WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
INTRODUCTION
The world today is full of numerous business transactions. There is frequent movement of goods and products from their manufacturing premises to the markets. Identification and monitoring of the flow of products from one department to the other requires the use of well-defined systems. It is, in this instance, when the needs for a sound warehouse management system (WMS) arise. The team of employees, as well as the entire management team in an organization, can be monitored through the utilization of incredible software. Research studies assert that a WMS refers to a particular type of software and process adopted by organizations to control and administer warehouse activities at different times. It is good to monitor the time products and materials enter the business premise until they are channeled out by the application of specified methods. In this paper, I am obliged to apply the knowledge learned in this course in describing the performance of a warehouse management system.
Real-time visibility for all materials, goods, and activities enhances the optimal realization of profit for any business enterprise. Failure to adopt certain guidelines and recommendations, one might be losing a substantial amount of money within the business environment, Atieh, A. M., Kaylani, H., Al-abdallat, Y., Qaderi, A., Ghoul, L., Jaradat, L., & Hdairis, I.
(2016).. The identification of locations in a business is very crucial. It lowers cases of improper sale quoting since one can view the materials or products in-store. For a company to meet accurate deliveries, avoid compliance risks monitor the running stock figures, they must embrace a supportive warehouse management system to the latter. Inventory and order fulfillment operations will also be streamlined at par.
PROBLEM DEFINITION
Research reports that many businesses fail to survive due to inadequate monitoring of stock and individuals handling different tasks on the premises. Due to this problem, companies should adopt best practices in the management of the overall activities and operations happening within their business enterprise. A flexible system is useful in executing the movement of goods and stock management within a warehouse complex. The platform should offer time-bound and efficient processing of different types of logistical processes within any given business premise. If these problems are addressed in a warehouse, then there will be more pros as compared to the cons in the business.
ISSUES
There are numerous issues of concern to focus on in a warehouse. They include the following:
Storage Bin management: It is an issue of great interest in a warehouse management system. It enables one to map the overall storage facilities in the building. The aim is to ensure that various storage bins are set up in the automatic design of a warehouse, Atieh, A. M., Kaylani, H., Al-abdallat, Y., Qaderi, A., Ghoul, L., Jaradat, L., & Hdairis, I.
- (2016).. It creates enough space for high rack storage points, bulk storage of products, and also avail fixed storage areas depending on a person’s design of the business premise. Research shows that this facility presents efficacy in the management of all stock within the bin storage level. A person has permission to design the bins as per their requirements. All the bins ought to be mapped in the system at all times. Upon setting this type of a platform, one will be able to view the movement of materials, either stock goods or products at the comfort of their desks, Smith, J. D. (1998). Inventory management is fully incorporated with the SAP WMS to offer efficient delivery of services. It houses incredible inventory procedures and allows critical recording of the aspects of stock differences. Balancing of inventory entries is also an essential enhanced in the system.
- Movements of materials and products: The Warehouse Management System enables one to process the overall actions within the warehouse. Crucial aspects of the business, including receipts, issue records, stock transfers, automatic replenishment, and staging of materials during production, management of hazardous objects, and process of stocks in the building are well monitored, Smith, J. D. (1998). The system also optimizes the business capacities and product flow system embracing the putaway and stock removal approaches. These can be adjusted to fit into one’s needs and specifications through the adoption of stock units.
- Planning and monitoring: The system provides a sufficient overview of the entire products and materials in a warehouse. Various research findings suggest that the idea of control, planning, and optimization of the work process can be featured accurately within the WMS, Smith, J. D. (1998). One can witness the underlying workload for a specific period, thus availing proper intervention to alleviate critical business processes. All the movements in the warehouse become easy to execute without delay or compromise. Up-to-date pictures are observable, denoting all the nature of activities taking place therein. The use of an R.F. monitor can also simplify these.
