The applications of warehouse management systems: an exploratory study

With the increasing demand for impeccable customer service, today's warehouses are pressured to raise their goals for inventory accuracy, timely delivery service, individualised order fulfilment, flexible value-added service and responsiveness to special customer requests. To meet these high performance goals, a way needs to be found to eliminate any waste from the warehouse, to streamline its operations, and improve efficiency in every aspect of warehousing activities. One of the most proactive ways of doing so is the use of a warehouse management system (WMS) that is designed to speed up order turnaround time, improve inventory accuracy, provide instant order status information, manage warehouse space and enhance labour productivity. This paper aims to help firms assess the extent of the WMS benefits for warehouse operations and their impact on competitiveness, while developing practical guidelines for successful WMS implementation based on the findings of our exploratory study of selected US firms. The findings suggest that WMS has become an integral part of warehouse operations and the subsequent supply chain processes.