The inventory management system, classified as WMS (Warehouse Management System), aimed at warehouse management, has characteristics focused on logistical management control, managing all the internal operations of the warehouse, maintaining traceability of each process carried out within the operation, coordinating operators so that they carry out the best handling of stored items, and providing with all this a significant gain in operational agility, in addition to reliability in the execution of processes and access to information for decision-making.

But how to choose a sound WMS system? In this case, the secret to success is divided into two initial stages: one, the definition of the operational scope; another, the technical analysis of adherence to the offered tool.

Carrying out a needs survey with the areas involved in receiving the WMS as a logistic process control system is the first of the two steps, and a very important one since, at that moment, the operating above needs must be well defined, adapting both as possible to the reality of the business, so that any company responsible for offering and implementing the WMS can understand in depth the peculiarities of the operation and confront the requirements needs with the functionalities available in the WMS.

These needs, called operational particularities, make each project unique, different from all the others. This makes the flexibility of the WMS tool, that is, its ability to adjust to these particularities, an essential factor for the project’s success.

The second step, the technical analysis of the WMS tool, involves analyzing the systems platform from which the WMS was developed, computing the cost for implementing new features and corrections, possible future updates, etc. At this moment, it is essential to be able to technically assess how, at least in the next five years, the availability of specialist professionals in the tool from which the WMS was developed will be since many of the tools on the market have development languages from the decades of 80 and 90, which makes the concept of operating in the cloud challenging (and complicated).

There is also the need for customizations. Still, in this second stage, it is necessary to study all the WMS functionalities, verifying which ones must be parameterized or developed to meet the project’s scope.

A significant detail, by the way, is to define for the WMS what customization is and what parameterization is, what is open to the system administrator, and what is available as configuration within that system, being able to change the way of treating the WMS on a given control with just a tap on the mobile device’s screen, or a mouse click.

Some WMSs, more technologically mature over time, do not require customization, and only require parameterization and configuration, which makes project implementation much faster and cheaper. This is the case of the arMHAzena® tool, belonging to the MHA. As it is fully parameterizable, arMHAzena® can receive future maintenance with utmost ease, and constantly evolve as a tool, quickly adapting to new logistical concepts and operations.

On the other hand, other WMS tools, created to serve only a single logistics operation – generally, they are systems that were born within companies focused on a single operation – have not very friendly characteristics, requiring a lot of customization for the WMS tool to finally adjust to the new
environment of need, leaving the system a patchwork quilt and making the project more expensive, both at the time of execution and in future upgrades.

Finally, in addition to all these factors that need to be considered to develop a successful project, there are still other points that should be analyzed, such as the experience and qualification of the company responsible for the system, the implementation team’s knowledge of the tool, the methodology adopted in the execution of the project, as well as the scope of the company’s general knowledge about all the details involved in the project, such as identification labels,
bar code printers, wireless technology, data collectors, voice equipment, RFID, and interfaces, among others.

Contact MHA, and receive an analysis consultancy on your WMS project.