- Radio Frequency Connection: As a matter of fact, worker’s movements should be traced within the warehouse in a cost-effective and efficient method. The strategy, in this case, is achieved via the use of portable radio frequency (R.F.) terminals, Chiang, D. M. H., Lin, C. P., & Chen, M. C. (2011). The R.F. connection in this process is essential in achieving a flawless and quick mobile data entry. The SAP WMS has to channel the frequency and also transmit the frequency back to the system. Barcodes fitted on the devices assist in the recording of data and information as well as verifying it. There is a high level of standards in the business premise upon addressing this issue in the warehouse.
- Decentralized WMS: It has been found that it is possible to run a standalone warehouse management system without dependence on the enterprise resource planning.
- Warehouse control: As previously discussed, the issue of control is elementary and contemporary in the current settings of warehouse management systems. There are vital interface systems that consist of control units that help in the integration of automatic putaway, forklift observance, and stock removal patterns within the hall framework, Chiang, D. M. H., Lin, C. P., & Chen, M. C. (2011).
OBJECTIVES
Following the primary considerations for adherence in the warehouse management system, the goals of this project include the following:
- To investigate central business problems in controlling and monitoring of goods and materials
- To identify the efficiency of a proposed warehouse management system in offering a reliable solution to the problem.
REQUIREMENTS
There is a diverse and broad range of requirements for setting up of a warehouse management system. In my proposed system, the following requirements are featured:
- a) Clients order profiles
It is very crucial to understand your client’s requirements. It assists the user in configuring the warehouse management system to achieve and also exceed the required critical limit. The advantage of this consideration is that the customers will benefit from an uninterruptible session while trying to interact with the system.
- b) Warehouse capacity
The warehouse in this scenario will be logged, input, and possess storage reference. It will have an inbound and outbound delivery tracking system and cataloguing for the materials and products.
- c) Warehouse layout
The layout, flow, and accessibility is very crucial in my plan. Altogether, these impact the entire set up and the desired programming of the warehouse.
- d) Inbound receipt process
The receiving process will be attributed to the efficiency of the receiving department. The lane design, labor structure pillars, and capacity will be assessed and reviewed to boost the receiving process in the featured department.
- e) Storage processes
Depending on the customer order history, it will be possible to acquire data on how to place the entire storage of goods. It will also be possible to understand the time they are required in a specific unit the time need for their disposal, Molnár, V. (2012). The information herein is based on accuracy, thus reducing losses that might emanate from obsolescence, damage, and spoilage.
- f) Requirements on product attributes
A firm handle is required to support the storage process. Proper documentation of distribution and storage at any given time should be focused. Due to the predicted multiple brands of products in the warehouse, it is essential to consider a clear picture of goods as either being fragile, fresh, or somewhat perishable, Molnár, V. (2012). The WMS will have the ability to track all these goods and particulars in real-time.
- g) Staging and dispatch requirements
Both staging and dispatch endeavors will be appropriately structured. The capacity of the warehouse and the measures used to improve and handle the overall processes should be well known.
- h) Shipping data and information, barcodes on containers
Information on the particulars ought to be connected to aid the shipping selection process. The labeling of products, cataloging, and slotting techniques will be adhered to during the implementation of the warehouse management system.
Product measurements, classifications, and labeling
Different industries have distinctive practices that ensure that their products are correctly classified. The knowhow on the weight, dimensions, and shipment patterns eases the reception, storage, and inventory management practices.
CONSTRAINTS
Space layout management constraints: The management of a warehouse is such a great measure to consider. Reliable software should be regarded for the accruing benefits and merits of streamlined progress. The space provided should be taken care of to achieve recommendable racking and pallet patterns, Molnár, V. (2012). The problem of collision due to some speedy operations should be addressed by providing an open pre-decided pick path in the warehouse. All these problems can be witnessed upon the acquisition of the best software in the market.
Lack of communication: Lack of proper communication channels can lead to huge losses in the enterprise. The level of productivity is destined to drop due to imprecise supply chain orders. It calls for the use of the best tools and softwares.
