WMS vs. WCS

Jim Iversen, CEOMark Kushner, COO

Lloyed Lobo, Director of Business Development

Agenda

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AL Systems Company Overview

The Role of a WMS

WCS Why A WCS The Traditional Role of a WCS The Evolution of the WCS The WCS Today

Do I need a WCS?

WMS & WCS – Working Together

Simon & Schuster Case Study

Q&A

Company Overview

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Over 30 years of long-standing client relationships

Strong team of Distribution Experts - Systems Analysts, Engineers, Software Developers, Project Managers & World class Customer Support

Design-Build Model - Operations Assessment, Design, ROI Analysis, Build and Implement, & Support

Best of Breed - Lights, Voice, RF, MHE…

Functionally rich, configurable, personalized

Single connection to WMS, ERP and/or enterprise systems

Productivity Management, Reporting & Resource Balancing

AL Systems provides clients with Warehouse Control and Order Fulfillment solutions that optimize the flow of merchandise through their distribution centers.

The Role of the WMS

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WMS made their debut in the mid 1980s

The WMS acts as a business planning system focusing on planning the "business needs" of the warehouse (POs, Orders, Inventory Locations, Labor)

As the “System of Record” the WMS maintains and manages a vast amount of information such as inventory data, purchase orders, customer orders, and historical data.

The WMS processes large amounts of data in a non real-time mode to arrive at the daily workload of what is to be processed by the material handling systems and labor resources on a day-to-day basis

The WMS manages the non-automated operations in a DC

Manages information across multiple facilities and the system can physically reside offsite

WMS employs highly standardized software products that provide well defined services. Customized modifications to WMS can be extremely costly and threaten future upgrades and support.

Why A WCS?

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The Warehouse Control System (WCS) evolved from the industry’s need for a new breed of bolt-on software functionality for the management of real-time communication, the integrated control of many types of automated equipment, and the lack of functionally rich, configurable order fulfillment solution.

The speed and nimbleness of the WCS makes it uniquely designed to focus on the exchange of real-time communications, command processing, discrete equipment signals, and the optimization of material movement and traffic control tasks where response is measured in milliseconds, and conditions change at a moments notice.

Traditional Role of WCS

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Warehouse Control Systems emerged 20 years ago to bridge the gap between higher level information systems, such as Warehouse Management Systems, and the warehouse floor by allocating, balancing, managing , and monitoring tasks executed by disparate automated material handling equipment and subsystems in real time

Using business rules, and real time data, a WCS synchronizes the activities of multiple automated equipment subsystems, human resources, and material flow, and drives control decisions and exceptions.

A WCS provides a uniform interface for a variety of equipment to the upper level management systems such as WMS

A WCS optimizes asset utilization

A WCS operates within the four walls of the facility and the system is resident in the facility

Modular in nature. Employs easily configurable and customizable software to meet the unique, and ever-changing business process requirements of an industry or company

Making Beautiful Music Together

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“Think of your operation as a symphony orchestra. The Warehouse Management System is the composer, creating a musical score that features reeds, woodwinds, and strings, together making beautiful sounds. But anyone who has ever heard the dreadful noise that an orchestra makes when tuning up knows that it needs the conductor to pull it all together. In this case, the conductor is the Warehouse Control System, making sure the material handling “instruments” perform in perfect harmony and efficiency.”

John T. Phelan Jr., P.E

Traditional WMS-WCS Landscape

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User InterfaceUser Interface

ReportsReports AlertsAlerts

Host InterfaceHost Interface

Manage Inbound POs & Receiving

Manage Inbound POs & Receiving

Manage Outbound Orders & ShippingManage Outbound Orders & Shipping

Inventory, Storage & Location

Management

Inventory, Storage & Location

Management

User InterfaceUser Interface

ReportsReports AlertsAlerts

Host InterfaceHost Interface

Equipment Communication &

Control

Equipment Communication &

Control

DC Activity Execution Receiving, PutAway, Replenishment,

Picking, Packing, Shipping

DC Activity Execution Receiving, PutAway, Replenishment,

Picking, Packing, Shipping

WMS

WCS

B-O-B

The Evolution of WCS

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So…..WMS – manages information and controls inventory and WCS – drives equipment and people

But…..The Line between the two has become blurred over time and functions

sometimes overlap

Resulting in….. The WCS that was once a bridge between a WMS and a PLC – has now grown in functionality

The WCS has begun to play a larger role in order fulfillment and warehouse management execution

Different vendors offer different functionality

WCS Today

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WCS Today…. Information flow drives Material flow in the DC Managing execution of tasks by disparate automated material handling equipment and subsystems in real time Directing Human Task/Activity Control Such As:

Receiving Put Away Replenishment Order Picking Consolidation Sortation

Providing Human Interface Control at point of ActionWorkstation DisplaysRF Terminals & DisplaysLight Directed CommunicationVoice Directed Communication

Provide enterprise visibility of real-time operational conditions Managing exceptions and control decisions in real time Providing historical performance data and resource productivity metrics

The New Landscape

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User InterfaceUser InterfaceReportsReports AlertsAlerts

Host InterfaceHost Interface

Manage Inbound POs & Receiving

Manage Inbound POs & Receiving

Manage Outbound Orders & ShippingManage Outbound Orders & Shipping

Inventory, Storage & Location

Management

Inventory, Storage & Location

Management

User InterfaceUser Interface

ReportsReports AlertsAlerts

Host InterfaceHost InterfaceEquipment

Communication & Control

Equipment Communication &

Control

Activity Execution Receiving, PutAway, Replenishment,

Picking, Packing, Shipping

Activity Execution Receiving, PutAway, Replenishment,

Picking, Packing, Shipping

WMS

WCS

Do I Need a WCS?

