1.Warehouse Management Systems (WMS).
The evolution of warehouse management systems (WMS) is very similar to the evolution of many other software solutions. Initially a system to control movement and storage of materials within a warehouse, the role of WMS is expanding to including light manufacturing, transportation management, order management, and complete accounting systems. To use the grandfather of operations-related software, MRP, as a comparison, material requirements planning (MRP) started as a system for planning raw material requirements in a manufacturing environment. Soon MRP evolved into manufacturing resource planning (MRPII), which took the basic MRP system and added scheduling and capacity planning logic. Eventually MRPII evolved into enterprise resource planning (ERP), incorporating all the MRPII functionality with full financials and customer and vendor management functionality. Now, whether WMS evolving into a warehouse-focused ERP system is a good thing or not is up to debate. What is clear is that the expansion of the overlap in functionality between Warehouse Management Systems, Enterprise Resource Planning, Distribution Requirements Planning, Transportation Management Systems, Supply Chain Planning, Advanced Planning and Scheduling, and Manufacturing Execution Systems will only increase the level of confusion among companies looking for software solutions for their operations.
Even though WMS continues to gain added functionality, the initial core functionality of a WMS has not really changed. The primary purpose of a WMS is to control the movement and storage of materials within an operation. Directed picking, directed replenishment, and directed putaway are the key to WMS. The detailed setup and processing within a WMS can vary significantly from one software vendor to another however the basic logic will use a combination of item, location, quantity, unit of measure, and order information to determine where to stock, where to pick, and in what sequence to perform these operations.
2.Do You Really Need WMS?
Not every warehouse needs a WMS. Certainly any warehouse could benefit from some of the functionality but is the benefit great enough to justify the initial and ongoing costs associated with WMS? Warehouse Management Systems are big, complex, data intensive, applications. They tend to require a lot of initial setup, a lot of system resources to run, and a lot of ongoing data management to continue to run. That’s right, you need to "manage" your warehouse "management" system. Often times large operations will end up creating a new IS department with the sole responsibility of managing the WMS.
The Claims:
WMS will reduce inventory!
WMS will reduce labor costs!
WMS will increase storage capacity!
WMS will increase customer service!
The Reality:
The implementation of a WMS along with automated data collection will likely give you increases in accuracy, reduction in labor costs (provided the labor required to maintain the system is less than the labor saved on the warehouse floor), and a greater ability to service the customer by reducing cycle times. Expectations of inventory reduction and increased storage capacity are less likely. While increased accuracy and efficiencies in the receiving process may reduce the level of safety stock required, the impact of this reduction will likely be negligible in comparison to overall inventory levels. The predominant factors that control inventory levels are lot sizing, lead times, and demand variability. It is unlikely that a WMS will have a significant impact on any of these factors. And while a WMS certainly provides the tools for more organized storage which may result in increased storage capacity, this improvement will be relative to just how sloppy your pre-WMS processes were.
3.setup
The setup requirements of WMS can be extensive. The characteristics of each item and location must be maintained either at the detail level or by grouping similar items and locations into categories.
Below I have listed some of the logic used in determining actual locations and sequences.
Location Sequence. This is the simplest logic; you simply define a flow through your warehouse and assign a sequence number to each location. In order picking this is used to sequence your picks to flow through the warehouse, in putaway the logic would look for the first location in the sequence in which the product would fit.
Zone Logic. By breaking down your storage locations into zones you can direct picking, putaway, or replenishment to or from specific areas of your warehouse. Since zone logic only designates an area, you will need to combine this with some other type of logic to determine exact location within the zone.
Fixed Location. Logic uses predetermined fixed locations per item in picking, putaway, and replenishment. Fixed locations are most often used as the primary picking location in piece pick and case-pick operations, however, they can also be used for secondary storage.
Random Location. Since computers cannot be truly random (nor would you want them to be) the term random location is a little misleading. Random locations generally refer to areas
where products are not stored in designated fixed locations. Like zone logic, you will need some additional logic to determine exact locations.
First-in-first-out (FIFO). Directs picking from the oldest inventory first.
