In today’s environment, the ability of distributors to get their customers the products they need – when they need them – is paramount to success. Most distributors use a warehouse management system to help them manage inventory, get a grip on inventory control and yard management, and achieve efficiency, productivity, and stellar customer service. But not all warehouse managers have realized the importance of modern technology in today’s environment. What is the best warehouse management system software?
In this article, we’ll take a look at why you should think about adding warehouse management system software to your organization and why the system that you choose matters.
But First, What is Warehouse Management Software?
Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), also called WMS software, is a technology that provides total real-time transparency into your warehouse’s inventory. But it goes further than that. WMS software also helps with enterprise resource planning (ERP) by aiding you in labor management, order fulfillment, supply chain, and party logistics, cycle counting, inventory tracking, and more. In other words, a warehouse management solution like eoWarehouse helps you optimize your warehouse process so you can better serve your customers.
Now that you understand how a WMS solution can improve your business, let’s talk about some of the features you should look for in a Warehouse Management System.
What Is the Best Warehouse Management System for Your Organization?
The best management solutions have features that make your life easier. After all, your job doesn’t have to be hard. If you have the right tools, your systems will flow, your inventory management system will work seamlessly in the background, and your employee tasks will be aided by technology.
Here are some of the reasons why eoWarehouse may be the best warehouse management system for you.
100% Correct Inventory Management
If you’re still using paper for your inventory management, you will definitely want to check out eoWarehouse. With it, all movements in your inventory are scanned which not only eliminates the need for paper, but it also increases the accuracy of the count and eliminates human error. This data will give you real-time visibility into your inventory, your space, and how it’s used.
Better Fulfillment Processes
Adapting quickly is important in an environment where things are unstable or unpredictable. And today’s fulfillment environment is nothing if not unpredictable. When using our warehouse management system, you can quickly ramp up your supply chain when you need to reduce lead times which will allow you to better serve your customers.
Relying on better fulfillment also allows you to perform better demand planning. Do you have an event coming up? Use eoWarehouse to plan for it so that none of your customers are disappointed!
FIFO Plus
You know that you need to abide by First in First out (FIFO) to keep your costs down. But unless you use warehouse management software that keeps track of product dates, you are likely going to have some misses. And that could amount to reduced profitability due to wasted and expired products.
But when you use eoWarehouse, you will know exactly which products you need to move first and which ones are better loaded on future trucks. Remember, having an accurate inventory – including the shelf dates – is an important aspect of a profitable warehouse operation.
SKU Management
You’ve probably had days where you received a massive influx of thousands of SKUs. That is exactly no one’s idea of fun. You have to figure out where to put them all so that your pickers can easily access them – and in an order that makes the most logical sense in light of your consistent orders.
When you rely on eoWarehouse to receive and place your SKUs, the burden is taken off of you. The warehouse management system will log them via a scan and automatically assign them to the most appropriate bin.
Space Management
You only have so much space in your warehouse, and you need to make the best use of all of it. But it can be difficult to arrange products so that pickers can find the items in a logical order when putting away and picking. Add the inventory cycle to the equation and the process becomes a major hassle.
Enter eoWarehouse. The warehouse management system can analyze the space in your warehouse, along with your historic orders, and suggest a space layout that will allow you to operate more efficiently.
Standardize Procedures
When you do things differently every time, it can be difficult to maintain quality and proactive customer service. That’s why it’s smart to standardize your procedures when it comes to inventory movements and the locations where products are stored. When your customers know what to expect every time they order from you, it will take your distribution warehouse to the next level.
EoWarehouse helps you standardize your processes by analyzing which ones work and which don’t – and then alerting you of the data.
Empower Your Pickers
In the past, pickers relied on their memory to find products and paper pick lists to put together an order. But that resulted in human error, and at times, prolonged picking times. Luckily, this type of warehouse activity is not used in most modern warehouses.
EoWarehouse allows your pickers to pick electronically. This form of picking is much faster and more accurate. Your pickers can use a PC tablet or phone to access the program and even use voice direction if they choose. What’s more, as the warehouse manager in charge of metrics, you can access real-time data about who is picking what, their picking times, and see the inventory at any moment in time.
Control the Quality
Checking a load at every point helps to ensure that your customers get the correct orders every time. Using the Quality Control function in eoWarehouse is an easy last step to take before loading a truck. The quality control personnel in the warehouse can scan the pallet, and if the weight doesn’t match the order or if visually comparing the products to the electronic pick list doesn’t provide a match, the error can be addressed before the load is sent out.
Save Money
One of your tasks is to provide the best customer service that you can – all while saving money so you can invest it in the growth of your business. EoWarehouse helps you accomplish this by providing you with the data you need. When you can clearly see how your warehouse is performing, and use the data to optimize processes and employees, you will reduce your costs.
Grow Your Business
If you want to grow your distribution warehouse, you need to stay on top of your metrics and patterns. And to do that, you need a warehouse management system that works in the background compiling all of this information for you. EoWarehouse will quietly compile the data and metrics you need and provide it in reports that will help you clearly see the future – and how you will use it to expand your business.
Optimize Your Output
In order to achieve an optimized output, you need to understand the metrics and figure out how to put them to use. That can be time-consuming and difficult if you’re relying on paperwork and random reports that you generate in, say, an Excel sheet.
But that’s not the way eoWarehouse tracks the metrics. Instead, it uses the data from your day-to-day operations and configures that data in a way that leads to an optimized and efficient process.
Can eoWarehouse Make My Warehouse More Efficient?
Our customers have experienced significant gains in functionality when implementing eoWarehouse. For instance, our distributors receive a Return on Investment (ROI) within six months of implementing our software. And our customers enjoy a 50% reduction in warehouse breakage. Want more proof? Our customers also see a 20% reduction in pick time and load travel time.
Find Out How We Can Improve Your Life
At eoStar, we make it our mission to improve the lives of our customers. We do this by continuously surveying our customers and finding out what they need. We used this customer-centric approach as we developed eoWarehouse and that makes it a WMS that meets the needs of most distributors. If you’re ready to optimize your warehouse, give us a call and allow us to demonstrate how eoWarehouse can work for you.
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