What Warehouse Management Means for Organizations Supply Chain.

​WMS, or warehouse management system, means a variety of processes, practices, policies, and results are available, depending on your selected system. Integration with your ERP is key to live operations automation process management.

​WMS systems contain some, part, or all of these features:

• Sales order pick and pack
• Freight integrated shipping manifest
• Warehouse transfers and movements
• Receiving and inspection
• Stock cycle counting
• Barcode supported navigation
• RFID support
• RMA receiving
• WIP (work in process) labor and job tracking
• License plating packages
• Returns

How Do You Go About Selecting a Warehouse Management System?
Research & Determine Your Requirements:
Your answers to this inquiry will help your team understand your business, current methods and help us help you. Keep it to yourself or send us a note and let us help you. Please copy, paste and email to [email protected] with your responses and any questions you may have. We will get back with you to discuss your needs and help answer your questions.

Company Information:
Company:__________________ Location:__________    Sales: $_____ million
Address: __________________ City: __________________ Zip: ________
Contact: _____________ Email: _________________ Phone: ____________

• Business Type: Manufacturer Y/N – Distributor Y/N – Other _____________
• Distribute Other Products □ Distribute your own Manuf. Products □ 3PL □
• Branch Locations # _______   Geographic Areas Covered ______/ ____/ _____
• Owner/President __________ Warehouse Sq. ft. Main/DC_____________
• General Manager ___________ Average Branch Sq. ft. ________________
• Controller/CFO ____________ Distribution Software ________________
• Operations Manager __________ Manifest Software __________________
• IT Manager _______________ Dispatch Software ___________________
• Warehouse Mgr. _____________ Barcode Software__________________
• Other Key Mgr. ______________ WMS Hardware____________ __________
• ERP Software ____________ EDI Y/N Quality Compliance Software __________

Products:
Type of Products Distributed/Sold ________________ Inv. Value $ ______
Sales Channels Approximate % : Trade B2B / B2C End-User _____% Manuf./Dist. ____%
Retail End-User ____%  Other _____%  Web_____%  _________________.
Delivery Indicate approximate % volume–
Common Carrier ____% UPS ____% Fed-X ____% Other Package ____%
Contract Delivery___% Own Trucks ____% Container____%
Product Received via – indicated container/trucks per month:
Containers ___ Truck Loads ____ Rail Cars ____ Other (____) ______________

Business Volumes:
Total Stocking SKU’s _________     Non/special order -% of Sales ______________
Orders filled Daily    _________       Average SKU Lines per order _______
PO’s Received Daily __________      Average SKU Lines per PO  _______
Branch Transfers Frequency ____       Lines per transfer __________ 
Returns (RMA) Daily ________           Number of Shifts___________
Number of Receiving Staff _______   Number of Picking/Shipping Staff __________
Admin, other Whse. Staff _________         Number of Delivery Trucks_________
Number of Forklifts, Loaders, etc. ______     GPS in Trucks Y/N  ______

Warehouse Methods & Procedures:
Type of Storage % (approximate) # of:
Pallet Racks ____, Floor_____, Small Part Bins____, Yard ______, Flow-Racks______ Other __________, Number of Zones (if used) ________
Bin Locations   Y/N    Conveyers   Y/N  Wave Picking   Y/N    Pick & Pack    Y/N
Serial Numbers  Y/N    Diverters    Y/N  Pull Down Process   Y/N  Carousels   Y/N
Lot Numbers       Y/N   Order Verification    Y/N    Customer Labeling   Y/N
Multiple Locations  Y/N  Multiple UOM’s  Y/N  Cycle Counting/ Frequency Y/N Freq: ___

Performance Statistics:
Number of Times a Day/Week/ Month customer is shipped wrong product _____ D/W/M
Number of Times a (pick DWM) an items actual count varies with your system ____D/W/M
Number of Hours a (pick DWM) spent looking for “lost/missing” products ___hrs. D/W/M
Please indicate below other key performance measurements used and average statistics
___________________________________________________________
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Factors driving decision to consider warehouse technology: 
Indicate the option that is closest:
1. Not factor, 2. Somewhat of a Factor, 3. A Factor, 4. Important Factor, 5. Key Factor
_____________________________________         1      2      3      4      5
1. Improve customer service– Deliver the right product on time □      □      □      □      □
2. Increase in Personnel Efficiency ............................................         □      □      □      □      □
3. Eliminate Manual Steps and Processes...................................        □      □      □      □      □
4. Increase Inventory Accuracy (on-hand counts).......................     □      □      □      □      □
5. Want to utilize the best technology available... .......................     □      □      □      □      □
6. WMS Technology is important to our customers’...................     □      □      □      □      □
7. Paperless receipt of product.....................................................         □      □      □      □      □
8. Paperless pick of product.........................................................          □      □      □      □      □
9. Shipping manifest and integration............................................       □      □      □      □      □
10 Reduce the reliance on “tribal knowledge”..............................      □      □      □      □      □
11. Other___________________________................       □      □      □      □      □
12. Other__________________________................         □      □      □      □      □
13. Other_________________________.................           □      □      □      □      □
___________________________________________________________
We would like to go-live on the WMS system by: (Date) _________
Budget Established? Y/N
Budget Approved?    Y/N
Any additional information not included above that you wish to share: 
___________________________________________________________
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