Time management constraints: all business operations are time-oriented. Failure to fulfill certain shipment orders will lead to loses on the warehouse, Molnár, V. (2012). There is no exception for guesswork since this might cost the business immensely.
Inventory accuracy and tracking flaws: all materials should be placed in their correct shelves. It assists in the tracing of receipts as well as purchase orders. Verified information regarding the overall business practices should be documented and files appropriately.
Customer expectation constraints: The 21st-century customer expects shorter shipping times, accurately labeled orders, and pleasing services. Risking a disaster due to lack of accurate shipment can cost a business significantly, Molnár, V. (2012). Customer preferences should also be addressed to the latter.
Redundant processes: It is a constraint that leads to increased costs of labor. Barcode technologies should thus be established to handle this paradigm. Moreover, automated systems will venture into this concept to offer appealing results in the warehouse.
Optimized product picking constraints: elimination of stock that isn’t in demand should be carried out by the human resources under the watch through the use of R.F.
Product diversification: It becomes challenging to coordinate a variety of products in a warehouse. Various complicated measures of identifying these products for sale and presentation to the customer should be handled with clarity.
Inaccurate purchase orders: constraints related to this flaw may make the client shift their purchasing to other products and brands in other companies. It means that the business will make a loss or reduced sales due to this constraint.
Handling damages: Proper lighting and arrangement of products assist in the reduction of damaged goods. Workers overload no shelves. Rack safety and netting are also provided.
Management of fluctuations in demands: Seasonality is a constraint in warehouse management. There should be a good system to identify both low seasons and peak seasons to help in the decision making and ordering of the required goods.
Globalization: Globalization technologies have introduced a new wave in the sale of various commodities. There is a massive influx of the issue of competition from many countries. The difference in the production cost thus affects markets; hence the well-suited business can only thrive.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
The proposed Warehouse Management System for this paper is the SAP Warehouse management system. Empirically, the SAP warehouse management system is effective, flexible, and also crucial in offering automotive support in various processes. Enumerative tasks of the SAP WMS include the following:
- i) Definition and mapping all physical structures in the system
- ii) Process the movement’s receipts, stock transfers, and order issues for good.
iii) Keeping an updated stock inventory record in the warehouse for the ease of movement and identification of storage bin level.
Various warehouses, management integration, is achieved on material management (MM), quality management (Q.M.), and sales and distribution (S.D.) management modules. All the plants and vendor receipts will be generated from the Good receipts (G.R.), Molnár, V. (2012). The general quality management department of active and thus all the materials will be directed towards the quality inspection throughout the G.R. and G.I. There will instantaneous posting on change documents depending on the nature of the material in the stock. Placement or removal of the product will follow in the warehouse, Ding, W. (2013). As the G.R. process of inspection continues, a return of the material activity will be actualized on the vendor, thus generating the required Q.M. documentation.
During cases of delivery on products against their sale orders, a different delivery receipt will be generated within S.D., thus accepting the real-time elimination of the product for the hall. Customer return materials will be handled with the generation of a base document within the S.D. department.
The storage location will be handling inventory entities within the inventory management (I.M.) unit and in the MM module. This will also be carried out in the bin storage in the facility. A reading functionality is provided by the use of RFID and barcode mode. They can also be linked to R.F. technologies.
LOGICAL MODEL DESIGN
Change of the logistics of the design can be associated with the aspect of non-productive products entering the SAP WMS. In such instances, materials ought to be divided based on specific properties. The process of decision making is thus adopted after thorough and predetermined criteria. The storage area, in this case, warehouse 1040, is established within the Logistical centre (LSC) with the help of specific bins in those units. There is no underpinning dynamics since the entry positions will not change. Therefore, for small packages, the entry and exit will be through warehouse 1020. Upon arrival in warehouse 1020, a command is initiated to eliminate the handling of the bulky commodities in the production area. A scanner is used to determine the entry of material. A bin number is investigated to show the precise position in the shelf for storage as directed by the SAP system. Consequently, the product will be let out of the production zone through the warehouse in 1020. A direct expedition of materials can be sought in case of urgency or even additional products in the warehouse.
