By Katrina C. Arabe

New innovations are streamlining the supply chain and increasing the efficiency of today’s technologies. Every warehouse stands to benefit.

Many of the latest warehousing solutions mix the old and the new. The old: technologies such as warehouse management systems, which have been around for a while. The new: software and information technology enhancements. In fact, these innovations are not only giving old technology new efficiencies, but they are also tweaking direct-to-customer distribution and fulfillment activities.

Pick-to-light systems have been given the IT makeover. Newer versions of pick-to-light systems are virtually touch-free. Previously in pick-to-light, the picker had to push a button when he had finished the task. Now newer systems of this long-standing technology have sensors, which detect when the picker’s arm is in a pre-designated spot in the picking area. Some even feature RF scanning, which doubles the accuracy.

Warehouse management systems (WMS) have also significantly gained in functionality and now provide solutions to current challenges such as downsizing inventory. This is a big concern because of two factors. First, warehouse managers are operating in a buyer’s market, with customers demanding quicker delivery with value-added service. Second, buying patterns have shifted—orders are smaller and more frequent. New warehouse management systems address these issues and trim the supply chain. They are not only more functional, but they can easily interface with other technologies. Many WMS applications enable automation while working with both ordering and shipping systems and logistics routing programs. These capabilities ensure the smooth flow of merchandise. At Helzberg Diamond Shops Inc. in Missouri , the WMS receives fulfillment recommendations based on the business activity at each of its 235 jewelry stores. The WMS then gives data to all the warehouse automation. “For us, automation vastly increases accuracy and speed,” says Orlando Jagoda, IT vice president at Helzberg.

Even small warehouses can benefit from IT improvements. Small operations can bring partial automation to their facilities through emerging Internet-based services. Application service providers (ASPs) are driving this phenomenon. They let thousands of small warehouses execute operations which were previously not possible without complicated and expensive warehousing technologies. “An ASP is a Net-based system whereby the user pays per transaction,” says Ken Ackerman, president of the Kenneth B. Ackerman Company, an Ohio-based supply chain management service. “It’s the same idea Xerox came up with 40 years ago when the company sold copies in lieu of copy machines. ASP is still very much in its infancy, but it will open IT to small warehouses. There are people selling this right now, and over time it will have a revolutionary effect on the industry.”

Material handling solutions that are on the IT edge include wireless technologies such as Palm Pilots and Ethernet bridges that can connect several locations to one network. In addition, robotics and automated picking technologies are easier to use, more compact and more efficient. Automated pallet loaders now use driverless vehicles or embedded platforms that elevate before releasing loads inside a trailer. In fact, most automated picking equipment moves around guided by rails. They pick products from shelves and place them in containers. Since experts say that approximately 60% of all picking activity consists of travelling, these robotic advancements greatly boost productivity by eliminating unnecessary strolling.

Voice or speech recognition is also gaining in popularity. This warehouse option frees both hands of the worker, boosting his productivity. It’s becoming easier to use. Workers no longer have to adjust vocal inflection so that the program can identify what is being said. Instead, users give speech samples to the system to memorize. In fact, the latest versions of this technology can interpret a range of languages and accents. Speech recognition may even make warehouse radio frequency (RF) technology obsolete, assert many material handling experts. Parcel delivery services already show this trend. At Conney Safety Products, a safety equipment distributor in Wisconsin, speech recognition is the preferred choice. With RF, “you have to stop what you’re doing, scan the item, and pick the ticket,” says John Swartz, vice president of operations. “That’s a big negative time-wise, so big that we’ve decided not to go the route of RF at all. With voice recognition the worker doesn’t have to scan anything.”

Radio frequency may avoid becoming outmoded because of its own IT advancements. RF identification tags have successfully tracked trailers, rail cars, marine containers and other costly items. Embedded or attached RFID tags contain data, which can be retrieved by low-wattage radio waves. This can be sent to a computer or saved on other digital devices to be uploaded later. RFID will work even without direct line of sight, and non-metallic objects such as trees will not obstruct radio wave transmissions. “RFID holds great potential for material handling,” says John M. Hill, principal of Ohio-based eSync International, a supply chain systems consulting and integration company. “The trouble is it’s far too expensive right now. You can afford to spend $50 or $100 on an RFID tag if the object is to identity rail cars, and be willing to spend a little less if you’re tracking automobiles. But the price per tag in a warehouse will have to be less than five bucks if there’s going to be a payoff.”

