Implementation of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)

Table of Content

Implementation of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS)

Application needs to be seen as a project that has a timeline, goals and team formed from several functions within a company that are closely related to warehouse operational processes.

Implementation of WMS applications can be divided into:

(1) Replacement of the currently running application

(2) Installing a new application

The Association of Engineers in Germany (VDI) has a standard for managing project management for the installation of WMS applications in a standard VDI 2523 (Project management for logistics systems in material flow and warehousing).

1. Requirement Definition

This phase begins after the Company analyzes that the current system (either using an application or manually) cannot answer the operational needs of the Company's warehouse.

Some of the reasons for implementing WMS include:

Use of new technology that requires application support
Improved Key Performance Indicators
Multi-tenant warehouse management
and several other reasons

2. Preparation of Tender Documents

Before this project starts we must prepare technical requirements from the WMS application and prepare supporting documents related to validation, instructions, laws and company regulations regarding the procurement process.

3. Order Placement

After the documents for the tender have been completed, the company conducts an initial selection for providers that provide services regarding WMS.

This selection is intended to select a provider with the best performance and in accordance with the company's capabilities (budget).

The next selection process is to make comparisons between one provider and another regarding their ability to serve the company's needs.

The final stage of this process is to make a presentation about the WMS services they provide so that the end result of this process the company has been able to choose which WMS service provider to choose.

4. Implementation

At this stage, the selected vendor will be reviewed whether the specifications are in accordance with the company's wishes and also to see technically whether the WMS users will be able to apply it.

This review aims to minimize errors when implementing WMS applications. Often WMS applications are built by adjusting to the business processes in the Company, this is an added value for WMS service providers to the extent that they are able to customize according to the needs of the Company.

If this stage has been understood and mastered by the user from the company, then the next step is to carry out a trial realization of the use of WMS in the warehouse so that the results of the demo of the application can be assessed for suitability with the needs of the company. it for repairs.

5. Acceptance

At this stage the WMS can be used by the Company with specifications and performance in accordance with established standards.

However, during use, the company continues to monitor and evaluate performance so that if an error occurs, the provider quickly prepares a solution to the problem so that warehouse operations are not disrupted for long.

With the replacement of the latest WMS system, it is hoped that all the new functions of the WMS will resolve the technical problems that have occurred so far, so that the company's operational problems can be resolved and the warehousing system can run properly.

Good warehousing will make the turnover of goods more effective and control of goods will be easy to manage which can reduce the impact of loss effects.