The applications of warehouse management systems: an exploratory study

Abstract

With the increasing demand for impeccable customer service, today's warehouses are pressured to raise their goals for inventory accuracy, timely delivery service, individualised order fulfilment, flexible value-added service and responsiveness to special customer requests. To meet these high performance goals, a way needs to be found to eliminate any waste from the warehouse, to streamline its operations, and improve efficiency in every aspect of warehousing activities. One of the most proactive ways of doing so is the use of a warehouse management system (WMS) that is designed to speed up order turnaround time, improve inventory accuracy, provide instant order status information, manage warehouse space and enhance labour productivity. This paper aims to help firms assess the extent of the WMS benefits for warehouse operations and their impact on competitiveness, while developing practical guidelines for successful WMS implementation based on the findings of our exploratory study of selected US firms. The findings suggest that WMS has become an integral part of warehouse operations and the subsequent supply chain processes.

Keywords:

• Warehousing
• Information technology
• Warehouse management systems

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express sincere gratitude to the UPS Foundation for their financial sponsorship of this research. The author also thanks the supply chain professionals who kindly responded to the questionnaires and provided valuable data for this research. In particular, the author owes a debt of gratitude to Mr Rick Staab of Dixie Warehouse Services, Ms Catherine Cooper of Q4 Logistics, Ms Susan Rider of Rider and Associates, Mr Jeffery Leep of Genlyte Thomas, Mr Sam Yildirim of Stride-Rite, Mr Ellsworth Collins of IDS Engineering and Mr Steve Mulaik of the Progress Group for their insightful comments and suggestions on the WMS research agenda and continuous encouragement throughout this research. Last, but not least, the author is very grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and valuable suggestions that helped improve the quality of this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

H. Min

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