Warehousing with ERP

Warehousing for a business as part of it's supply chain process is a critical component. Warehouses come in many different sizes and serve different functions but their basic function is to store goods. The goods may be packaged, unpackaged, wet, temperature sensitive, have expiry dates, tracked in batches, tracked in serial numbers and so on. The warehouse setup could also vary in terms of the racks, shelves, zones and locations setup within. These factors should be used to tailor the ERP solution to address the warehouse needs.

At a high level, warehouse processes can be identified within general categories such as pick, pack & ship process, stock count process, ABC inventory process, occupancy & capacity management, optimised inventory management (considering expiry/freshness/delivery dates), and basic inventory control such as authorising inventory movement and so on.

A good warehouse implementation will start with classifying the inventory by attributes and nature. Secondly, the overall floor plan of the warehouse should be virtualised into the ERP system as closely as possible. Thirdly, all relevant warehouse processes should be identified and drafted into a visual plan. The inter-connectivity of the processes and the sequence of events should be indicated clearly. Finally, the approval flows should be inserted and all the necessary warehouse reports should be designed. If such a framework is applied, it will greatly improve the accuracy of the reported data in the system vs the actual data. Training the warehouse users to adopt the new processes and use the system will bring great value here to change the mindset of the workforce and get them in line with best practices. Once all of these initial objectives have been achieved, additional solutions can be considered and implemented such as barcode labelling, barcode scanning, delivery route geo-location, robotics for picking goods, and etc.

Ultimately, applying the principles of warehousing will enable a business to minimise unaccounted inventory quantities, optimise inventory picking, optimise usage of warehouse space, speed up stock count times, enable effective delivery schedules and improve the customer fulfilment objectives as a direct result of accurate system vs actual data in terms of quantities and costs.