From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine
- Aug. 18, 2014 -
Supply Chain News: 10 Keys to a Smoother, Happier Warehouse Management System Implementation Part 1
WMS Implementation is Hard, but These Uncommon Ideas Can Reduce Pain and Risk
Dan Gilmore, SCDigest editor, and Mark Fralick, president, GetUsROI
Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) are among the most challenging if not the most difficult supply chain software applications to deploy.
This is for a variety of reasons. First, WMS involves tightly linking the physical world of the distribution center with the logical world of a business application in a way that is probably unmatched in any other area of supply chain software. And that physical world is of course highly dynamic, minute by minute, with activity often in multiple areas across the DC that somehow must come together as consolidated orders ready to load and ship - that isn't easy.
SCDigest Says: |
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| With the configurability of today's WMS systems, we recommend a substantial amount of time just working on WMS validation. The results are well worth the investment. |
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Consistent with that first challenge, the WMS is often the application that must manage all the unique ways that different customer orders must be handled, from labeling to pallet building. Often, orders must be processed a little differently even for different facilities of the same customer. For companies with dozens or hundreds of customers, this simply adds a lot of software and handling complexity.
Third, often there is material handling automation involved in the DC. That means interfaces, which still today are far from standard, questions about which party does what from a software perspective, and the need for very tight synchronization in design and programming from two or more different providers.
So, while many WMS implementations go very well, to this day, some 40 years after the first WMS solutions were deployed, many WMS implementations are rocky, putting stress on all involved, generating calls from the CFO worried orders won't be shipped, and usually adding to the total cost of the project, sometimes significantly.
Both of us have significant experience in the WMS market. While WMS implementations will always involve their share of difficulty, below we provide 10 steps or actions companies can take to make their WMS deployments smoother and more successful while creating less stress on managers and executives.
We could have come up with dozens of additional suggestions, and may just do so someday, but these 10 are not commonly discussed and by themselves can make a big difference in a company's WMS experience.
1. Broadly train employees about what a WMS is and does prior to the project kickoff: Companies new to WMS often take for granted that the broad mass of users and stakeholders of the new system really have a decent understanding of what a WMS is, how it works, drives value, etc. This is in fact rarely the case. Motivational products maker OC Tanner recently began its WMS initiative by providing training, local site visits to WMS user companies and other materials on these basics of WMS. Such an approach provides an excellent foundation for moving forward and will lead to better analysis and decisions later.
2. Interview/approve the vendor's project manager: Internal vendor study after vendor study shows it -the number 1 factor in WMS project success is the quality of the WMS vendor's project management. So how do you know if you are getting a good one?
No WMS provider can name the project management until it has been selected, and a start date is determined. But far too many companies sign a contract and wait for the vendor's assigned project manager to show up. There is a better way: After the vendor has been selected, but before the contact is signed, ask who the project manager will be, view his or her resume, and do an interview with that person. You of course should be looking for overall experience levels, especially in your industry, and the personal fit and chemistry with your ways and team. Call recent references. Obviously, if there are concerns, asked for another PM before signing the contract.
If you fail to do
this, and the "other guy" does, which company do you think will wind up with the better project manager, which has such an influence on over project success?
3. Recognize lost time is lost time - it really can't be made back up: WMS implementations are full of challenges and delays, some of them avoidable, some of them not. First, some of this reality should be baked into the schedule from the start - companies planning on perfect schedules and milestone achievement to meet a target go-live data are simply asking for trouble.
If you have made a smart schedule, then some delays from the ideal can be absorbed by that cushion. But even then there can be delays. Here's the bottom line - while minor slippages can sometimes be made up, the reality is lost time is usually lost time. The go-live date simply must be pushed back accordingly, as painful as that might be at the time.
(Distribution/Materials Handling Story Continues Below
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4. Focus on validation preparation and execution: There is not enough focus on validation, or the process and steps of defining what an acceptable system looks like and how it performs. The first step is validation prep. That involves getting an agreement between the operations and IT relative to what the quality "gates" are and how they will be measured. Once you have these gates identified, you can actually then define the validation steps/tests necessary to achieve these quality gates. 