Total interoperability is a fast approaching IT reality. The material handling industry has tried in recent years to achieve interface standardization so that different equipment and information systems can “talk” to each other. Experts say this would be a tremendous step, removing the need to adjust software every time there is new hardware. While total interoperability may be a few years away, task interleaving has already arrived on the warehouse floor. This new technology combines warehouse management jobs to decrease travel time. For example, warehouse forklifts, which pick up pallets and take them to another part of the warehouse, can be programmed to complete another task on their way back instead of returning empty-handed.

Data warehousing is another IT-driven warehousing solution. Data warehousing notes trends and what SKUs are selling over a period of time. Then utilizing trend analysis and statistical process control, it makes recommendations about where merchandise should be placed in the warehouse. Items in high demand are made more accessible while slower-moving ones are consigned to less-explored places. “We’re at the stage with this stuff now where many fundamental problems have been licked,” says Larry Shemesh, vice president and principal of Gross & Associates, a New Jersey-based material handling consulting firm. Total automation, he says, is “doable, but it won’t happen overnight.”

Streamline All Warehouse Processes and Reduce Errors

Developed by Naxtor Technologies, the Wireless Warehouse Management Solution (WWMS) streamlines all warehouse processes - receiving, picking, inventory operations, cycle counting, and adjustments.

Capabilities

• Enables distributors to improve customer service by helping ensure they get the right products out on time, every time, while improving operating efficiencies through directed warehouse activities

Benefits

• Streamlined warehouse process
• Immediate feedback
• Improved control over warehouse tasks
• Improved customer service

A small wireless handheld device communicates with Naxtor WWMS solution, sending information about who picks what inventory activity and when, in real-time.

Because the Wireless Warehouse Management Solution is fully integrated with Naxtor WWMS, distributors can implement one technology solution for all of their needs, and since the system offers a graphic user interface (GUI), it is easier to navigate than most character-based RF offerings.

Accurate Inventory

Wireless functionality enables on-the-fly inventory adjustments when discrepancies are found, and a fully integrated audit trail tracks all changes. Inventory movements within the warehouse are also immediately confirmed within the system.

WWMS also offers self-directed and system-directed methods for inventory management. The system-directed method automatically suggests up to six bins, giving users the option of choosing an alternative bin location.

WWMS includes a ranking system similar to ABC classes, but based on the number of hits a bin receives. Primary bin, bin ranking, along with weight and volume of bins and items can be used to calculate optimum placement in your warehouse. When a user locks a damaged bin location or indicates a full bin, the warehouse manager will receive an alert.

Receiving

With Naxtor WWMS, one or more users may receive against the same purchase order or warehouse transfer. The solution sums up the receipt line quantities as the user processes the transaction. If a distributor has multiple package sizes for an item or runs a random warehouse where more than one item or lot is in the same bin location, then a system of license plating or tagging is an available option, with the ability to create lot numbers and traceable tags on the fly.

During the receiving process, users may identify serial, lot, and lot attributes. If required, tags for individual pallets, cases, or boxes can be applied with recursive identification for several boxes on a pallet. Directed put away is part of the receipt process.

Picking Features and Benefits

Naxtor WWMS allows for the picking of a single order, multiple orders for different customers, and transfer orders in a single pass through the warehouse. The system directs the picker via the wireless handheld device to the appropriate bin locations, and ensures the correct bin is scanned, the correct item is scanned, and lot/serial is correct. Users have the ability to pick by zone or to pick the entire pick ticket, which enables multiple pickers to simultaneously pick the same ticket or by a pick-and-pass method.

Enhanced bin functionality allows picking sequences to be associated to bin locations. The picker has a “What’s Left” function that indicates the lines of the order left to pick. The user also has the ability to add multiple pick tickets to a “Group Ticket” and then pick either by zone or for the entire ticket.

You Can Count On It

Naxtor WWMS works with either a wireless device, or a batch-oriented PDA initiated from a PC, for cycle counting and physical inventory. The count is created and the user uploads the count to the PDA or enters the count number on the wireless device. Physical count selection allows you to count all bins for a single item or single bin location. The user then enters the count number and the system prompts the user with the bin and item to scan. By having the user verify the item and bin, it ensures the correct items/bins are being counted. The final count quantity is entered and the count updated. Lots and Serials can be adjusted on the device too. The PC user approves the count once any discrepancies have been investigated.

