Single Company, Multiple Warehouse

The more complex warehouse operation will benefit from greater controls over the product flow that the CitiXsys WMS provides.  As the demand on the operation grows, management will want the flexibility to tailor the flow of operations to maximize productivity.

When many pickers are active in the same shift, the WMS makes it possible for management to divide the picking effort by zone to eliminate congestion in the aisles, or to pick a zone in reverse order for the same reason.  The warehouse can be arranged to allow for pallet picking for bulk orders in one area, whereas another area can be designated to pick to totes for repacking at a packing station. Or management may find it optimal to pick directly to the shipping carton to speed the delivery.

The materials resource planning feature prepares your purchase orders for you to order in time to replenish the warehouse before you’re out of stock.  And an automatic replenishment system anticipates the need to refill pick bins themselves based on minimum required levels before picking starts.  When the system allocates sales orders from the pick bins, the percentage of order line fill increases because product has been made available in time.  The higher the line fill, the more satisfied the customer and the greater the billings for the period.

Detailed Product Handling

In high transaction environments the warehouse operation needs to employ system aids to ensure critical processes and circumstances are not overlooked.  Special handling is required for special product and circumstances.  Not every receipt should go directly to the pick bins.

Hold codes applied through the handheld at the time of receipt will prevent damaged or suspect goods from being allocated for picking. Quarantine codes trigger a quality control process moving goods to special areas and providing testing instructions before the product can be approved for shipping. Expiration dates can be used to rotate the old stock out before the new stock is used.

Special processes require special capabilities provided by the WMS. A special kitting process “explodes” assembled products into their components so child items can be picked appropriately.  License plate labeling tells the scanner all the product and quantities in the pallet in a single scan, thus reducing the number of scans and clicks it would otherwise take to move full pallet loads quickly from location to location.  A special box-building feature determines exactly the number and size of boxes to use in picking orders directly to their shipping cartons.  Special carton labeling records the contents of each box and print packing lists accordingly.

Receiving and shipping goods with lot numbers makes it possible for customers to order by lot and for tracking product recalls.  And you can shipping product by serial numbers making subsequent warranty service track able.

Benefits