Advanced Warehouse Management System (WMS)
Overview
Advanced WMS allows you to track where your goods are in the Warehouse and helps you streamline your warehouse operations such as receipts, put-aways, picks, ships and cycle counts.
Bin Types
A typical WMS configuration consists of the following bin types:
Pick
Put-away
Ship
Receive
QC
Phased Implementation Approach
GoldFinch recommends a phased implementation approach to minimize risks.
WMS takes time to implement and requires discipline. It usually takes a few months for warehouse employees to get used to a new system.
The situation would be more complicated when lot tracking or serial tracking is required, together with hundreds or thousands of available bins.
Phase 1 - One Pick Bin
Configure only one pick bin (Bin Type = Pick) per warehouse. This enables bin management but eliminates the requirement to execute warehouse activities to pick, put-away, or move. You can pick or consume inventory as soon as it is received or produced.
For the Pick bin:
Assign Pick as Bin Type.
Check Default Pick and Default Put-away fields.
On the Warehouse page:
Check Bypass Pick and Populate Lots when Create WS fields.
Phase 2 - One Pick Bin with One Input Bin
In addition to the Pick bin configured in Phase 1, configure an Input bin with QC as the Bin Type. The Input bin is a temporary shop floor holding area for manufacturing. You can select multiple work orders and replenish the Input bin.
You can use Break-bulk warehouse activities to move and convert the bulk size of components such as bags, and drums to a smaller size such as LB, KG, or OZ that is required on the BOM formula.
For manufacturers who do not consume components exactly equal to the quantities defined on the BOM formula, you can do a cycle count each day on the Input bin to account for gain or loss on raw materials.
For the Input bin, the Bin Type must be assigned as QC to prevent it from being used for picking. You can move inventory in and out of QC type bins.
Phase 3 - Turn on Ship, Receive, Cross Dock, and QC Bin
Configure the following additional bins:
Bins | Bin Type |
|---|---|
Cross Dock | Pick/Put-away |
Ship | Ship |
Receive | Receive |
Return | QC |
Input | QC |
Output | QC |
Update the bin field setups on the Warehouse page.
After Phase 3, you will be able to create Pick Tickets and Put-away documents.
Phase 4 - Full-blown WMS with Scanning
To enable full-blown WMS management with hundreds or thousands of pick bins and storage bins, you should implement scanning as much as possible to eliminate paperwork.