Order fulfillment operations for a warehouse or storage facility often need an efficient and standardized system to keep processes running at a steady pace. To help you start optimizing your warehouse operations, we've created a simple guide; it includes a checklist of factors-- size of warehouse, need for tracking inventory attributes, fulfillment process and budget-- to assist you in choosing a warehouse management system that will best fit your business requirements.

Size of warehouse or storage facility: Size impacts daily operations. For example, a large facility yields larger inventory and more staff. A larger staff determines if a real-time or a batch system is needed. A real-time (RF) system is ideal for a large warehouse staff from an ease-of-use standpoint. In a real-time system, users receive and ship goods quickly; any data collected from transactions performed on a handheld or mobile computer are automatically uploaded to a database. On the other hand, a batch system requires docking the handheld computer in order to upload data after transactions are performed.

Need for tracking inventory attributes: Does your inventory need serial number, lot or expiration date tracking? If so, an inventory control system that fully supports those attributes is recommended. Proper inventory attribute support ensures your inventory is tracked appropriately as it is received, moved and shipped from your warehouse.

Fulfillment process: What is your order fulfillment process like? If special packing requirements are needed for some inventory items, your business needs call for sophisticated warehouse management software that monitors the shipping, receiving and picking of inventory. As materials are shipped, the software should integrate with UPS WorldShip or FedEx so that orders may be easily tracked. Having this functionality would also eliminate the need to rekey a shipping address for each package.

For the receiving process, it would be beneficial if the software receiving feature could operate as a stand-alone application, so that orders may be validated instantly. By validating orders, you could reduce the number of errors to make the receiving process much more accurate.

If you can find a software picking feature that would also operate as a stand-alone application, this would help further validate orders to streamline your operations. The picking functionality should be able to work with your existing customer order system to import open orders.

Understanding the various warehouse inventory control functions that are available in a software package will help you acquire software that is the best fit for your business needs.
Budget: Too often, companies set a cost before researching inventory control systems. A more efficient method for selecting inventory control software is to first perform research on software offerings, then create a budget based on what your business requires and what it can do without. Sometimes decision makers settle on a solution based upon short-term costs. Instead, it is recommended to note ongoing fees and support costs. What is the frequency of licensing fees, and what is the cost of support after the first year? Since the goal is to use the software for many years, understand all of the factors involved in long-term costs.

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