Context diagram
The context diagram above shows the movements of goods from the site of manufacturing until it reaches the customer. The transportation process is well highlighted, showing the different paths followed by the material. It is with the help of a flexible warehouse management system like SAP that the above process is achieved without hindrances and delays.
DESCRIPTIONS OF PERFORMANCE CONTROLS AND MEASUREMENTS
There are crucial measurement metrics for offering a clear vision to managers in many organizations. These measures are useful in improving the state of opportunities and potential inclination of the overall sales, Molnár, V. (2012). Measuring a company’s performance is tied to its improved supply chain operations. Performance metrics such as increased productivity, increased accuracy, and reduced cycle time provides key considerations that managers ought to achieve in their business orientations.
Ding, W. (2013) shows that there are specific metrics in the measurement of performance and controls in a warehouse. These include the following:
Category
Measure
Description
Order fulfilment
Delivery on time
Orders were delivered on time as requested by the customer.
Order fill rate
The order filled clearly on the first shipment.
Order accuracy
Order picked, packed and shipped correctly.
Line accuracy
Lines picked, packed, and shipped correctly.
Order cycle time
Time from order placement to shipment
Perfect order completion
No changes, damages or even invoice errors witnessed.
Inventory management measures
Inventory accuracy
Actual inventory quantity to system reported amount.
Damaged inventory
Damage measure as a percent of inventory value
Storage utilization
Storage capacity in square footage
Dock to stock time
Average time from carrier arrival until goods are available for order picking
Inventory visibility
Time from physical receipt to customer service notice of availability
Warehouse productivity
Orders per hour
No. of orders packed per hour
Lines per hour
No. of orders packed per person
Items per hour
Average no. of orders, lines picked, and packed per hour.
Cost per order
Total warehousing costs: utilities, depreciation, and space
Cost as a % of sales
Cumulative warehousing costs as a % of total company sales
Specific requirements
The SAP Warehouse Management System has some essential specific requirements for it to be excellent in offering the required services. For instance, the software requires that a proper intranet platform is provided in the warehouse. A decentralized source of power is essential to ensure that there is maximum security throughout. Power surge and shortages can be destructive economic-wise. Database management and backup should also be installed in the warehouse. This ensures that either the company’s or even clients shopping data or information cannot be comprised in case of a data breaching activity, Ding, W. (2013). Cyberspace security is very crucial in protecting this information for the benefit of all stakeholders of the organization. Skilled personnel should also be employed in the warehouse, Molnár, V. (2012). These are people who can run machinery that requires technological know-how in operating. R.F. techniques further require experienced human resources. Noting the different radio frequencies can be challenging for individuals who lack the necessary experience and exposure.
PHASE 2
SYSTEM AND DATABASE DESIGN
User interface
An overall user interface consisting of screens, commands, controls, and features to enable users to use the system.
Data input and output in the SAP WMS
In this system, the user interface has been shown to consist of process control screens. These allow the person to relay commands to the system. Using the SAP WMS, a varied category of input and output, as well as data, queries present an appealing environment for the users, Ding, W. (2013). A clear understanding of human-computer interaction processes will help in the adoption of the system. Input and output layout
Procedures
Information flows in and out from the left to the right and top to bottom. The arrangement in this system ensures that the design will make the form easy for the users to feed data and information Molnár, V. (2012). The columns are made descriptive with short headings. Standard abbreviations are used. Reasonable spacing is a requirement for improved readability. Order and placement sections are logical, with totals clearly shown. A web-based usability design looks as follows:
- Data design
The above plan ensures that there is a critical organization of data in the warehouse. Storage, updating, and retrieval are shown. There are extract structures, for example, from the master data. It ensures that data back processing has been implemented, thus providing security to information from both the company and also customer identification.
