Industry Talk

Regular Industry Development Updates, Opinions and Talking Points relating to Manufacturing, the Supply Chain and Logistics.

Top five tips for winning at warehousing from Snapfulfil

Snapfulfil, in association with eDelivery, has published a series of three ebooks – Winning at Warehousing – examining how warehouses can be more efficient, productive and effective. A limited number of free copies will be available on Snapfulfil’s stand (E340) at eCommerce Expo from 26 to 27 September at Olympia, London. Snapfulfil is a flexible, cloud based WMS. Quick and simple to install, users pay no upfront fees and all of the necessary hardware, software, training and updates are included in one monthly subscription.

Snapfulfil Managing Director Tony Dobson said: “Whether it’s a single warehouse or a complex multi-site operation, finding the right management system can be a challenging task.

“An effective warehouse must meet the needs of three main groups of people – internal customers, retail trading partners or stores and consumers. In short, goods need to be in the right place at the right time and it is only by having the best WMS that this can be consistently achieved.”

Snapfulfil’s Top Five Tips for choosing a new WMS:

1. Speed of implementation – Time is money but many warehouse management systems can take months or even years to install. Advances in technology mean the latest software can now be up and running in weeks, cutting costs and causing minimal disruption to the business.

2. Flexibility – The way people shop is evolving at a faster pace than ever before and customer-focussed warehouse managers need a system that can adapt to an evolving market place. Any new system must be “future-proofed” to meet changing customer needs as well as trading peaks and troughs.

3. Visibility into availability – A single view of stock is vital for most retailers today and a “must have” function for any WMS. Knowing exactly where stock is and in what numbers is vital for speedy, successful fulfilment of orders and in ensuring customer satisfaction.

4. Product delivery accuracy – Many companies still accept a delivery accuracy of around 90 percent but this is simply not good enough. Any company implementing a new warehouse management system should be aiming to achieve much closer to 100 percent accuracy.

5. Accurate despatch and delivery – When it comes to customer satisfaction, this is one of the most crucial measures of all. Research shows that customers want to be kept informed and updated of their delivery and an effective WMS must be able to support this.