Best Practices for Selecting a SaaS Warehouse Management System

Customer successes using SaaS (Software as a Service) applications from vendors such as Salesforce, NetSuite and SmartTurn have proven that the benefits of the SaaS model are real and measurable. If you count yourself ready to move forward, this chapter is for you. Best Practices for Selecting a SaaS Warehouse Management System (WMS) is designed to help you reduce mistakes when selecting a vendor, increasing the likelihood that your SaaS migration will be a positive and profitable experience.

It's a Different World
The old experiences you may have had previously selecting and implementing on-premise software no longer apply with the SaaS model. In the former world, your relationship usually didn't linger much longer than the time it took to pay the PO. In contrast, the SaaS vendor-customer relationship is very different; the relationship extends for the length of time that you will use...

Best Practices for Warehouse Safety

Introduction
There is more to warehouse safety than compliance with fire codes and OSHA regulations. Unfortunately, too many warehouses and 3PLs look at safety as meeting the minimum mandated by law or their conscience. Often, neither goes far enough. In this chapter, we're going to look at Best Practices for Warehouse Safety, discussing the benefits and risks to employees, managers and employers of both creating a culture of safety in the warehouse, and failing to do so.

For those companies that fail to promote safety, it is often due to insufficient time, inadequate resources, or the opportunity to save money through corner cutting. In the long run, however, a safe warehouse environment delivers important cost savings through: higher employee satisfaction and increased productivity, fewer workplace disruptions and reduced absenteeism and equipment downtime. You can extend the life of your warehouse infrastructure...

Best Practices for Setting up a Warehouse RF Network

Introduction
Why go wireless? Consider that more than one in five wholesale distribution employees work in the warehouse. Some companies have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual labor costs (through both full-time and seasonal labor savings) after implementing an RF (radio frequency) network.

In the previous Best Practice chapter (Best Practices for RF Mobile in 3PL and Warehousing Operations), we looked at the business rationale for implementing an RF network in a 3PL or warehouse operation. The opportunity to save on labor alone makes RF worthwhile. In addition to labor reduction, we looked at many other benefits, arguing (a position already clearly shared by thousands of companies) that the pros for moving forward with RF far outweigh the cons. In this chapter, we're going to look at the actual implementation process. How do you actually replace paper with RF? What do you need to...

Best Practices for RF Mobile in 3PL and Warehousing Operations

Introduction
If your role in the supply chain is to have stock immediately available to meet your customers' needs, then it is time to take a closer look at best practices for RF (radio frequency wireless).

As a distributor or 3PL, know that RF technology advances are now at the forefront of internal operational improvements in wholesale distribution. RF is a mature technology and has been implemented in thousands of facilities. There is little question, therefore, that the modern warehouse is wireless, incorporating paperless receiving, putaway, picking, shipping and inventory counting. (According to Pembroke Consulting, well over 2/3rds of industrial distributors already use wireless local area networks).

In this chapter of our Best Practices series, we're going to look at how to use RF in your operation to respond to the not uncommon scenario in which your customers demand...

Collaboration Best Practices

Introduction
According to research from the Georgia Institute of Technology, only 30% of the 600,000 warehouses in the U.S. use a Warehouse Management System (WMS). With such a huge number of warehouses unable to link to their business partners, visibility throughout the supply chain (notably inventory visibility) cannot occur. A preferable goal for these “dark” warehouses, particularly in a world in which product sourcing is increasingly global, is communication and collaboration with their partners. In this chapter, we're going to look at Best Practices for collaboration, discussing ways and options to link supply chain participants so that light is cast on those sombre warehouses and 3PLs.

TIP:According to some industry statistics, the most efficient distribution centers use a WMS, typically operating with 99% accuracy and order fulfillment rates.

Supply chain...