Last-in-first-out (LIFO). Opposite of FIFO, I have yet to see an application for this logic. Fewest Locations. This logic is used primarily for productivity. Pick-from-fewest logic will use quantity information to determine least number of locations needed to pick the entire pick quantity. Put-to-fewest logic will attempt to direct putaway to the fewest number of locations needed to stock the entire quantity. While this logic sounds great from a productivity standpoint, it generally results in very poor space utilization. The pick-from-fewest logic will leave small quantities of an item scattered all over your warehouse and the put-to-fewest logic will ignore small and partially used locations.
Pick-to-clear. Logic directs picking to the locations with the smallest quantities in hand. This logic is great for space utilization.
Reserved Locations. This is used when you want to predetermine specific locations to putaway to or pick from. An application for reserved locations would be cross-docking where you may specify certain quantities of an inbound shipment be moved to specific outbound staging locations or directly to an awaiting outbound trailer.
Nearest Location. Also called proximity picking/putaway, this logic looks to the closest available location to that of the previous putaway or pick. You need to look at the setup and test this type of logic to verify that it is picking the shortest route and not the actual nearest location. Since the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, this logic may pick a location 30 feet away (thinking it’s closest) that requires the worker to travel 200 feet up and down aisles to get to it while there was another available location 50 feet away in the same aisle (50 is longer than 30).
Maximize Cube. Cube logic is found in most WMS systems however it is seldom used. Cube logic basically uses unit dimensions to calculate cube (cubic inches per unit) and then compares this to the cube capacity of the location to determine how much will fit. Now if the units are capable of being stacked into the location in a manner that fills every cubic inch of space in the location, cube logic will work. Since this rarely happens in the real world, cube logic tends to be impractical.
Consolidate. Looks to see if there is already a location with the same product stored in it with available capacity. May also create additional moves to consolidate like product stored in multiple locations.
Lot Sequence. Used for picking or replenishment, this will use the lot number or lot date to determine locations to pick from or replenish from.
It’s very common to combine multiple logic methods to determine the best location. For example you may chose to use pick-to-clear logic within first-in-first-out 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.
1.仓储管理系统
仓库管理系统的演化非常类似许多其他软件解决方案的演变。从最初的系统控制运动和贮存仓库物质的角色,扩大到包括轻工制造业、运输管理,订单管理、完善会计制度的系统。从祖父物料需求计划（MRP）开始，作为规划中的原料生产环境要求的系统，它很快演变成MRP的制造资源计划（MRPII），它采取了基本MRP系统并增加了调度和容量规划的逻辑。最终演变成MRPII的企业资源规划（ERP），它纳入所有与财务和客户和供应商管理功能有关的所有MRPII的功能。现在，不管WMS发展成为ERP系统是不是一件好事，很明显的是，在与仓库管理系统，企业资源计划，分销需求计划，运输管理系统，供应链计划，高级计划与排程，和制造执行系统的功能重叠扩张只会增加公司寻找其业务软件解决方案之间的混乱程度。
尽管WMS不断获得附加功能,最初的核心功能WMS还没有真正改变。WMS的主要目的是为了控制运动和储存物质。导演采摘，定向增资，并指示入库到库，管理系统是关键。详细的安装，从一个软件供应商到另一个在WMS的处理有很大的差别，但是其基本逻辑将使用一个项目，位置，数量，计量单位，并以信息的组合来确定库存，哪里来哪里去，以什么顺序来执行这些操作。
2.你真的需要WMS吗
并不是每一个仓库需要一个WMS。当然,你会从中获益任何仓库的一些功能,但大好处足以证明最初的和正在进行的相关费用WMS吗?仓库管理系统是大型的,复杂的,数据密集型的应用。他们往往需要大量的初始设置，大量的系统资源来运行，并进行数据的管理地段继续运行。没错,你需要“管理”你的仓库中“管理”系统。通常大型的活动最终会创造一个新的部门自行负责管理WMS。
要求:
WMS将减少库存!
WMS将降低人工成本!
WMS将增加的存储容量!
WMS将增加客户服务!
