Warehouse management system

Warehouse management systems (WMS) (English Warehouse Management System WMS) are software- based systems for business management of warehouses and distribution centers.

The storage position of items in high-bay warehouses, small containers storing or handling camps will not only managed, but also the goods input ( Order - Delivery - Delivery Comparison, Product Master Maintenance ), and shipping ( Customer Master Maintenance, Shipping - Order comparison, delivery pressure, disposition in the warehouse for shipping ).

In addition to pure storage and shipping information within a warehouse order picking of goods is realized to dispatch-ready positions in a WMS. In order to ensure the movement of goods within a warehouse, a WCS (Warehouse Control System ) is part of a WMS. A WCS ensures that the desired goods come via internal conveyor systems (storage space in a high-bay warehouse, workplace an order picker, delivery chute in the goods ) to the position which has determined for the product in the WMS.

With warehouse management software, logistics software, intra-logistics software or warehouse management systems, the complete internal material flow can be mapped. As internal material flow all carried out in a company goods movements are called. These include processes of goods receipt, storage, stock transfers, outsourcing and shipping. A distinction is made between the material flow and the information flow. The material flow is about the physical receipt of material in stock. The warehouse processes are accompanied by the flow of information. This ensures data security during transportation and inventory visibility.

Warehouse management systems are modular and include not only core functions ( such as order processing and release or inventory) and additional functions ( such as a serial number management or Dock-/Yardfunktionalität ) and expansion modules (eg pick- by-voice or RFID subsystems). The selection and implementation of a WMS warehouse management represents Since the system must satisfy the individual requirements of a camp fair in its functionality an ambitious and extensive project, a careful analysis and selection of an appropriate software system is unverzichtlich. A comprehensive overview of the WMS market offers the WMS Market Report of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics. Therein, the WMS market is examined current trends and developments and shows the functionalities of current WMS. It turned out that the WMS providers can be divided into its structure roughly divided into three types - the pure WMS vendors, the suite provider that offers its WMS as part of a suite of software (eg ERP system), and the storage technology provider. Guidance on the selection of a suitable WMS, the WMS give database of the Institute, which offers a neutral overview of some 90 per cent of all relevant providers of warehouse management systems.