Warehouse Management System

- overview
 What is WMS?

 WMS is a software application that supports the day-to-day operations in a warehouse .

 WMS manage the processes associated with receiving inventory into warehouse, tracking it and
shipping it to customer.
 WMS is used to analyze and optimize the utilization of inventory, physical space, time and cost inside
the Yard and Warehouse.
 WMS aggregates the orders to reduce the transportation and shipping costs.
 WMS involves various features like Appointment Scheduling, Yard management, Receiving, Putaway,
Wave, Picking, Packing & Invoicing.

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 WMS Standards & Notations

 Facility: Can be a Warehouse, Distribution Center, Store

 Item: Goods stored or managed in the Warehouse
 Location: Areas in the warehouse set aside for holding/moving inventory; Types of locations are Reserve, Active,
Store Pack, Staging etc
 LPN: License Plate Number
 Pallet: Group of LPNs
 iLPN: Inbound LPN
 oLPN: Outbound LPN
 ASN: Advance Shipment Notice
 PO: Purchase Orders
 DO: Distribution Orders
 Task: System initiated Unit of Work

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 Standards & Notations (Contd…)

 MHE: Material Handling Equipment

 BOL: Bill of Lading is a legal document used for transportation of goods
 RF: Radio Frequency
 UI: User Interface
 Transaction: Used to execute the Manhattan WMS process
 Reserve locations: Storage locations inside the warehouse for storing iLPNs or Pallets
 Active locations: Storage locations that contain lose units of the items
 Dock Doors: Locations used to park the trailer near to the receiving area
 Yard Slots: Locations used to park the trailer inside the yard till the availability of dock door

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 Inbound\ Outbound Area

1. Truck\ Trailer 2. Inbound Dock

3. Shelving 4. Reserves
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5. Equipment 6. Truck Outbound
Material Handling Equipment - MHE

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 Material Handling Equipment - MHE
Fork Lift Conveyers

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Aisle\ Bay

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 Locations
Pick Face Locations Reserve Pallet Racks

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 Warehouse Layout
• Inbound Area
• Outbound Area
• Zones
• Dock Doors
• Returns Area
• MHE
• Pick Face
• Reserve Area
• Aisle\ Bay
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Zones

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 WMS Interfaces

• Some of the objects are downloaded from host into the Manhattan WMS while some are uploaded from the WMS to Host
• Downloads from Host to WM
– Facility
– Items
– Stores
– PO
– ASN
– LPN
– DO etc
• Uploads from WM to Host
– Ship Confirm/Invoicing
– PIX

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WMS Processes
 The Main Modules In WMS
• INBOUND: The inbound module of Warehouse management contains the following features:
– Appointment Scheduling
– Yard Management
– Pre-receiving
– Receiving
– Putaway
– Fill Active
• OUTBOUND: The outbound module of Warehouse management contains the following features:
– Wave
– Replenishment
– Task Management
– Picking/Packing
– Shipment Planning
– Invoicing
• INVENTORY CONTROL: The outbound module of Warehouse management contains the following features:
– Cycle count
– Audit
– Inventory Sync

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 INBOUND

 Inbound is used to receive and tracking inventory at a greater level of details then a host order
processing system.
 The inbound process involves the appointment scheduling, receiving of inventory and putaway into the
various locations like Reserve, Active etc
 PIXes are being generated whenever there is an inventory change in the system like increase or
decrease in inventory which is allocable or unallocable
 ASNs can be Item Level or LPN/Case Level

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 Appointment Scheduling

• Appointment Scheduling involves scheduling a prior appointment with the warehouse/DC for
bringing in the goods to the warehouse or shipping out the goods from the warehouse
• Appointment can be scheduled for the following transactional objects Purchase orders, Advance
Shipment Notice, Shipment etc
• Scheduled appointments can be subjected to modification or cancellation
• The various appointment types are:

– Live Unload
– Drop Unload
– Live Load
– Pickup Load

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 Yard Management

 Yard Management involves checking in of the appointment or trailer, movement of trailers between
yard slots and dock door locations through yard tasks
 Dock Doors and Yard Slot locations are used to store the trailers
 Once the ASN arrives at the DC Yard, the Guard Check-in option is used to check-in the appointment to
the suggested dock door or yard slot locations
 Add Yard Tasks are used to generate yard tasks to move the trailers between the dock doors & Yard
Slots
 RF YM Request tasks and Move task are used to execute the tasks generated for the trailer movements
 Guard Checkout is used to check out the appointment from the DC and there by moving the trailer out
of the Yard
 RF Yard Audit is used to Audit the Yard Slot and Dock Door locations
 Trailer activity trail provides information on the movement of trailer within the yard

