A warehouse management system, also known as WMS, is a process that permits the businesses to control and manage warehouse operations. The process tracks the goods and materials at the time of its entry into the warehouse until the time they leave the warehouse. Various operations in a warehouse include things like inventory management, picking, auditing, etc.
A WMS provides the business owners with access to the visibility of the inventory at any time they wish and from any location, they are present in. It is also used to manage supply chain operations including manufacturer or wholesaler, retailer, and distributor. A WMS can be integrated with a transportation management system or TMS and inventory management system or IMS.
Warehouse management systems can be of different types and may have different implementation methods depending on the size and nature of the organization. They can be stand-alone or linked to enterprise resource planning or ERP system.
Many people find WMS to be complex and expensive, but it has tremendous benefits. With the help of the Mobile Warehouse Management module and using mobile data entry devices or MDE, it has become even more beneficial. With its help, the collection order and order delivery can be processed independently and all inventory movements are recorded safely. This information can be passed on to the Inventory Management module and Warehouse Management module in real-time.
It is a great feature to have as it maintains consistency in the system. The barcode readers are used that permits the remote control of delivery and purchase order numbers. The goods receipt number is recorded and is used in the material stock transfer. As it is directly connected to the system, this process can be monitored continuously. This enables instant access and the user can always be aware of the warehouse happenings and goods movements.
MRP software is also being increasingly used by small and medium businesses. MRP software for SMB is used in production planning, scheduling, and inventory control system. It is used to manage the process of manufacturing. Most of the MRP systems are software-based.
The main objectives of the MRP system are to ensure that raw materials are always available for production and the products are available for delivery, to maintain the least material levels in store, and to plan manufacturing activities and purchase-delivery schedule.
The cloud-based MRP systems are also developed for small manufacturers. It is a simple yet powerful manufacturing MRP software that offers seamless management of verticals like production, inventory, customers, purchases, finances, etc. it helps in the accurate production planning and reporting, accurate lead time, improves equipment utilization, better efficiency due to the real-time reporting, etc.