Blank rough

WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

A software solution that allows an organization to control and manage operations in its warehouse

 PDF

Gone are the days of managing inventory with a clipboard, pen, and paper.

Instead, modern, software-based warehouse management systems (WMS) play a crucial role in
helping organizations control and manage the day-to-day operations of their warehouses today,
from tracking products and shipments, to sounding an alert when stocks run low.

These systems work by breaking orders into batches based on the location of the products, and
logging them at various points throughout their arrival and stop-over at the warehouse. From there,
staff directs the goods to where they need to be at any given time.

They also help to reduce the likelihood of errors in shipping, as well as help companies fulfill their
orders more rapidly.

For businesses, having the right WMS can save time and costs, and allows them to maximize
customer service and satisfaction.

And they recognize the potential. A recent market analysis report showed that the global WMS
market is expected to grow from US$2.6 billion (€2.31 billion) in 2018 to US$9.3 billion by 2027.
There are several types of systems, including standalone ones that are developed externally, those
hosted on the cloud, and those that are integrated into a company’s business process management
or Enterprise Resource Planning system.

Recent technological advancements have given rise to trends in WMS such as using machine
learning to better manage warehouses, by sensing and adapting to changing conditions without the
need for human intervention.

Little time, many services - DHL uses a new warehouse management system Up to the point where
we acquired the warehouse for the two companies they were both working with their own, partially
in-house developed, warehouse management software. Both customers' processes are now mapped
into the standardised system as a result of the introduction of the LFS warehouse management
system. This also brings various advantages to our DHL Excel Supply Chain: On one hand every
posting and material movement can be traced in a single system. On the other hand, stock security is
clearly increased thanks to the inherent transparency. In addition to this, DHL's personnel are now
able to work with either customer and we are also able to make optimum use of our personnel
resources since the implementation of the LFS system. Just how exceptionally high the WMS
demands in this logistics centre really are only becomes apparent when you see the complexity of
the process for yourself: The logistics centre has a container storage site with 12,800 available places
(two-storey), different bays and block stores with 14,000 available places and a fully automatic pallet
store with 10,800 available places. The centre has four I-points, six unpacking stations, eight
commissioning stations, an empty pallet buffer store and five goods removal tracks, which are all
mapped into the LFS system. "You will see that DHL in Derendingen has four to six times as many
processing points as compared to an average automatic warehousing system, from which the staff
can interactively engage in the running of the system and you will gain an initial impression of just
how profoundly technical and complex the DHL warehouse really is. In the fully automatic
warehouse section there are around 20 staff who work the relevant interactive dialogs with the LFS",
said Jörg Fröhlich, general manager and project manager at Ehrhardt + Partner. Integration between
the warehouses The material flows from the automatic pallet stores and from the automatic
container stores have to be closely integrated. For example, the incoming goods for both automatic
stores can be partially processed using the pallet store's six unpacking stations. The relevant pallets
are first unpacked onto containers in this station and then made up into mixture of single material
pallets wherever this is necessary. A second example is commissioning in the container store, as the
material flows in the pallet and container stores intermesh at numerous points. The commissioning
occurs when the containers are palletised. The warehouse management system is responsible for
ensuring that a pallet is requested from the empty pallet buffer store for each new order. A third
example of the integration of both automatic stores is the handling of the remaining quantities. If a
small remaining quantity of stock still remains on a pallet after the commissioning process has been
completed this will not be DHL Derendingen: Goods receiving and Goods dispatch restored in the
pallet store afterwards but DHL Exel Supply Chain has recently acquired a logistics centre in
Derendingen (Switzerland) from a manufacturer of electrical power tools, which is linked to their
production centre three kilometres away in Zuchwil. In order to be able to fully utilise the
warehouse capacity, DHL will also be storing articles from another telecommunications sector
customer there as well. It became necessary to implement a new warehouse management system in
order to be able to cope with this demanding job. DHL decided to adopt the LFS warehouse
management system from Ehrhardt + Partner in Boppard for this site. EPS - Ehrhardt + Partner
Solutions DWC - LLC will be transferred to the container store instead. This stock transfer of articles
that are already part of the inventory can be quickly and easily realised via the LFS system and this
also means that optimum use is made of the available storage places. Customer specific processing
In order to ensure that the logistical process functions smoothly it is vital that there is optimum
integration of the goods flow from both of the automatic stores, i.e. the electrical power tools
manufacturer's store as well as store for the telecommunication company's four divisions and that
