From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine
- June 18, 2013 -
Supply Chain News: SCDigest Introduces New Tool to Calculate the Value of Making Warehouse Management System Modifications
In Part 2 of a Series on WMS Modification Trends, New Helpful Spreadsheet Tool Allows Users to Assess the ROI from Customizations
SCDigest Editorial Staff
In part 1 of this series, several of the industry's leading consultants offered thoughts on the state of having modifications made to Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). (See Are Warehouse Management System Modifications Going Away? Should They?)
SCDigest Says: |
 |
| Barnes hits on the key point - it's all about the ROI, and that number can be easily calculated |
|
What Do You Say?
|
|
|
|
There was thorough agreement among our expert panel that as WMS capabilities advance, the need for modifications is certainly way down from a decade or even five years ago, but that for most complex implementations some modest level of modifications were still being required.
This week, we also solicited some comments on the topic from John Pearce, a long time WMS industry expert, now a consultant at Stonecross Group.
Pearce told SCDigest that "mods years ago used to be something like, "We don't do quality audits using those rules" or, "We don't replenish quite that way, etc. Now, mods are higher level, more value-added."
He cites examples such as connecting a WMS into dashboards for risk management or pulling in data from other systems or to business intelligence tools for analytics.
"The point is that you don't have to worry so much with the more traditional mods around four-wall functionality," Pearce said. "You can apply your dollars and efforts to other areas that drive competitive advantage or higher asset utilization."
(Mouse over Pearce picture below for some interesting additional thoughts on mods that represent true innovation.)
 Although enVista CEO Jim Barnes in general thinks a goal of zero mods is a good one for most facilities, he does believe there can be opportunities for innovation.
For example, Barnes said enVista worked with a large WMS provider at a food service company to create something it called dynamic load planning.
"Typically at wave release there is hard allocation of the inventory and the pick tasks are automatically created. We wanted to evaluate the cube of a pallet and the initial load plan of the trailer on a specific route instead," Barnes told SCDigest. "Based upon the initial load plan and the cube of the pallet, we would re-spread the work sent to the floor to ensure that pick path was optimal and the trailer load plan was optimal. We then re-ran the wave allocation rules to give us work balance."
(Distribution/Materials Handling Story Continues Below
)
|
