14 Warehousing
As many retailers outsource their returns
processes to third party carriers, they Labour Management Systems Drive the Industry Forward
also require extended inventory visibility
and the ability to order/replacement with Companies are realizing unprecedented productivity gains by integrating the
suppliers to effectively and seamlessly latest labour management and voice picking applications with their Ware-
enable customers to return unwanted house Management Systems (WMS), according to Ian Maughan, a Business
goods and provide the option to supply a Specialist at award-winning supply chain software provider AquiTec.
replacement or alternative item.
“With the warehousing environment Because voice picking allows the system
demanding ever greater cost savings and to be updated automatically, it means that
3PL: Adding Further efficiencies of scale, Labour Management managers have real-time visibility of the
Systems (LMS) are rapidly emerging as workforce, providing an added dimension to
Complexity a priority for companies looking to plan Labour Management Systems.
and rationalize their workforce effectively.
One of the ways that many businesses In the warehouse and distribution centre, Keeping the Warehouse Visible
have sought to address these issues is by LMS will be driving the industry’s practices If voice picking aids efficiency and ‘mobility’
outsourcing their warehouse and logistics forward in 2007 through the increased use of in the logistics workplace then workplace
processes to third party companies. voice picking and the adoption of real-time ‘visibility,’ from a managerial perspective,
However, this brings with it a number Management Information interfaces. is the other trend that will take hold in 2007.
of additional challenges; as logistics Companies now expect core WMS The increasing use of real-time Management
companies have evolved from being functionality to include a suite of integrated Information Interfaces will allow managers
essentially asset-based to becoming applications including labour management, to assess the operational situation and react
more service oriented, the landscape has all running off a single database. The beauty in real-time, rather than having to act in a ret-
become much more competitive. 3PLs of an integrated labour management system rospective manner. This means the logistics
are now expected to offer an increasingly is that it produces all the statistics and industry as a whole will finally be catching
broad range of customized client services/ reporting requirements needed to optimize up with the so-called sexy industries, such
solutions and traditional WMS systems scheduling, set performance expectations as the customer service sector, wherein
often fall short of satisfying these flexible and manage the workload more efficiently real-time overviews and interfaces have
requirements. across the workforce. For example AquiTec’s been commonplace for a while now.
For 3PLs to support the WMS SCM 400 WMS system is dynamic so that Companies that embrace these
requirements of multiple clients, a separate when an order is released within the system, developments will undoubtedly experience
system installation may be required for all labour requirements are measured and improvements in efficiency and quality,
each new site and/or customer owing to calculated automatically. however the ones that will stand out from
their unique needs. Furthermore, costly In our experience, labour systems the crowd and become leaders will be
customizations are needed to incorporate are generally accepted by the workforce those that take advantage of the information
customer specific business processes or — especially if they are adopted as part of that the WMS systems contain to develop
any changes in customer requirements. individual incentive schemes. They tend effective short, medium and long-term
This results not only in higher costs for to be more accurate than traditional forms operational planning processes in support
systems deployment and maintenance, of measurement such as straight cases or of these technologies.
but also lost revenues because of the pallets moved per hour, which do not take Operations that are supported by
longer timeframe required to implement travelling time, case weights or other factors efficient forward planning processes will be
new services and the delay in on-boarding into account. Our system allows pickers to able to identify and use operational trends
new customers. measure their own performance against their to make informed decisions about the
The increased acceptance of supply set targets at the end of each assignment future labour requirements of the business.
chain outsourcing also means an or shift period. This makes it very easy for Through modelling scenarios retailers
increased level of inventory and order individual workers to gain maximum benefit can plan short and long-term solutions for
visibility is required outside the four walls from incentive and bonus schemes. labour flows within a business. For example,
of the warehouse, into the systems of this can help retailers plan for any worker
supply chain partners. For example, Voice at the Forefront of WMS illnesses or absences in the busy run up to
manufacturers who outsource their Voice is very much at the forefront of WMS Christmas. Companies that have all of these
production to third party companies may today and, especially when integrated elements, good forward planning processes
need added visibility into WMS stock, with LMS, can bring enormous benefits to supported by efficient operational method-
customer order status and transportation a warehouse operation. The productivity ology using voice and informed real-time
status to identify where stock is located gains following successful roll out adoption Management capability, will drive to the
in real-time. Outsourcing has created a can go well into the double figures range. forefront of efficiency and service delivery.”
need for flexible, process-driven WMS
Supply Chain Digital Launch 2007
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