their very specific processing is mapped within the warehouse management system. Since May 2005
our DHL Exel Supply Chain has stored around 6,000 different articles, mainly in the pallet store, for
the manufacturer of the electrical power tools. The throughput for the approx. 3,000 positions lies at
a daily tonnage of around 300,000 kilograms. Whereas the replenishments for this customer's
production were simply delivered and stored in complete pallets prior to the acquisition of the
warehouse by DHL, the modern production site in Zuchwil is today supplied with smaller lot sizes
based on a 20 minute cycle under the control of a classic KANBAN supply system. "It was necessary
to integrate similar order driven mapping in the LFS system for this process, as we know customers
in the automotive industry, who have to supply automobile manufacturers on a 'just in time' or 'just
in sequence' basis have done" said Marco Ehrhardt, managing director of Ehrhardt + Partner. The
telecommunications company's four divisions were entered as new clients in the LFS system in
August 2005 whilst the system was still running. "Normally we would wait until the warehousing
activity of the first major client was up and running before entering a second major client, but this
was not possible with this project due to the tight timetable. Despite this we still succeeded in
bringing the in the second client online right on time and without encountering any major
problems", reported Ehrhardt. DHL stores around 2,000 different articles for this client's four
company divisions. In this case the daily throughput for the average 6,000 positions is a tonnage of
around 26,000 kilograms. A special feature with regard to the company divisions is the fact that the
sale of the articles from one division to another has to be transferred within the LFS warehousing
management system without any real movement of goods actually taking place. These transactions
are initiated in the SAP merchandise management system, which then sends the transfer order via
IDOC to the warehouse management system. This system also reports the new stock level back to
SAP via IDOC as part of the posting process. Multi-level order processing DHL uses various LFS
optimisation strategies for the telecommunication provider's four divisions: Initially all orders from
the same customer are collected together, so that the shipment to the customer and the DHL freight
costs can be optimised. This strategy also plays a role with regard to online-shop orders. Secondly, a
strategy has been set up in LFS for a company division that controls the delivery of the products
using regional distribution centres. The means that several orders from the same region can be
assembled and - together with the relevant vendor documents for the separate orders - be shipped
to a regional distribution centre. The separate orders will then be sent on to the end customers from
there, in accordance with the delivery notes. Thirdly, two-level commissioning can be undertaken for
another of the company's divisions. This model will be explained more precisely here. The WMS first
assembles all of the orders from the telecommunication company's sales outlets together. The
commissioning prepares the respective quantity of each article at the distribution stations. In the
second step the goods are distributed to the containers in which they will be sent to the respective
sales outlet. Each order automatically sends the warehouse management system a print order for
the relevant delivery note and the shipment label to the printer after the commissioning has been
completed. The container will be sealed afterwards and prepared for transport. Picking and packing
of certain articles is carried out in advance with support from the LFS system. Provider choice DAs
the complexity of the processing as well as the criteria is extremely extensive, DHL Exel Supply Chain
applied the following when choosing the warehouse management system (WMS): "In addition to the
possibility of mapping the separate processes used by both customers in a single system, the WMS
must also use standard interfaces to connect up to SAP over the internet via SOAP. It must also be
able to send data that has to be returned to the customer's system as XMLDHL Derendingen: Picking
bins files and ZIP-files", said Beat Hirschi, project manager at DHL. In addition to this, the warehouse
management system must be able to separately customise the documents for other goods flows. "As
the LFS is a well-proven and powerful system, we asked Ehrhardt + Partner to prepare a quote based
on a wide-ranging tender. The decisive factor regarding our decision was the modular software
design, which enables the system to be optimised as required by the prevailing circumstances and
expanded to meet demand in the future", said Martin Stoll, a partner at LOGO TEAM. The logistics
consultant from Karlsruhe was authorised by DHL Exel Supply Chain to publish the tender and then
choose a suitable WMS. Another argument for using the LFS system was the fact that Ehrhardt +
Partner were able to guarantee a short conversion phase from the start of the project up to real
time operation. This was very important for DHL as the timetable specified by the electrical power
toll manufacturer was very tight. "We were able to strictly adhere to the timetable drawn up
beforehand in cojunction with E+P and the company's performance was first class" confirmed Martin
Stoll. DHL Derendingen: High bay storage The companies of the E+P Group Boppard-Buchholz,
Germany Figueres, Spain Boppard-Buchholz, Germany For more informations, please contact to:
Ehrhardt + Partner GmbH & Co. KG Software Systems for Warehouse Logistics Alte Römerstraße 3 D-
56154 Boppard-Buchholz GERMANY Phone (+49) 67 42 - 87 27 0 Fax (+49) 67 42 - 87 27 50 Email:
info@ehrhardt-partner.com