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 Pre-receiving

 Pre-receiving process involves the assignment of item to active locations, setting up for inbound quality
inspection, Vendor Performance etc
 Quality inspection is used to audit the iLPNs that are going to be received with a pre configured set of
rules like audit the 1st iLPN of each item on the PO
 Vendor Performance codes are configured to check the vendor performance. These codes are violation
codes used to capture the violations by the respective vendor and charge back

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 Receiving

 Receiving is the process of receiving the goods into the warehouse

 The Receiving process is initiated on arrival of the trailer at the dock door
 Both Item Level and LPN/Case Level ASNs can be received at the dock door
 Receiving can be hooked with Sorting, Palletization and Disposition
 Receiving & Sorting will dispose the received goods to the sorting location and from there can be sent to Quality Inspection or Immediate needs
 Receiving & Palletization will receive and palletize the received iLPNs to pallets
 Received inventory could be consumed for Flow through, Put to Zone, Replenishment to Active
 Close Trailer i.e. Ctrl+B during receiving is used to close the trailer after receiving/unloading
 RF Verify Receipt is used after receiving to verify the receipts if no receiving variances
 UI Verify ASN is used to validate, reconcile and confirm the receiving completion if variance exists
 RF Transactions:
 RF Receiving with flavors like Sort, Palletize, Disposition etc

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 Putaway

 Putaway is the process of locating the received inventory into the Reserve locations inside the warehouse
 The 2 types of Putaway transactions are user directed and system directed
 Putaway System Directed:
 The Putaway type on the iLPN is determined first
 Based on the selected Putaway type, the Putaway method is determined
 The Putaway Zones are selected from the determined Putaway method
 The iLPN attributes are compared against the respective location attributes and the matching locations are selected in consideration with the Size capacity of that location
 Putaway User Directed:
 The iLPN to be Putaway is scanned and the user scans the location explicitly
 Putaway Pallet: The Palletized iLPNs are Putaway into reserve locations as a single Pallet
 RF Transactions:
 Putaway Pallet
 Putaway iLPN
 Locate LPN

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 Fill Active

• Fill active is the process of filling up the Active Locations

• The inventory from the Reserve locations are replenished into Active Locations
• RF Transactions:

– Fill Active

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 OUTBOUND

 Outbound is used to track the customer order from the system entry to shipping.
 The outbound modules involve waves, picking, packing, shipment planning and invoicing
 Types of distribution orders are used:
 Retail or Store Distribution Order
 Customer Orders
 RTV i.e Return to Vendor Orders
 Fulfillment types on the distribution orders are as below:
 Fulfillment type 1: These orders can be fulfilled only during the retail wave process
 Fulfillment type 2: These orders can be fulfilled only during the receiving process
 Fulfillment type 3: These orders can be fulfilled by either wave process or receiving
process

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 Wave

 Wave is the process of satisfying the distribution orders with the available inventory in the warehouse.
 The Wave process involves the following activities:
 Distribution Order Selection and Sequencing: The selection of the distribution orders
which are in Released status with the matching inventory in the warehouse
 Allocation: Involves the allocation of inventory from the various locations like Reserve &
Active
 Cubing/ Cartonization: Generating the oLPNs to place the allocated inventory for shipping
 Tasking: Involves the generation of tasks to the users to do the picking of inventory from
the respective locations and packing it
 Order Aggregation: Multiple store orders for the same store are aggregated into a parent
order to track it in the MA system

 UI Transaction: Run Wave

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 Replenishment

 Replenishment involves replenishing the inventory in the Active location from the Reserve locations
 Types of replenishment are:
 Lean Time Replenishment: This type of replenishment is done outside of the wave process. This way active locations would be
filled up before the waves are run
 Replenishment tasks generated during wave: Replenishment tasks are generated during the wave to replenish the Active
Locations with the inventory from the Reserve Locations
 3 types of replenishment tasks could be generated during wave
 Priority 40: replenishment needs to happen before picking of the wave
 Priority 50: replenishment is generated when a wave requirement exceeds a maximum quantity of the active location for the
SKU. Priority ‘50’ replenishment must be replenished during the wave to prevent shorting at the Active location
 Priority 60: This is an ‘anytime’ replenishment that is not needed to fulfill the wave need but must be replenished before the
next wave. A priority ‘60’ pull is generated when the quantity in the location is taken below the minimum, but not below zero
 UI Transaction: Lean Time Replenishment

