The Warehouse Management System or what we usually know as WMS is a system whose purpose is to identify and manage the movement of goods in the warehouse. By knowing the movement of goods in the warehouse, it will be easier for the company to find out the amount of existing stock, the actual location of the goods in the warehouse, and history or details of the goods currently stored or which have been removed from the warehouse. Thus, the company will be able to increase its effectiveness and efficiency in terms of storage and sales, especially companies that already have many warehouses with racking systems, both in warehouses for spare parts, raw materials, packaging, waste, finished goods, etc.
For example, with the application of this WMS, the sales can easily find out the current stock just by looking directly through the system without the need to ask directly via telephone or email to the warehouse section of the actual stock which is currently available, because all Information related to stock and item details (colors, specifications, production date, etc.) already exist, so that sales can directly provide information to customers regarding the delivery time of goods to customers. Likewise, with storage, the warehouse team can easily determine the vacant location needed to store goods that enter the warehouse without the need to check the actual location. With information related to production results in the system, the shipping department can also perform the FIFO method, FEFO (First Expired First Out), and manual input based on the specifications of the goods when the goods will be sent to the customer.
There are several basic transactions used on WMS, namely when goods are stored (inflow items), when goods move from one location to another (transfer item) and when goods are removed from the warehouse or sent to customers (outflow item).
Inflow items are the process of storing physical goods received by the warehouse department for later input into the WMS system, so that the existence of these goods can be known by the team or other interested parties related to the processes that occur in the warehouse, such as parts of purchasing, technicians, production, etc. Usually this goods storage transaction is closely related to the receipt of goods based on Purchase Order (PO) or storage of finished goods which are the result of the production process but it is possible that the entry of those goods will also be carried out during the stock adjustment production process based on the stock process in accounting stock to find out the correctness of the data that has been inputted into the system with the physical goods in the warehouse.
The transfer or relocation of goods is generally done when the goods are received and sent. During the receiving process, the items that have been inputted into the system are then transferred to the prepared shelves. At the time of delivery, the warehouse team usually prepares a list of goods according to specifications based on delivery time to the loading dock to simplify and speed up the process of sending and making travel documents to customers.
Meanwhile, outflow of goods is usually carried out when the goods have been sent to the customer, used or destroyed. For inflow goods, the stock of goods will increase in the system, while for outflow goods, the stock of goods will decrease so that the stock of goods in the warehouse is completely accurate. There is a possibility that outflow items are also used when the stock adjustments in the academy stock process are carried out by the accounting team, there is a slight difference between physical goods and the stock displayed through the system.
Along with the development of technology, the tools needed by WMS are also increasing. Currently, the input process into the system can be assisted by the presence of barcode scans, QR Codes, NFC tags and RFID tags that have been affixed or included on goods in the warehouse so that the process of inputting data into the system becomes faster and more accurate. WMS which has supported technologies like this is certainly very influential on reports obtained by management. With accurate data, it is possible that management will also be more precise in making the decisions needed in the process of managing goods in existing warehouses so that the process becomes more effective and efficient.
With WMS, warehouse data that is difficult to retrieve, long and even inaccurate processing becomes more accessible, accurate and fast to analyze so that it will greatly contribute to companies to be more effective and efficient in their daily work to face increasingly growing business competition today.
