[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”auto” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″ ul_item_indent=”30px” custom_css_main_element=”||h3 {|| font-size: 18px !important;|| margin-top: 1px!important;|| margin-bottom: 1px!important;||}||||.et_pb_text_0 h2 {|| line-height: 25px!important;||}||||h2 {|| margin-top: 3px!important;|| margin-bottom: 5px!important;||}||||.blog-toc ol, .blog-toc ul {|| list-style-type: decimal!important;||}||.blog-toc ul {|| list-style-type: disc!important;||}||||.blog-toc {||margin: 0!important;||}”]In the ever-expanding ecommerce environment, it is no longer possible to run a successful warehouse with manual tools. Basic spreadsheets and manual data entry and management will keep you at the back of the back, affecting your ability to scale your operations.<\/p>\n
A warehouse management system allows high-volume operators to manage all aspects of your business, from fulfillment to inventory management to your labor force. Through automation, the right system will allow you to scale your operations to improve efficiency, increase sales, reduce labor costs<\/a>, and ultimately serve your clients and customers better.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Warehouse management systems can help you streamline and optimize your operations by consolidating multiple management processes into one solution. Warehouse management software keeps inventory moving through a warehouse most efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.<\/p>\n Cloud-based systems with mobile access provide practical inventory management to optimize actions taken within a given workflow. If it impacts your warehouse or fulfillment center operation, a warehouse management software will have a record of it. That includes inbound and outbound processes.<\/p>\n A great WMS will have three main components: location management, item management, and partner integrations. Let\u2019s explore them in greater detail.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Together with material flow control, location management is the heart of warehouse management. It includes the storage, retrieval, and transfer of items to or from the storage location in your warehouse.<\/p>\n Order picking represents up to 55% of a warehouse\u2019s operating costs<\/a>, so improving your organizational process will significantly impact your overall warehouse efficiency and costs. Making products easy to locate can reduce the amount of time spent looking for an item and the distance pickers walk, thus improving shipping times and ensuring your clients and customers stay happy.<\/p>\n Defining locations in your WMS will allow you to generate algorithms to inform directed putaway, picking and packing, job creation, and billing. It can include<\/p>\n Employees wandering around your warehouse trying to figure out where to store products is inefficient. The same goes for storing popular items in difficult-to-reach locations. Your WMS software will let you easily configure directed putaway algorithms to optimize inventory based on velocity, volume, fragility, temperature requirements, cross-dock<\/a>, zone, or any other criteria critical to your warehouse efficiency<\/a>.<\/p>\n Track items through every stage of your workflows, cycle counting<\/a>, wave planning, and order allocation for accurate and up-to-date records of everything you have on the shelves.\u00a0<\/p>\n Establishing correct item attributes creates multiple levels of inventory control<\/a> and can be used on putaway algorithms<\/a> and job creations. You can create many user-defined attributes such as size, color, and style, or you can choose from pre-set features, including\u00a0<\/p>\n Additionally, your item management can include kitting<\/a> and bundling information, consignment inventory<\/a>, substitute items, multiple barcodes, and multiple vendors.\u00a0<\/p>\n There is no time to lose in a busy warehouse environment, and you can\u2019t afford to lose time because your systems don\u2019t talk to each other. Your WMS needs to integrate seamlessly with marketplaces, web stores, and shipping and accounting platforms to keep your processes running smoothly. With the right integrations, you can<\/p>\n You can connect with popular carriers for international shipments, create and receive commercial invoices, ship dangerous goods and alcohol, or access markup rates. You can also shop around among shipping providers to compare your negotiated rate and get the best deals for your clients and customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Your WMS should allow for integrations across all your operations, including ecommerce, shipping, accounting, robotics, electronic data interchanges, and APIs. Popular integration partners include<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ disabled_on=”off|off|off” module_class=”center-vertically” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#eef1f8″ width=”100%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”42px|auto|45px|auto|false|false” custom_padding=”30px|40px|30px|40px|false|false” border_radii=”on|12px|12px|12px|12px” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ box_shadow_vertical=”0px” box_shadow_blur=”10px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(74,75,109,0.09)” global_module=”3761″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.logiwa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Footer-cta-1-1.png” alt=”Logiwa Device Screens” title_text=”Logiwa Device Screens” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|700|||||||” text_font_size=”22px” text_line_height=”30px” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]Transform your warehouse to a DTC fulfillment center[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/www.logiwa.com\/request-a-demo” button_text=”Request a Demo” module_class=”custom” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”auto” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″ custom_css_main_element=”||h3 {|| font-size: 18px !important;|| margin-top: 1px!important;|| margin-bottom: 1px!important;||}||||.et_pb_text_0 h2 {|| line-height: 25px!important;||}||||h2 {|| margin-top: 3px!important;|| margin-bottom: 5px!important;||}||||.blog-toc ol, .blog-toc ul {|| list-style-type: decimal!important;||}||.blog-toc ul {|| list-style-type: disc!important;||}||||.blog-toc {||margin: 0!important;||}”]<\/p>\n On average, businesses process seven documents during each purchasing cycle. If you are still using manual processes to share information, that\u2019s seven chances for error. Electronic Data Interchanges<\/a> (EDI) allow you to share information and documents electronically with suppliers, shippers, the accounting team, and other key members of your operations.<\/p>\n Your WMS should be able to connect directly with commerce partners such as SPS Commerce, TrueCommerce, B2B Gateway, Amazon Vendor Central, Wayfair, and Commerce Hub while standardizing your relationship with buyers and sellers.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Some EDI transactions that are useful for warehouse operators include<\/p>\n By reducing manual document entry, you can eliminate redundant steps and move tasks like sending an invoice through the system in minutes or hours, not days.\u00a0<\/p>\n And with the right WMS, you can create new EDI formats that seamlessly integrate with your chosen commerce partners, creating a smooth electronic document exchange system and reducing the number of pain points in the supply chain.\u00a0<\/p>\n Managing products that enter your warehouse, whether you receive new inventory or are processing returns, is one of the critical processes in managing your supply chain. Warehouse management system software can streamline these processes for improved accuracy<\/a> and efficiency.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mobile receiving functionality allows your team to receive inventory in three ways:<\/p>\n Once an order is received, you can assign functions to the next steps of the process, including suggested putaway, control of excess quantities, pallet receiving, and damaged item receiving. Complete the process with hand-held devices such as scanning guns, tablets, or mobile phones with a mobile app.<\/p>\n Keeping track of your receiving activities is vital to successful warehouse operations. You need reporting tools based on industry best practices and the most common key performance indicators (KPIs), and the ability to customize your reports to suit your needs. Common receiving reports include<\/p>\n The return process can often be frustrating and drawn out for both customers and warehouse staff. This process can be simplified with a WMS, letting you scan or enter the order and item codes and then return the inventory to the selected location.\u00a0<\/p>\n If you can\u2019t get your orders out the door, what\u2019s the purpose of your business? Your WMS can support all of your outbound operations, including order management, picking and packing operations, and shipment reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n As soon as an order is made, whether through an online store or EDI connections, manual order creation, or clients uploading orders to their system, your employees will be alerted, and the order processing can begin. Group orders with jobs for optimized processing and quickly execute functions from printing shipping labels, packing lists and slips, and verifying a customer\u2019s address.\u00a0<\/p>\n To further increase efficiency, you can group orders with jobs and assign them to pickers based on identical items, SKUs, fragile or oversized items, or store-, customer- or carrier-based picking.\u00a0<\/p>\n Streaminling and automating your picking and packing processes<\/a> increase your warehouse efficiency and reduce costs. Your WMS should be able to automate these processes based on your needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Picking types include order-based picking, bulk, batch or cluster picking, put to wall, and full pallet picking.\u00a0<\/p>\n Standardizing your packing process will increase the accuracy of your packing process, reducing errors and minimizing returns. Ways you can improve your packing process with a WMS include<\/p>\n Shipment reports allow you to log and track tracking numbers, postage, lot or expiry dates, and product serial numbers and can be arranged by shipment transaction, warehouse progress, order sales, store-based sales, consolidated shipments, or shipped serial numbers.