The average warehouse has many things going on at one time. For example, workers must take in products and see that they are properly stored. Orders are picked and materials are loaded and sent to customers or other warehouses. However, at the same time, everything has to be accounted for, so products must be inventoried and you need a fast and efficient way to track the goods. All these tasks can be tracked by a modern warehouse management system (WMS). Let’s examine the things a good a WMS can provide, to demonstrate their incredible value to business today.
What is a WMS?
Proper management of materials is essential to any supply chain. A WMS allows one to track inventory so material movement can be as quick and efficient as possible. The system can keep track of orders, transactions and basically everything which goes on in the day to day operations. In addition, an efficient warehouse management system makes sure stock is always available by telling you when it’s time to order more. This helps to eliminate the dreaded “we are sorry but we are temporarily out of stock” message which customers absolutely hate.
High Tech WMS Options
Thanks to modern technology, keeping track of goods has never been easier or faster. With the right software application, a number or tasks (which used to be manual and time consuming) can be done with mobile devices or from a laptop or desktop computer. In fact, there are many innovative advancements the modern warehouse can take advantage of, like AIDC.
What is AIDC?
AIDC means automatic identification and data capture. This high tech system utilizes several tools to create an effective warehouse management system, with help from:
Barcodes – most people are familiar with those tiny codes the grocery store clerk scans at the checkout counter. This same technology can be used to identify goods received, stored and shipped.
2D bar coding – these codes can be read in two different directions and this way, one can store and read a great deal more information in a single bar code tag. In fact, instead of 20-character capacity, 2D can provide capacity for more than 7,000 characters.
Magnetized stripes – these are the stripes running across the back of your credit or debit card. By using a principle known as flux reversal, information can be read from the stripe.
RFID – Radio frequency identification tags make it possible to scan information and transmit it wirelessly to another source. There is no need to physically scan items and this removes a great deal of the work from scanning inventory.
OCR – optical character recognition allows computers to read written words and this represents a significant advancement in technology.
