TECH & AI

Without them , teams working in retail , manufacturing and beyond would be ill-equipped to deal with today ’ s fastpaced , deeply unpredictable business environment .

Perhaps the best way to wrap one ’ s head around the undeniable importance of WMS is to consider the countless individual activities that take place within a warehouse , including the shipping and receiving of goods , returns , storage , picking and packing .

On their own , these tasks require countless devices and handsets ,

TIM MACHOLZ DIRECTOR – GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY GROUP HOULIHAN LOKEY themselves need managing , updating , securing and even fixing when issues occur .

This can prove complex , costly and time-consuming , especially when it comes to larger organisations operating multiple warehouses and fulfilment centres across several locations .

Warehouse and logistics management systems constantly support these dayto-day functions and enable firms to better run their operations .

“ Warehouse management systems can be considered the core operating system for any inventory management , warehouse or distribution centre ,” explains Tim Macholz , Director of the Global Technology Group at Houlihan Lokey . “ The technology stack is geared to orchestrate and optimise the movement of inventory in order to better enable accuracy and efficiency for all involved .

“ Core functionality includes inventory management with detailed visibility by stock-keeping unit , order processing for rapid and accurate fulfilment , labour management for folks working the warehouse floor and integrations into the core business systems ’ technology stack .

“ A WMS also tends to sport detailed analytics and reporting capabilities across its core workflows to support dynamic management of the inventory floor through visibility into critical KPIs .”

Ensuring end-to-end visibility There is seemingly no end to the benefits companies stand to gain from establishing an effective WMS .

150 July 2024