Spanning Old and New Economies

In the world of Supply Chain Management (SCM), goods storage warehouses act as buffers between producers and customers, to ensure the availability of:

• --the right product
• --in the right quantity
• --at the right place
• --at the right time
• --in the right condition
• --at the right cost

Warehouses and distribution chains in societies with a high consumption, production and movement of goods, such as in the US, Europe, Australia, and now parts of South East Asia and South America, require automation of data processing and even of material movement within the warehouse. This is not just about management of inventory levels - which is what most ERP and custom inventory software provide - but complete control over the inventory, equipment, space and personnel within the warehouse. Moreover, the data processing and equipment control systems need to be capable of integration with the information systems of suppliers, buyers and logistics providers. E-fulfilment, or delivering physically what is ordered over the virtual world of the Internet, is a business of the warehouse that makes it part of the old and the new economies.

Warehouse Management Systems - A Standard Product
The diagram gives an overview of some of the processes in a warehouse supported by the Catalyst Warehouse Management System (WMS). Headquartered in the US at Milwaukee, WI, Catalyst International, Inc. collaborates to provide supply chain execution solutions. Catalyst software and services support business growth by optimising efficiencies and increasing profitability providing the supply chain visibility needed for collaboration while delivering real-time information for rapid response to changing business needs.

Receiving
On the inbound side, the WMS shown in the example can take pre-receiving information in the form of purchase, transfer or manufacturing orders, blind receipts (without orders), customer returns, advance shipment notifications or any other method. When actually receiving the goods, most customers use bar-code scanners together with hand-held radio equipment that transfer data to the computer system and the WMS with minimal data entry. The radio frequency terminals also receive instructions from the computer system to the operator indicating locations and quantities for the 'put away' of each inventory item. Alternatively, put away can be deferred for inspection, unpacking or other needs.

The WMS can be user-configured with put away rules ensuring efficient storage based on product properties, product demand, storage constraints, real-time space availability and almost any other custom requirement. Task interleaving can ensure that an employee receives and puts away an item in one motion. Bar codes on the location and the product allow validation of proper storage.

Order Processing
Each outbound order is analysed to determine the most efficient picking, loading and shipping procedures. While work assignments for operators or material-handling equipment can be created automatically, a thorough analysis of impacts can be done beforehand.

After automatic or manual customer order selection, allocation creates pick transactions for each order line. User-configured rules consider FIFO or LIFO sequence or other picking patterns. Picking waves can be created considering priority and to minimise picker travel. Picking and loading in proper sequence eliminates staging, and maximum cube utilisation of the truck can also be factored in. Replenishment of locations can be automatically generated, triggered by real-time events. Loading and shipping functions ensure that the right product is in the right trailer in the right order. Cross-docking, directly from receiving to despatch, and consolidation of orders having the same destination, are facilitated. Desired documentation for delivery, statutory and other requirements can be printed, as can bar code labels.

next page>>>

TATA INFOTECH - TOTAL SOLUTIONS TOTAL COMMITMENT