Leveraging WES to Deliver the Promise of Warehouse Automation
Guest blog by Cecile Dick-Calmes, Inbound Marketing Manager for MHI Member Company Daifuku
What are some of the biggest challenges of managing a warehouse or distribution center?
Warehouse managers often face similar challenges: they must balance efficiency, cost, adaptability, labor, and human error to ensure that the technology and warehouse automation implemented provides measurable benefits. Many warehouses are now incorporating automated solutions to address these challenges. While warehouse automation can enhance productivity, software plays a crucial role in the efficiency of the operations. A good Warehouse Execution System (WES) is important for integrating various processes on the floor. When properly implemented, it can support growth, adaptability, and profitability.
Read on to understand the key role of the WES in enhancing productivity in modern warehouses.
What is a Warehouse Execution System?
A Warehouse Execution System (WES) is a software solution designed to manage and optimize the physical operations within a warehouse. Specifically, it governs activities such as goods-to-person systems, auditing, palletization, and shipping by coordinating devices, synchronizing equipment, and collaborating with warehouse personnel. A WES serves as the central control point for all warehouse activities. Ideally, it facilitates efficient and effective processes within the warehouse to bridge the gaps in more conventional warehouse systems.
WES facilitates:
• Real-time visibility
• Process optimization
• Warehouse Automation integration
• Task management
• System integration
Key Benefits of WES
A well-implemented WES offers numerous benefits on the warehouse floor. It can optimize operations and reduce bottlenecks, thereby leading to quicker and more efficient order fulfillment.
It is important to note that a WES serves as the central control point for your warehouse, enabling you to view key information in real-time. This capability facilitates better overall decision-making. Additionally it also:
• Enhances warehouse efficiency, accuracy, and cost savings.
• Provides real-time visibility of metrics such as inventory, order status, and equipment performance.
• Streamlines warehouse operations, reducing bottlenecks for faster order fulfillment.
• Minimizes errors in storage, retrieval, picking, packing, and shipping, resulting in fewer returns and higher customer satisfaction.
• Offers a central control point where real-time data can be reviewed for improved decision-making.
• Exhibits flexibility and adaptability, evolving with your warehouse’s needs and remaining a crucial hub both now and in the future.
Strength in Modularity
Not all WES’s are the same. When you’re ready to invest in a WES, look for scalable architecture. This feature enables you to expand by adding new application modules as your operations grow and evolve. Many are designed to interact with automated equipment, such as AS/RS systems, high speed sortation systems, automated palletizing robots, goods to person systems and other material handling equipment, to improve operational efficiencies without sacrificing overall performance.
From helping direct the flow of goods, allowing for real-time visibility, and delivering data that can empower you to improve uptime and optimize throughput, a WES is a critical player in a modern warehouse.