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are several additional features to consider when choosing the best WMS for your warehouse operations:<\/p>\n Ecommerce is here to stay. With the right WMS, you can transform your warehouse into a new-age fulfillment center, whether you serve B2B, B2C, or DTC clients or are a 3PL provider. Capture every order from routing, picking and packing, shipping management, putaway, kitting, inventory and receiving, and reporting, and give your clients visibility into warehouse operations to ensure peace of mind.\u00a0<\/p>\n Logiwa\u2019s warehouse management system can help you maximize your warehouse operations in all areas outlined above. And you won\u2019t have to do it alone. Our implementation team can provide in-depth logistics and warehousing expertise to design and customize your system based on industry best practices. Our onboarding team can provide guided hands-on practice sessions, testing and simulated exercises, on-site training, and ongoing support.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested in learning more, contact a Logiwa team member today<\/a> or request a demo<\/a> of our systems.\u00a0[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ disabled_on=”off|off|off” module_class=”recommended-content-callout” _builder_version=”4.22.2″ _module_preset=”default” use_background_color_gradient=”on” background_color_gradient_direction=”0deg” background_color_gradient_stops=”#6717cd 0%|#2d6ef9 100%” background_color_gradient_start=”#63a2d9″ background_color_gradient_end=”#3469b2″ custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”30px|30px|50px|30px|false|false” border_radii=”on|12px|12px|12px|12px” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ box_shadow_vertical=”0px” box_shadow_blur=”10px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(74,75,109,0.09)” saved_tabs=”all” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” custom_margin=”||20px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_2_text_align=”center” header_2_text_color=”#FFFFFF” header_2_line_height=”32px” custom_margin=”||0px||false|false” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” custom_css_main_element=”text-align: center !important;” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_3,1_3,1_3″ use_custom_gutter=”on” gutter_width=”2″ make_equal=”on” module_class=”blog-callout-tiles” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”100%” locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ module_class=”three-pl” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFFF” custom_padding=”30px|10px|60px|10px|false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ box_shadow_vertical=”13px” box_shadow_blur=”30px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(74,75,109,0.37)” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#413885″ text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n Cloud 3PL software for high-volume fulfillment excellence<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3PL Software<\/a><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″ module_class=”warehouse-management” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFFF” custom_padding=”30px|10px|60px|10px|false|false” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ box_shadow_vertical=”13px” box_shadow_blur=”30px” box_shadow_color=”rgba(74,75,109,0.37)” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” header_3_text_align=”center” header_3_text_color=”#413885″ text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]<\/p>\n Modern digital cloud WMS powers a modern fulfillment experience<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
What Is a Warehouse Management System?<\/h2>\n
Components of a WMS System<\/h2>\n
WMS \u2013 Location Management\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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WMS \u2013 Item Management\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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WMS \u2013 Integrations\u00a0<\/h3>\n
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Types of Integrations<\/h4>\n
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What Is an EDI in a Warehouse Management System?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
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Warehouse Management Receiving and Returns\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Receiving<\/h3>\n
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Receiving Reports<\/h4>\n
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Returns<\/h3>\n
Outbound Operations\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Order Management<\/h3>\n
Picking and Packing<\/h3>\n
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What Additional Features do I Need in a WMS?<\/h2>\n
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How to get started with Logiwa\u2019s WMS<\/h2>\n
Automate jobs within your fulfillment center \u2013 either through robotics, smart batching<\/span><\/h2>\n
3PL<\/h3>\n
Warehouse Management<\/h3>\n