【正文】 termine locations to pick from or replenish from. It’s very mon to bine multiple logic methods to determine the best location. For example you may chose to use picktoclear logic within firstinfirstout logic when there are multiple locations with the same receipt date. You also may change the logic based upon current workload. During busy periods you may chose logic that optimizes productivity while during slower periods you switch to logic that optimizes space utilization. Other Functionality/Considerations Wave Picking/Batch Picking/Zone Picking. Support for various picking methods varies from one system to another. In highvolume fulfillment operations, picking logic can be a critical factor in WMS selection. See my article on Order Picking for more info on these methods. Task Interleaving. Task interleaving describes functionality that mixes dissimilar tasks such as picking and put away to obtain maximum productivity. Used primarily in 6 fullpalletload operations, task interleaving will direct a lift truck operator to put away a pallet on his/her way to the next pick. In large warehouses this can greatly reduce travel time, not only increasing productivity, but also reducing wear on the lift trucks and saving on energy costs by reducing lift truck fuel consumption. Task interleaving is also used with cycle counting programs to coordinate a cycle count with a picking or put away task. Integration with Automated Material Handling Equipment. If you are planning on using automated material handling equipment such as carousels, ASRS units, AGNS, picktolight systems, or separation systems, you’ll want to consider this during the software selection process. Since these types of automation are very expensive and are usually a core ponent of your warehouse, you may find that the equipment will drive the selection of the WMS. As with automated data collection, you should be working closely with the equipment manufacturers during the software selection process. Advanced Shipment Notifications (ASN). If your vendors are capable of sending advanced shipment notifications (preferably electronically) and attaching pliance labels to the shipments you will want to make sure that the WMS can use this to automate your receiving process. In addition, if you have requirements to provide ASNs for customers, you will also want to verify this functionality. Yard Management. Yard management describes the function of managing the contents (inventory) of trailers parked outside the warehouse, or the empty trailers themselves. Yard management is generally associated with cross docking operations and may include the management of both inbound and outbound trailers. Labor Tracking/Capacity Planning. Some WMS systems provide functionality related to labor reporting and capacity planning. Anyone that has worked in manufacturing should be familiar with this type of logic. Basically, you set up standard labor hours and machine (usually lift trucks) hours per task and set the available labor and machine hours per shift. The WMS system will use this info to determine capacity and load. Manufacturing has been using capacity planning for decades with mixed results. The need to factor in efficiency and utilization to determine rated capacity is an example of the shortings of this process. Not that I’m necessarily against capacity planning in warehousing, I just think most operations don’t really need it and can avoid the disappointment of trying to make it 7 work. I am, however, a big advocate of labor tracking for individual productivity measurement. Most WMS maintain enough data to create productivity reporting. Since productivity is measured differently from one operation to another you can assume you will have to do some minor modifications here (usually in the form of custom reporting). Integration with existing accounting/ERP systems. Unless the WMS vendor has already created a specific interface with your accounting/ERP system (such as those provided by an approved business partner) you can expect to spend some significant programming dollars here. While we are all hoping that integration issues will be magically resolved someday by a standardized interface, we isn’t there yet. Ideally you’ll want an integrator that has already integrated the WMS you chose with the business software you are using. Since this is not always possible you at least want an in