Inventory Operations

Item-lot quantities or individual tags can also be consolidated onto other tags or into other bins if needed. Similarly, item-lot quantities in large pack sizes can be broken down to smaller quantities and identified with individual tags before being dispersed within the warehouse, and all inventory movements can be immediately verified.

For more information on Naxtor Wireless warehouse Management System(WWMS) enterprise software solutions, please visit our website.

The foundations of accurate order picking begin with a warehouse management system and end with an improved bottom line.

By Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large — Modern Materials Handling.

Successful order fulfillment sounds easy: You deliver the right quantity of the right product at the right price to the right place at the right time.

It doesn’t get more basic than that. Yet far too many warehouses and DCs are still 60 to 70% accurate in their order picking because they’re running their operations with paper-based picking systems, says Craig Welch, senior application engineer for Daifuku America Corp.

That’s true despite that fact that order picking errors can ruin the bottom line. “I worked with one customer who was being fined $50 by Wal-Mart for every pallet with an error,” says Welch. “That was more than the product on the pallet was worth.” That company was in the red before factoring in the costs of reverse logistics, double handling and the potential loss of a customer.

How can a company turn a positive into a negative? Welch says there are at least six best practices that can improve order picking accuracy from 70% to 96% or more.

Foundations of Accurate Order Picking

WMS is fundamental: “A warehouse management system (WMS) is the starting point,” says Welch. “Even if you still do paper-based picking, a WMS is going to give you more accurate inventory.”

Automatic identification: Wireless bar code scanning, voice technology or pick-to-light technologies can build on the productivity and accuracy improvements generated by a WMS. They also drive accountability, says Welch. “It’s not just automatically collecting data that leads to improvements,” says Welch. “We’ve found that employees who know they are being tracked by the system are as much as 25% more productive.”

Receiving counts: With a WMS and data collection systems in place, the next step is to develop processes that drive accuracy at the receiving dock. “Accurate order picking begins with competent receives who understand the part numbers and product descriptions of what they’re receiving and make sure they get put away where they’re supposed to go,” says Welch.

Adding automation: Automated materials handling systems, like conveyors, sortation systems and automated palletizers use photo eyes, RFID readers, camera-based imaging systems and automated bar code readers to add another layer of confirmation before an order is picked.

Scales: WMS systems can collect size and weight information of every product stored in a DC. An automatic scale at the end of a picking line can flag a carton that weighs too much or too little based on the weight of the products associated with an order.

Cycle count: Even with a WMS in place, it’s still important to cycle count the quantity of product at a storage location or pick face, says Welch. “That’s where you find out if a product was misidentified coming into the system; if someone took out the wrong quantity; or if damaged or out-of-date product was removed from the storage location by not from the system,” says Welch.

By Katrina C. Arabe 

If you think a feature-packed warehouse management system (WMS) is out of reach, think again. Low-cost packages, with high-end features, are now available for small and mid-sized companies.

Warehouse management systems (WMS) are not just for the heavyweights anymore. Now, small and medium-sized companies can get their hands on affordable packages because WMS vendors are finally courting the low-end market. They are paying attention to this long-overlooked segment because Fortune 1,000 companies already have applications in place. That means that vendors must scramble to maintain revenues by pursuing other markets, and they’re doing so by scaling down their offerings and dangling attractive prices to entice small and mid-sized firms.

Penetrating new segments is important because the North American WMS market declined by 12% between 2000 and 2001, says Steve Banker, service director of supply chain management for ARC Advisory Group in Boston. Worldwide WMS software and service revenues may have hit $738 million in 2001 and is expected to climb to $1.17 billion by the end of 2006, but ARC anticipates that overseas markets will drive most of that growth. “The North American WMS market is mature,” says Banker. “Most of the 10% growth we’re forecasting over the next five years will occur outside of North America.”

Such projections have spurred WMS vendors like J.D. Edwards and Ann Arbor Computer to create low-end, Windows NT-based WMS packages for the small-to-medium firms. Companies with modest budgets can now choose from basic, software-only packages to feature-laden turnkey solutions that include the application, implementation and even hardware. Most systems are priced around $100,000, although some go for as low as $40,000 or as high as $300,000, depending on which features they integrate.
“WMS vendors are looking for ways to add more revenue to the bottom line,” says Tom K. Ryan, who runs his own supply chain consulting firm in Chicago. “They have the expertise and knowledge, so they’re taking the time to make the systems more applicable for small, simple operations that don’t need all the bells and whistles.”

