Improve results with your WMS

Get the most out of your investment in a WMS

There are two successful reasons to implement a Warehouse Management System:
1. To increase the economic value of the warehouse or distribution center; and
2. To build the capabilities of the warehouse, for the long haul.

Warehouse Management Systems are the link between company and warehouse strategy and the management and methods and procedures day-to-day operations. A WMS is the primary tool designed for for managers to efficiently and effectively operate their warehouses and distribution centers, and through which to improve performance. Yet many companies are not achieving their objectives or able to sustain warehouse results with their warehouse management system.

Our vision is to support warehouse managers in selecting, implementing and using Warehouse Management Systems to deliver World Class results for their customers, every day.

Building or selecting a WMS
Getting the most out of your Warehouse Management System starts with a deep understanding of the desired outcomes from this investment. Selecting and implementing WMS is expensive and risky, and typically happens only once in a managers' career. Research reports that less than 60% of WMS buyers are satisfied with their WMS. Your ability to achieve your operations and business objectives can be substantially enhanced when working with WMS Support.

Using your Warehousing Management System
Achieving your desired outcomes starts with organization change and continues with building the capabiity to effectively use a WMS once is installed. Operations and business objectives change, customer demands change, and we still need to improve productivity and performance.

We at WMS Support know how to build the knowledge and skills required to create a resilient warehouse operation, using your warehouse management system, with the agility to handle daily changes in demand, to adapt to changing stakeholder requirements, and continually improve results.

Each of our professionals has at least 20 years experience in designing, implementing, and supporting warehouse managers to improve the performance of warehouse operations with Warehouse Management Systems.

And, to learn more about building your knowledge and skills to continually improve warehouse operations with your WMS, contact us as info@wmssupport.com or 1.503.296.7249.

We are members of the Association of Professional Material Handling Consultants and do not have financial relationships with any WMS vendors or system integrators.

Achieving Your Objectives with

a Warehouse Management System

Research data continues to report a significant percentage of large WMS implementations are not satisfying the user.

Our presentation at the 2011 PROMAT, (http://2011.promatshow.com/education/seminar.aspx?ref=attendees&id=497) described the process we used when we began including a Warehouse Management System (WMS) in our warehouse design consulting projects in the late 1970’s and 80’s, before affordable, standardized products became available.

Our projects were remarkably successful and suppported an amazing growth in the creation of these systems and applications and the number of software vendors in the field. Our process required that working closely with senior managers, operations managers, warehouse staff and IT professionals. We worked with each group from the point of view that connected with their responsibilities and objectives, including:

Key Elements of the Project – including Vision, Operations Requirements, Education, Reengineering Design and Control;
Essential Functions of Management – plan, organize, staff, direct and control; and
Systems thinking - interdependence across functions and levels in achieving larger organizational objectives.

As we have continued to work with clients to improve the results they achieve with a WMS, we have observed another powerful pattern:

Current WMS projects do not include a consistent scope of work or development steps, and many do not include all the dimensions required to achieve client desired outcomes.

The development of the WMS industry has shifted from delivering custom designed systems to configuring standard packages. With over 200 warehouse management systems available in the market, the purchase decision has become much more focused on price. The result has been that achieving the value impact of these systems has become less consistent, to the point that some vendors are begining to ask me "What is it that we are not providing that would enable our customers to meet their desired outcomes"?

We have come to recognize that for the client, the successful achievement of desired outcomes from the implementation of Warehouse Management Systems requires attention to six unique dimensions. Each of these dimensions qualifies as a mutually interdependent project with the other 5.

Performance Management, every day.

Warehouse Management Systems Support

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