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Your current process is inefficient and it takes too long to get a product out the door

Your conveyor system has cartons everywhere, but going nowhere fast

You’re creating back orders even though the product is in stock

You’re shipping the wrong products, the wrong quantities or to the wrong location

Your order profile is changing; More orders, Smaller orders, Fewer lines per order

Your shipping customized orders (Value Added Services, customer specific paperwork, Labeling, Cartonization)

Current operation requires too many “work-arounds”

Unable to measure & track individual and overall productivity

Do I Need a WCS?

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You’re growing fast and can’t handle the volume, without adding more people and more space

It is getting expensive to keep modifying your WMS system to meet your operational requirements

Information flow is not automatic

Employees travel long distances between actions

Too many SKU touches are required

Picking SKU’s in item number sequence rather than optimized pick path

Still using paper (or RF) for directing activities

Adding automation and equipment to your process

Need for a lot of decision points

I need a WCS - So now what?

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Baseline current performance so you can measure progress Take a good look at your current operation and create profiles of your

SKUs Purchase Orders Customer Orders Inventory

Identify any future events that will impact your operation in the future

Take a good look at your current processes. Re-engineer where appropriate to optimize material flow through automation and human control

Determine whether your WMS can provide the complete functionality needed to support your specific new process requirements. If so, at what cost? Don’t compromise!

Where it cannot, put these on the list of processes to be supported by the WCS

Find a WCS that can provide the functionality required to at an acceptable cost

–

Other Considerations….

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Balance the roles of the WMS and WCS Utilize WMS components for functionality that WMS products typically do well Utilize WCS components for functionality that WCS products typically do well Minimize overlap of functionality and data - Assign functionality to a single component to avoid maintenance in multiple systems

Data Share core data whenever possible to avoid data synchronization problems Define what data is “owned” by the WMS and what data is “owned” by the WCS? How much data is duplicated between the WMS and the WCS? For duplicated data, what is the risk of data becoming out of sync and how is data re-synced? What data is shared between the WMS and the WCS?

Other Considerations…

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Interfacing Determine interface requirements What is the optimal method (or methods) of interfacing based on the required touch-points between the WMS and WCS? What is the cost of interfacing the WMS and the WCS?

Reporting and Monitoring Can the WMS and the WCS utilize a single reporting solution? If not, can data from both systems be merged into single report? Can the WMS and the WCS components be monitored through a single mechanism?

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Pre-2008 WCS

Manhattan WMS – RF Receiving,

Putaway, Replenishment, Inventory

Management

Order Picking by Labels (paper)

AL Systems DynaTrack –

Controlling the movement, auditing,

sortation and tracking of Vendor

Cartons & Customer Orders

throughout

Hytrol Conveyor

Benefits of Paperless

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INSERT TABLE OF FUNCTIONALITY FROM Oracle Article

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2008

Replaced Paper Picking with Voice Picking

Unique design that automatically distributes the work to areas that need it.

Consolidated from 2 to 1 DCs

$5 mil savings - Less than 1 year payback

“We had a choice of putting voice picking in our WMS, in our WCS, or

standalone. We decided to use the voice picking system provided by

our WCS system, largely because there is a close interface between

order picking and our conveyor systems because orders are on the

conveyor system, and that is controlled by the WCS. We see the WCS

as the backbone of our operation”

-Dave Schaeffer-VP Distribution and Fulfillment

Recap

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WMS and WCS fill two very different complimentary roles

WMS WCS

Planning the business (Composer) Executing the business (Conductor)

Manage the non-automated operations Control the automated equipment , human resources, and operations

Process vast amount of non-Real time data to plan and manage the business

Use of real time data & business rules to control execution of activities in the DC

Multi-facility Within the four walls of the DC

Manage the expected Manage the exceptions

Highly standardized, well defined functionality, expensive to change

Modular, highly configurable and customizable, inexpensive to change

Recap

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Assess your business issues to determine if adding a WCS will benefit you

If the benefit is there, don’t rush in. Review your current operations and processes to understand where you can improve the process

Find the right WCS that provides what your WMS does not. Don’t compromise.

Where overlapping functionality exists in both, select the component that best meets your process requirements

Design how the WMS and WCS will work together Functionality Data Interfaces Reporting

Other Resources

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White Papers: http://www.alsystems.com/white-papers

Further Information:Lloyed Lobo973-586-8500 x223llobo@alsysinc.com