Cast your eyes momentarily off the M1, M6, M42 or any of our motorways and there's a good chance you'll see a warehouse of some description.  Take the same journey next year and it's even more likely you'll see one, as growth in warehousing continues at between 3 and 5 per cent each year.

Why do we need more warehousing?  Easy, we consume more, we demand more variety, we require immediate availability and last, but by no means least, lead times are lengthening as we import more and more to satisfy customer demand.  The latter point meaning that with longer lead times, more safety stock is needed.  After all, holding stock is often cheaper compared to the cost of lost orders and lost customers.

As warehousing becomes increasingly important, it also becomes increasingly complex as it forms an integral part of a rapidly changing supply chain.  The clever move is to seek solutions before you have problems and also to seek solutions that give you a competitive edge.

This is where warehouse management systems (WMS) come into their own.  Supply chain control is vital to the success of modern businesses and is the key to excellent customer service and operational efficiency.  The right WMS can be one of the most significant management tools a business possesses.  It must, though, be chosen wisely and meet carefully set criteria if it is to be the success it should be.

The latest developments in WMS include the provision of graphical representation of system data for easy assimilation, increasing the ability of warehouses to be dynamic and responsive.  Space can to be viewed, highlighting areas of possible congestion, and the status of items and processes illustrated for a better understanding of what can be achieved through the creation of warehouse rules and configurations.

RDT's with character screens are being replaced with mobile devices that have more familiar Windows-based graphical interfaces and although relatively new and expensive, touch screens are set to reduce user interaction with keyboards.

Still in the early stages of development in this country, voice activated processes will enable both hands to be used for lifting during picking and for writing and moving items when checking stock.  Voice activation will allow product codes to be read even if barcodes are not scanable and it will reduce language, terminology and local accent problems.

Web services are becoming accessible via a hosted hub.  Scanning a product code can retrieve information from source systems and dynamic information can be obtained to reduce set-ups and static data holding.  Updates, patches, help files, data fixes and set-ups will be pulled directly from the Internet. 

Automation and user controlled defaults are taking more and more of the mundane tasks away from users and guarantee consistent application of business rules.  Interfaces between machines (mixers, packers and robots) and the system ensure data flow and reduce inaccuracy.

Smarter systems will learn by repetitious events and high/low triggers to dynamically adjust their own data sets to make the warehouse operate more efficiently by reducing time, effort, overheads and costs.  Fast moving items will be automatically allocated to easy access locations and space recovered by consolidating like product.

Closer interaction with other systems controlling various sections of the supply chain will improve throughput and reduce errors and paperwork.  WMS will order or transfer stock from external systems, shipping information will pre-advise the system to allow space allocation and planning days/weeks in advance and customer managed inventory will mean that customers can request stock for despatch directly or via EDI.

RFID will mean that walking' past a collecting station will identify individual items, even in multiple-mixed cages of 30-40 items.  Zero user interaction will be required and a tag will carry the complete history of an item without the requirement for labelling and paperwork.

Vital decision

Having briefly looked at all these latest advances, the most important thing to stress is the importance of working with a WMS provider who can turn this new technology to your advantage.  Installing the wrong system can be a costly mistake.  Making the right decision can make life a whole lot simpler.