Warehouse Management Systems: The Key to Efficiency

To remain competitive in today's marketplace, many companies are implementing warehouse management systems. These systems can help companies save money by increasing labor savings, reducing order turn-around time, increasing inventory accuracy, and offering increased flexibility.

Industrial engineers evaluate systems throughout their companies and are often instrumental in selecting and implementing warehouse management systems.

Beau McCranie, distribution engineer with Stanley Proto Industrial Tools. has been instrumental in designing and developing the warehouse management system. McCranie first proposed the system in 1990. After receiving approval, he worked closely with Kelly Dunn and Calvin Lott of the MIS department to develop the system, which has been fully operational since January 1992. Since then, the savings have been greater than he originally calculated.

"The paperless distribution management system controls product and process flow throughout the distribution center in real-time. Application software developed in-house has effectively integrated barcoding, radio frequency (RF) data communications, and electronic data interchange (EDI) technologies. Areas addressed by the system include EDI receipt of orders, order release, picking, packing, stock replenishment, cycle counting, and EDI advance shipping notices," says McCranie.

Since upper management required that McCranie, Dunn, and Lott develop their own software rather than use an outside vendor, they were able to fully customize the software system to their own specific needs.

Warehouse management systems are helping companies be more competitive in the marketplace through labor savings. reduced order turn-around time, increased inventory accuracy and flexibility, and often increased sales. Stanley Proto is just one example of a company that has experienced great cost Savings in many areas throughout the company. To remain competitive, more companies must begin considering warehouse management systems, and lEs will be the driving force in selecting and implementing these systems.

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