Software vendors now offer several versions of their low-cost WMS solutions, from the very basic to feature-laden, increasing in price as they pack more functions. For example, Radio Beacon Inc. of Toronto has three versions of its low-end system—Radio Beacon Lite, Full and Pro. “They all do warehouse management, they just do more as you pay more,” says Dale L. Jeffries, Radio Beacon president.

Another vendor that is targeting smaller users is Washington-based Intek, which offers its Warehouse Librarian product for $50,000-$75,000 for 5 to 10 users. The exact price depends on hardware requirements, but all software and services related to the system are already included, according to Intek president Stan McLean. He says the package is ideal for manufacturers and distributors with yearly revenues in the $10-25 million range. The system tackles such warehouse functions as receiving, putaway, order management, shipping replenishment, order picking, and cycle counting.

North Carolina-based V3 Systems has also come out with affordable WMS solutions—the SCM and iSCM packages, which range from $40,000-$80,000. And because the systems are based on the same V3 architecture used by the vendor’s advanced and scalable solutions for larger companies, the low-cost packages can meet a company’s increasingly complex requirements. “Small to mid-sized businesses typically have looked to deploy the V3 solution in one or more distribution centers and scale the solution as their logistics needs grow or change,” says C. Ashley Campbell, V3’s president and CEO.

Even the biggest vendors, which have made their name with high-end, costly systems, are now pursuing smaller companies. For example, Denver-based J.D. Edwards & Co. offers a “foundation” product called Warehouse Management, which tackles warehouse basics and integrates financial software for accounts receivable, general ledger and other functions, for under $100,000.
Other large technology vendors with lower-end offerings are Manhattan Associates and Majure Data Inc., both based in Atlanta. Manhattan Associates makes PkMS Pronto, a system that integrates inventory management and radio frequency and starts at $75,000. Meanwhile, Majure Data offers RF Navigator complete for $150,000-$300,000. “It truly is a full-scale WMS,” says Patrick Majure, company vice president. “From replenishment to picking to loading trucks and everything in between, RF Navigator handles everything that needs to be done in a warehouse.”

Universal Supply Co., in New Jersey, can certainly attest to that. The wholesale building material distributor and supplier purchased and rolled out RF Navigator a year ago in its 100,000-square-foot warehouse with 9 workers. The company spent just under $200,000 for the entire system and has already made its money back, says Dante LaSasso, Universal Supply’s materials manager. “Our inventory has gone from being 85% accurate to 99.77% accurate,” says LaSasso. “Plus, we’ve reduced our warehouse staff by three full-time and one part-time workers, which means a $10,000-a-month savings in manpower alone.”

Indeed, such results are impressive, but before snapping up a low-cost WMS system, consultant Tom K. Ryan says that companies should address the following questions:
1) Does the low-end package fulfill your operational and functional needs?
2) Do you have to undertake various or difficult “workarounds” to make the system match your warehouse requirements?
3) Does the cheaper system integrate radio frequency and automatic data collection? These two features drastically reduce operator error.
4) Is the low-cost solution scalable?
5) Can the WMS meet growing needs?
6) Will it be able to manage increased transaction volumes or more complicated warehouse operations?
7) What support is the software vendor likely to give over the next few years?
Is the vendor financially stable?
9) What type of assistance will the vendor offer during the implementation of its software in the warehouse?
10) Can the vendor refer you to a third party for support with the system if necessary?

Also keep in mind, says Ryan, that lower-end WMS solutions are best suited for companies with 5 to 10 WMS users. They also work well with simpler operations, which can receive tremendous efficiency boosts from an automated pick, pack and ship system, particularly from automated inventory control. “A small operation can only reduce the number of employees by so much,” says Ryan. “But an even bigger benefit for such companies lies in the inventory control and inventory-level reduction that comes from an automated WMS system.”

And while every WMS package can manage warehouse basics such as picking and shipping, ARC’s Banker points out that not all low-end packages possess the features of their high-end counterparts. Small and mid-sized companies should also be aware that baseline software prices don’t cover hardware or implementation services, although some companies do include such services for a flat fee.

Overall, however, low-end packages have significantly advanced, packing many high-end features and often coming in at under $100,000. Vendors may offer widely varying features, service levels and prices, but the quality of these systems tends to be high because of three factors—a saturated high-end market, the ruptured technology bubble and vendors’ readiness to integrate complex features in their low-end products. In fact, according to Banker, most affordable solutions available today are real-time, RF-enabled, and execute the warehouse functions that companies find the most essential—receiving, putaway, picking and shipping.