WMS, A Company-Wide Project

Implementing a Warehouse Management System (WMS) within a company is a strategic but risky move. It is therefore advisable that while it is being considered, all precautions and measures be taken to guarantee its success and consequently its profitability. Here we propose a series of initiatives that will help to prepare your organization for the undertaking of this type of project.

The importance of a WMS project for the company

It is pivotal, for the project as a whole, that the company be conscious of the importance of selecting and implementing its Warehouse Management System. This means that the company must be aware that this project requires significant commitment from all its departments, significant investments of time and money, the personal commitment of project team resources, the eventual reevaluation of established procedures, consultation with suppliers and clients and especially a firm commitment to eliminate exceptions. In other words, the project requires total commitment.

The importance of company-wide commitment

The greatly anticipated return on investment depends much more on the company’s level of commitment to realizing the project than on the potential of the chosen solution. Direct involvement from top management and department heads in project decisions, the reevaluation of existing procedures and ensuring human and material resources are available, all testify to the company’s level of commitment.

The company’s environment

A company’s environment is determined by the factors that influence it. A company’s culture can be a reason for resistance to change or for the inclination towards positive constant reevaluation. Long serving resources can either boost the project or weigh it down. A collective agreement can impose methods that will impact the project. The logistic characteristics of the products can be fixed or mutable. Clients can be large companies, artisans or private individuals. Suppliers can be very well organized manufacturers or resourceful craftsmen that are very difficult to channel. The dynamism of certain companies can imply that they are in a constant state of organizational change, bringing with it a multitude of parallel projects that can force a review of certain processes during the project. The environment must be well understood and compatible with the project.

The availability of the company’s information and resources.

The availability of resources and information is vital to the project. There can be no project without these two elements. In regards to information, all that is required is to define the need, identify and qualify the existing and ensure to collect any that is missing. Where resources are concerned, the approach is a lot more complex. The company must free them from operational responsibilities and the resources must ensure they are able to spend long hours at work.

The company’s objectives and strategy

The strategy must enable the company to meet its objectives. For example, the company sets an objective to deliver all orders within 24 hours. One strategy must support the realization of this objective. Ensure that all the company’s objectives are known and that a strategy applies to each of them. For example:

?? Eliminate operational exceptions;

?? Computerize order processing (ERP) ;

?? Establish a structured contract with transportation partners;

?? Automate picking, packing and expediting operations.

The company’s operational procedures.

An operational procedure must cover the execution of a transaction from beginning to end. As an example, the operational procedure for processing an order. As you will notice, only one part of this procedure seems to involve the WMS, however, the whole procedure must be validated to ensure an efficient WMS integration. The same applies to all company procedures that link directly or indirectly with the WMS. Make sure to verify the operational impact of all procedures for each company resource. Identify work overloads, inaptitude’s and incompatibilities, changes in responsibilities and work conditions, eventual new hires and monetary investments. Do not underestimate the repercussions of an impact on your environment.

Communication in the company

Communication is to inform and to listen in order to anticipate (Change Management). We must then ensure that communication is managed effectively and that it spreads to company employees, partners, clients and suppliers. And while we are on the subject of communication, do not forget to inform those closest to you that you are entering a demanding implementation phase and make sure that they accept this, because once embarked on the adventure the loss of a resource has an enormous impact on the progression and quality of the project.