Database tables, primary keys identified
Three steps of normalization
Data normalization requires that all attributes within a data model are arranged to give the required cohesion in the model. It helps in the removal of redundancy, Molnár, V. (2012). The three steps of normalization include:
First standard form (1NF): The rules on this initial step is that an entity type will not contain any repeating groups of data
Second standard form (2NF): the entity type is presented in 2NF first after being in the
1NF. Also, all the non-key attributes will be dependent on the primary key.
Third standard form (3NF): it has to be in the 2NF. All the attributes ought to be dependent on the primary key.
Entity-relationship diagram:
System Architecture
The adoption of warehouse management systems is very crucial today. There are improved strategies in the enhancement of requirements in the facility. Space optimization, confusion, and mistakes in picking and putting away materials are highly streamlined with the real-time user interface. Both intranet and internet network connectivity provides a system where clients, warehouse management and workers interact freely. On line wireless networks further integrates numerous terminals in the warehouse.
PHASE 3: Implementation stage and project planning
Implementing the proposed SAP warehouse management system would require carrying out specific tasks and activities. These include the following:
Selection of system vendors
A wide range of vendors exist. The warehouse managing team should focus on functionality that suits its business environment. All warehouse operations should be reflected in the criteria adopted for choosing the vendors. The selection processes are followed by project planning. In the planning phase, various critical steps should be considered. These include, for instance, stating the project goals, enumerating the scope of the project, estimating the key milestones and essential deliverables for the system build-up, breakdown, and simplification of work structure and framework, budgeting.
Human resource planning in the running of the proposed system is also crucial. The warehouse managing team will be able to ascertain the staffing criteria to avoid chaos in operation. It is an exercise that requires full evaluation throughout the implementation steps. Risk management activities should also be carried out. These will focus on early preparations for disasters that might hit the business in the future. Planning for communication activities is also another task in the implementation stages. Stakeholder and change management planning are other tasks key to consider during the implementation process.
The following estimates of costs can be useful in the proposed system in this paper.
Cloud identification and installation costs
$1000: These can be projected for the primary user as well as client account set up, configuration and import of data
$5000: Database migration, warehouse intelligence set up, and customization services.
$7000: For data cleansing, supplier integration and future advanced customization
On-premise costs will range to about $19500 for the above segments, respectively.
Training costs can amount to about $10000.These can further be split into various categories, such as $2000 in digital learning content, paired with email and telephone support. About $3000 will be projected to vendor training in the sites as well as maintenance of a standardized curriculum.
The remaining $5000 can be used in office and warehouse locations training and custom curriculum. The projected completion time ranges between 3-5 weeks.
Gantt chart
Task Name
Start date
End date
T
W
T
F
S
S
M
T
W
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F
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Section 1: planning phase
04/05/2020
11/05/2020
section 1: planning phase
Project request
04/05/2020
06/05/2020
project request
Allocation of resources
07/05/2020
07/05/2020
allocation of resources
Identifying team
09-May
09/05/2020
identify team
section 2: Analysis phase
11/05/2020
18/05/2020
section 2: Analysis
Conducting investigation
11/05/2020
11/05/2020
conduct investigation
Studying current system
12/05/2020
13/05/2020
study current systems
Requirement gathering
14/05/2020
16/05/2020
requirement gathering
Solutions suggested
17/05/2020
18/05/2020
suggesting solutions
section 3: Design Phase
18/05/2020
25/05/2020
section 3: design phase
Hardware and software acquisition
19/05/2020
21/05/2020
hardware and software acquisition
Develop details of the system
22/05/2020
25/05/2020
develop details of the system
Section 4: Implementation phase
25/05/2020
01/06/2020
Section 4: Implementation Phase
Develop SAP WMS, ERP , Install and
25/05/2020
28/05/2020
Develop SAP WMS, install and test the new system
test new system
Train users and connect to new system
29/05/2020
01/06/2020
Train users and connect to the new system
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