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www.mmdonline.com | November/December 2016 25 smarter and more efficiently sets up the company to absorb temporary spikes in volume, and allows each employee to generate more revenue for the business. 2 Better shipping and outbound processes As items get ready for shipping to a customer, a WMS offers many advanced features that can greatly improve the packing, staging and loading pro- cesses. The best WMS solutions integrate with ERP systems, providing greater synergies between the ware- house, the yard and the transportation links of the supply chain. As an example, the WMS can help reduce transpor- tation costs by automating the choice of carrier based on the item being sent, its shipping address and other available services from the carrier. This can be a relief for warehouses that are already experiencing huge growth in the number of smaller, individual parcels thanks to the popularity of direct-to-customer e-com- merce. The WMS will help ensure that the shipping errors are minimized to protect their customer service reputation. 3 Streamlining inbound transportation A whiteboard and an Excel spreadsheet are useful for a lot of things, but they aren't great tools when it comes to managing inbound transporta- tion. When you consider how many separate moving parts there are in a warehouse, it is little wonder that schedules are constantly being adjusted. That's why streamlining warehouse operations starts with the ability to properly manage and direct the flow of inventory in receiving. This requires intelligent inbound transportation management tools that work seamlessly with your WMS, allowing for easy schedul- ing and rescheduling deliveries, and the assignment of the right people at the right bays to unload quickly and efficiently. Putting a WMS in charge of inbound transportation allows managers to track the performance of their various shipping companies. Does a particular vendor arrive habitually late? Is inventory often damaged when it arrives? This information not only helps a warehouse save money, it can also help it optimize the use of material handling equipment as well as staffing when and where employees are needed. 4 Reducing training time while increasing labour visibility As we've seen, a WMS makes a lot of sense for inventory management, shipping and inbound trans- portation, but it can also contribute to faster employee training times and provide a window into employee performance. In fact, it is common for companies to reduce training time for new employees from two weeks of supervision down to only one day of training using RF scanners. This is especially beneficial for warehouses with a high turnover of employees due to seasonality. Workers can easily be trained to cover multiple tasks within the warehouse, and management can reduce costs by not having employees idling. This ties directly to the final benefit. The result: exceptional customer satisfaction At the end of the day, the customer is the one paying the bills. Having a well-run warehouse that facilitates delivery of the right items to the right place, on time, goes a long way to ensuring happy customers and repeat business. As the demand for personalized orders through ecommerce continues to grow, warehouses are natu- rally being forced to carry a larger number of SKUs, which in turn puts pressure on operations to increase space efficiency and fulfillment accuracy. The visibility and accountability offered by a WMS is the only sure- fire way to keep all of the trains running on time, and making a profit. MM&D Left: Cycle count operations can be interleaved with day-to-day picking and replenishment activities. Below: Employee training can often be reduced from weeks to days through the use of WMS technologies.

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