How to Choose a Warehouse Management System: 4 Features to Consider

If you’re asking how to choose a warehouse management system, you’re asking a good question. Your warehouse management system can help you allocate storage, manage goods more efficiently, and save considerable time and money on labor costs. While there are plenty of features on the market for warehouse management systems, these four are some of the most desirable. With these four features in place, you’ll have both the flexibility and capacity to handle almost any warehouse needs.

Remember that a good warehouse manage system should:

1. Take care of your current needs, but be flexible enough for future expansion
2. Work with your existing ERP system
3. Provide excellent reports
4. Automate as much as possible
5. Improve efficiency

With this in mind, let’s look at four features that enhance one or more of these five aspects of a good warehouse management system.

1. Random Slotting

A good warehouse management feature is the ability of the system to handle random slotting. Random slotting means SKUs can be assigned to any bin, shelf, or location. This ensures the system has the flexibility it needs to handle frequent stock layout changes. In other words, you’ll be able to adjust your warehouse layout easily to the needs the business, rather than being stuck with a static layout that becomes less efficient as time goes by.

2. Easy Inventory Management

Inventory management systems should be easy to use and understand. The simpler they are to use, the faster you can train new workers and the quicker they can get up to speed. That can mean all the difference between goods piling up in the receiving area and goods in bins or shelves ready to ship to customers.

3. Fulfilment Optimizing

Another desirable feature in a warehouse management system is fulfilment optimization. Systems that help you optimize picking layouts, shortening the steps it takes workers to move among bins to pick orders, provide ideal efficiency. Others can provide useful data that can be used to adjust warehouse layouts for improved efficiency.

4. Real-Time Updates

Another aspect of warehouse management software that makes it highly valuable is real-time updates. Cloud-based systems, which share data through internet-based systems, enable warehouse data to flow seamlessly to a central database. This real-time information can help companies better manage their inventory levels, improve customer communication about order status and stock status, and control costs.

Choosing a Warehouse Management System: Working with Your ERP

Lastly, any warehouse management system you’re considering must work with your basic ERP package. If it doesn’t, you’ll spend a lot of time and money on custom programming to ensure the systems can communicate with each other. There’s a higher chance that, over time, the system will become outdated or out of synch.

With today’s supply chain challenges, very few companies can remain competitive without warehouse management software. The right software provides valuable data that can help your company stay competitive and manage against the uncertainties of the global market.

Free White Paper

Mindover Software offers two free white papers, “5 Tools for Inventory Management”
and “4 Strategies for Smarter Inventory Control,” to help you take control over your warehouse and inventory management processes. Download these resources today and start learning more about your warehouse and inventory management options.