big businesses and enterprises that require warehousing or storage facilities for their goods and inventories. But that's not all through the software you can manage and control the operations of your warehouse like the stocks, orders, sales and shipping, billing, and many more such activities.
The prime benefit of this software system is that it helps you access your storehouse at your fingertips, from anywhere, effectively without any compromise in the quality of work and your business standards.
Also, Warehouse Management Software and Inventory Management Software are different because they have different workflows. A Warehouse Management Software system manages everything in a warehouse that includes the inventory, but Inventory management software only controls the operation related to the goods and supplies of a particular entity. So, if you are curious about the development of the Warehouse Management software, we shall first learn about the common warehouse management problems and their solutions.
Common Warehouse Management Problems and their Solutions
Operating a warehouse means loads of work to be done, like organizing and keeping track of each and everything manually. It can be hectic sometimes, and at the end of the day, it creates problems, which we do not want. Here are the three common issues that may occur while we manage a Warehouse the hard way.
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Unorganized Warehouse
Isn’t finding your socks all by yourself rewarding, especially when you do not need to call your mom for it? The same happens when managing a warehouse. An organized warehouse not only looks tidy but also helps you to keep track records of every single task. A question emerges here of how to sort out and assemble a warehouse when we know that most of the businesses do it manually, which costs them too much time, workforce, and money.
Some businesses completely skip the part of organizing their warehouse, which also leads to the expiration and damage of unrecorded products and inventories lying somewhere in the warehouse and many such possible issues.
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Order Management
There are certain times when a business fails to deliver or supply orders to their customers due to the lack of management in the Warehouse. The most common reasons include no track of the stock, which leads to the cancellation of the order and delay in delivery because of mistakes in recording the goods. But integrating a warehouse management software system eliminates all these risks and gives more traceability to you, including the increase in the percentage of profit in your businesses.
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Increase in Labor Cost
Although all warehouses need labor, certain tasks cannot be done manually, and integrating an automation tool like the warehouse management software system is an advantage. Too many laborers increase the labor cost, time consumption, and the chances of errors in completing a task. Therefore, a full-fledged and feature-loaded WMS system is a one-time investment. It will also result in higher-order precision, faster productivity, real-time analysis, and lesser labor cost.
Managing a warehouse efficiently now has become easy. With the evolution in technology, we can develop a Warehouse Management Software System to integrate into a warehouse. It will increase the productivity, efficiency, and overall positive client feedback of the demand and supply chain system.
Tips For Optimizing Warehouse Logistics Management
Having a warehouse and introducing a Warehouse Management software system is not enough, there are a few things that need systematic management. Starting with receiving the inventories at the warehouse to shipping them to the customer; everything should be done effectively.
Before talking about the optimization of the warehouse, firstly, you should know about the basic workflow in the warehousing process. Begin with receiving the inventories, then labeling and storing them in their respected areas, collecting products for the order, packing, and lastly shipping them to the customer.
A few tips to optimize the warehouse logistics management are-
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Tracking the inventory is essential in optimizing the warehouse logistics because it ensures precision in the data required to fulfill an order.
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Labeling and shelving the goods in the demand and supply sequence to minimize time consumption and find the inventories in their respected sections of the warehouse.
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Keep real-time data to plan and forecast the stock required to fulfill an order without delay.
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Integrate automated equipment for storage, packing, and shipping the goods to eliminate errors and heighten labor performance.
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Make sections and free up some space of the warehouse strategically, to reduce the distance, and to ship the goods in the promised time.
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Improve the accessibility by mobile shelving so that there is less paperwork and more time.
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Use barcodes and QR codes to get all the necessary details of the inventory while preparing to pack order which reduces the time, and there would be no paperwork.
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Always measure the results to improvise the efficiency and accuracy of the work.
Ecommerce Behind the Efficient Warehouse Management
The warehousing sector has seen immense growth in the past few years as there is a rise in globalization and outsourcing. Moving on to the eCommerce behind warehouse management; is an opportunity to grow your business. Let me tell you how. We are all familiar with the proverb First Come, First Served, and the demand and supply chain of the economic system is quite similar to this proverb.
Some companies manufacture goods the entire year, but the demand rises in a particular season, and at that time, it is when the warehouse comes in. When the demand rise, the supply of goods is shipped quickly, which means more sales resulting in more profit.
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Companies that manufacture their goods sometimes try to reduce their cost of raw materials if they find that the price of the materials has decreased. So they purchase the material in bulk and store it in the warehouse to cut the costs. Later, when they manufacture and sell the product according to market pricing leads to a growth in the profit rate.
Trends for Warehouse Management Software System
According to the reports, and the analysis, here are the latest trends you can consider before developing a Warehouse management software system.
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Internet of Things (IoT)
The rise of IoT devices has taken over any other technology currently, mainly because of the accessibility and features that it offers. GPS tracking enables you to know the exact location of the inventories and the goods. Through the sensors, you can learn about the condition of the product, like if it has any damages or is ready to be packed.
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Cloud Computing
It has been a game-changer in the warehouse management system because of its real-time analysis tracker, accuracy, and security, and most importantly, it is easy to set up and use from anywhere around the world.
It has been in trend for the past few years and will continue to reach new heights in the upcoming years, as it eases the process as it performs the day-to-day operations automatically. It eliminates the possibilities of human error and saves a lot of time and labor.
Some additional benefits of AI include offering suggestions, reviewing the data, removing errors, and many more.
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Voice-Activated Technology
Every technology has its advantages, so is voice activation. It not only eases the work but also saves time and the labor force. It eases communication among the workforce, which increases productivity and accuracy.
Features of Warehouse Management Software System
There are numerous capabilities of a Warehouse Management software system, that vary according to the requirements. This software will assist you in managing the inventories in a warehouse.
Here is a list of a few features that you can integrate into your Warehouse Management Software.
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Receiving and Shipping Inventories - This feature will help you to cover all the operations that you need to carry out while receiving inventories. Like the number of products received, scanning, labeling, and billing, of the goods.
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Inventory Management - Through this, you can keep a track record of all the inventories stored in the warehouse to plan and forecast the demand and supply chain.
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Order Management - This feature will help you list out all the items that are packed and ready to be shipped from the customer’s order, along with the complete scanning, and billing.
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Labor Management - Through this feature, you can manage the workforce in the storehouse, know their work hours, attendance, wages calculation, and many more.
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Tracking and Analytics - To keep a record of all the inventories in the warehouse; and analyze using real-time data to accentuate the workflow.
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Task Management - You can assign tasks to the workforce and check if its done, under process, or completed. You can also know the exact status of the task assigned.
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Messaging - This feature can either be a text message or voice message, or both, this feature will help the workforce communicate better to complete a task.
Last words on Warehouse Management Software System
Developing a Warehouse Management software system not only reduces the cost but also increases productivity and improves efficiency and ultimately positive consumer feedback.
HIRE Developers for Software Development
This blog has covered all the important information that you might need before investing in the development of a Warehouse Management Software System. Reach out to us if you want any bonus tips or advice regarding the development of this software system.