3 Ways a Warehouse Control System Adds to Your Solution
In today’s world, technology gets more and more complicated, but also more and more necessary. The material handling industry has always used technology to create better solutions for consumers, and the Warehouse Control System (WCS) is a software layer that allows for greater efficiency and integration. But with so much technology out there, why is a WCS so beneficial to manufacturers and distributors?
It lets your systems interface
A primary function of a WCS is its ability to allow dissimilar technologies to communicate with one another. The more complex a system is, the more the different pieces of software need to communicate. A WCS acts as a real-time “command center” to ensure that the right information is available at the right time to allow the equipment to run at the speeds required in today’s operations.
For example, when you have a Warehouse Management System (WMS) that communicates the production schedule in batches every hour, and a Conveyor Control System (CCS) communicates in milliseconds, a WCS will allow your business system send order information on its regular schedule, and also coordinate the rapid routing decisions your material handling system needs to make in an instant.
It adapts to changing business requirements
When your business changes, whether it’s a quick change in business rules or significant growth in your industry, you need software that:
- will integrate with your existing ERP or WMS business systems.
- integrates your business rules to allow you to perform work the way you want to.
- is adaptable to your business and its future growth.
Customers demand product at quicker and quicker speeds, and a WCS helps to deliver those products at the pace needed by creating a more flexible operation that will allow greater speed and efficiency.
Get insight into the action
A WCS gives you operational visibility by reporting where products are and how efficient your processes are. For example, in a situation where a truck is being loaded from a shipping sorter, a WCS could tell you the number of cartons shipped to each route and the number of times products were recirculated due to the downstream conveyor being full.
A WCS provides item-by-item tracking as product flow through your facility allowing you to measure, report and manage your operation.
Support lean supply chain initiatives
A WCS is a no-brainer for Lean Supply Chain initiative because of its business-rule-driven design. When your business rules dictate how the software is configured, it’s suddenly much easier to create those rules that reduce waste in a process and refocus on customers—and customers are what these processes are all about.
A Warehouse Control System is a tool for the material handling industry to create and monitor faster and more efficient processes. You can learn more in-depth information about Hytrol’s WCS, by clicking here.