事实:
一个仓库管理系统以及自动数据采集的实施，将很可能会让你的准确性提高，劳动力成本下降（前提必须保持系统劳动比对仓库保存的劳动少），通过减少周期时间获得更大的能力来服务客户。对存货的减少和增加存储容量是不太可能的。虽然增加了准确性和接收过程可能会降低安全库存水平，这个影响可能会减少相比微不足道的整体库存水平。控制库存水
平主导因素是批量，交货期，和需求变化。一个仓库管理系统将会对这些因素的产生任何重大影响是不可能的。虽然WMS提供的工具,更有条理，但可能导致增加存储器存储容量,这相对完善你的WMS过程是如何草率。
3.安装
对WMS的安装要求非常广泛。不论是在详细程度进行分类或分组还是在类似项目和地点进行分类，每个项目的特点和位置必须保持相同水平，下列是根据我的逻辑列举的一些用于确定实际位置和序列的方法：
（1）位置序列：这是最简单的逻辑，你只需定义一个流程，通过你的仓库分配给每个序列号的位置。在采摘时遵循你挑选的顺序流过仓库，在入库的时候逻辑会寻找序列中的该产品将在合适的第一个位置。
（2）区域的逻辑：分解成带，你可以直接采摘，入库，或从你的仓库某些特定领域的存储位置补充。由于只有指定的一个区域的逻辑区域，您将需要结合一些其他类型的逻辑来确定区域内的确切位置。
（3）固定的位置：逻辑使用预定在采摘，入库，并补充每个项目的固定位置。固定位置是最经常被用来作为选择的主要作品和案例挑选行动，但它们也可用于二级存储使用采摘的位置。
（4）随机的位置：由于计算机无法真正随机的（也没有，你会希望他们是），随机位置是有点误导的。随机位置一般是指产品不固定位置的存放在指定的地区。如Zone逻辑，你会需要一些额外的逻辑来确定确切位置。
（5）先入先出（FIFO）：最早的指示采摘库存第一。
（6)后进先出（后进先出法）：FIFO的对立面，我还没有看到这个逻辑的应用。
（7）最少的地点：这种逻辑是主要用于生产力。这个逻辑将使用数量最少的信息来确定所需的全部地点的数量。这逻辑将尝试直接入库到所需要的全部股票的数量的最低位置。虽然这听起来很不错，但从生产力的角度来看，它通常导致非常差的空间利用率。逻辑会留下你的仓库和各地的投入，它会忽略小部分使用地点分散的小批量的项目。
（8）挑到清晰：逻辑引导的地点选择以最小的数量在手里。这个逻辑是非常适合的空间利用。
（9）预留位置：这是用于当你想事先确定具体地点入库或挑选时，对于保留的地点申请将被交叉对接，您可以指定到港装运一定数量移至特定的举办地点或直接到出站等待拖车。
（10）最近的位置：又称为接近采摘/入库，这种逻辑看起来最相近的位置，是以前的入库或挑选。你需要看安装和测试这样的逻辑类型，以确认它是否选取最短的路线，而不是实际最近的位置。由于两点之间的最短距离是一条直线，这种逻辑可能选择一个位置30英尺远（思考它的最接近），要求工人前往200英尺，而还有一个在同一通道50英尺远的可用位置（50比30更长）。
（11）最大化立方：立方体的逻辑是存在于大多数的WMS，但这是很少使用的系统。立方逻辑基本上是使用单元尺寸计算立方体（每单位立方英寸），然后比较在该位置的立方体
能力决定多少合适。现在，如果采用单位被堆积成位置的方式，逻辑将立方体的工作填补了位置每立方英寸的空间能力。由于这种情况很少发生在现实世界中，立方体的逻辑往往是不切实际的。
（12）巩固：看看自己是否已经有一个在它与现有的存储容量相同的产品的位置。也可以创建额外的动作，以巩固在多个地点存储产品
（13）地段序列：用于采摘或补充，这将使用大量的批号或日期来确定地点挑选或补充。 多种逻辑方法相结合，以确定最佳位置是很常见的。例如，你可以选择先使用先入先出逻辑回升到清晰的逻辑时，再使用类似的多个位置。您也可能会改变目前的工作量后，根据逻辑。在繁忙期间你可以选择逻辑，优化生产力的同时，你在较慢的时期切换到逻辑，优化空间利用率。