No matter the size of the organization, companies everywhere must take steps to invest in their supply chain. It may surprise you to know that some of the largest companies in the world are still relying on pen and paper to run their businesses. Automation is the future, and small steps to eliminate error-prone manual processes can have a big payoff for your organization.
If you are just starting a supply chain automation project,
some of the terms and acronyms might be a little confusing. Let's define two key technology terms to understand on your journey to a more accurate supply chain.
What is ERP?
Enterprise Resource
Planning (ERP) is a software that organization use to manage daily business
tasks such as accounting, project management, customer relationship management
(CRM), or supply chain operations. ERPs are often scalable – meaning that
they can grow with your business. Additionally, an ERP should be at the center
of your business to avoid data duplication. Everyone from sales to finance to logistics
should be able to trust your ERP as one single source of truth.
ERPs often tie many systems together. For example, your
warehouse management system (WMS) should integrate to your ERP to update in
real-time.
What is a WMS?
A Warehouse Management System provides visibility and
accuracy to the physical goods that you might have in a warehouse or supply room.
No matter the size of your facility, a WMS helps workers know where to put-away
or pick inventory. Depending on the level of functionality you are using, a WMS
can do so many things, including integrating with other automation, such as an automatic storage
retrieval system.
While some warehouse management systems can rely on paper
pick slips or data entry, many companies are choosing to use a mobile solution
such as RF-SMART. In the case of
a mobile solution, workers use a mobile
handheld to scan barcodes on items or racking that confirm they are picking
the correct item.
For example, a worker using a picking
functionality would find their picking tasks on their handheld. The device
would direct them to the proper bin or location, where they would scan a
barcode to confirm that they were picking the proper item. They would then
receive a confirmation message, and the handheld device sends that data back to
the ERP, updating the inventory counts. Instead of having to stop business to
do costly and time consuming annual counts
or running out of stock, operations managers know how many items they have on
hand at any given time.
Short Acronyms, Big Impact
As you can tell, these three-letter acronyms can have a big
impact on the success of your business. Having reliable, accurate data is a game
changer for any business. In the case of a WMS, knowing what is on hand can decrease
errors, such as mis-ships, and increase customer satisfaction.
Petshop.co.uk is an online retailer leveraging NetSuite as
their ERP and RF-SMART as their WMS to achieve their goals and make data-drive
decisions to expand their business. Learn how they
leverage their WMS investment to save time and money.