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 Task Management

 Task Management is the process of generating and assigning the various tasks to the RF users in the DC
 Tasks are generated as part of the Wave process or triggered during picking/packing
 Tasking is being used in various activities in the DC based on the Inventory Need Type like
 Directed Putaway
 Picking from Active
 Picking from Reserve
 Replenishing Active from Reserve
 Bulk Pull from Active
 Bulk Pull from Reserve
 Cycle count tasks

 There are 2 modes of task execution

 CTRL+S: A list of tasks assigned to the user would be available to select
 CTRL+E: User selects a specific task by its task id instead of selecting from the list

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 Picking/Packing

 Picking is the process of picking the inventory from the locations to satisfy the distribution order
requirement by task execution
 Packing is the process of placing the picked inventory into the oLPNs created as part of Wave
 Following Picking tasks are available
 INT 2: Pick inventory from Reserve
 INT 50: Pick inventory from Active
 INT 53: Bulk Pull from Reserve
 INT 54: Bulk Pull from Active

 RF Transaction: Pack cube directed transaction is used to pack the inventory to the cartons
 MHE is also being used for Picking & Packing

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 Shipment Planning

 Shipment Planning is the process of generating the shipments to send to the customer or stores
 Shipments can have a single order or multiple orders
 Outbound shipments can be generated using the Manual Shipment Planning
 Orders can be assigned to an existing shipment if within capacity using Manual Shipment Planning
 New shipments can be generated using the Manual Shipment planning
 Routing Wave can be used for shipment planning
 UI Transaction:

 Manual Load Planning

 Routing Wave

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 Loading & Unloading

 Loading is the process of loading the packed oLPNs onto the shipment or trailer.
 Load Trailer transaction is used to Load the oLPNs on to the Trailer manually.
 Weigh and Manifest is used for loading the oLPNs for parcel carriers.
 Unloading is the process of unloading the packed oLPNs from the shipment or trailer.
 RF Transaction: RF Load Trailer, RF Unload oLPN
 MHE can be used for Loading

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 Close Shipment

 Close shipment is the process of closing the shipment/trailer indicating that the shipment is ready to be shipped out
 Not loaded oLPNs for the shipment are unassigned from the closed shipment and can be shipped through another shipment
 The Loaded Shipment can be closed using the UI Close Shipment or RF Close Trailer
 Close Manifest is used for Parcel Carriers
 Ship Confirmation records are generated to mark the completion of Close shipment
 No further oLPNs can be loaded into the Closed Shipment
 UI Transaction: Close Shipment from Shipments UI, Close Manifest from Manifest UI
 RF Transaction: RF Close Trailer
 Following Shipping documents would be generated on Close shipment
 BOL, Master BOL
 Pickup sheet for Parcel Carrier

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 INVENTORY CONTROL

 Inventory control are used to maintain the WM system inventory and the physical available inventory in
sync
 Inventory control involves doing the cycle count i.e audit of reserve and active locations
 Inventory control involves moving of inventory into the allocable and unallocable buckets
 The iLPNs or oLPN quantities can be modified
 Some of the inventory control transactions are Cycle count, Inbound and Outbound Quality audit,
Inventory Sync etc

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 Cycle count, Inventory Sync, Quality Audit

 Cycle count involves counting of small areas of the facility/warehouse periodically to keep the system
inventory and the physical available inventory in sync.
 Cycle count can be user initiated using the RF Cycle count Reserve or RF Cycle count Active transactions
 Cycle count can be system triggered due to inventory going below zero, shortage during packing etc
 Inbound & Outbound quality audit is used to check the accuracy and quality of the iLPNs received or
the oLPNs shipped out of the facility
 Inventory Sync : is used to accomplish inventory synchronization using PIX transactions. This provides a
clear picture of the WM Inventory present in the system including both allocable and unallocable. UI
Transaction Gen 605 is used for this and can be communicated to the host daily

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 Misc RF Transactions

 Some of the other WMS RF Transactions are:

 Modify iLPN: To Modify the contents of an Received iLPN

 Audit oLPN: To Audit the oLPNs that would be shipped out
 Split Move oLPN: Allows the user to split part of or move the
full contents of an oLPN into a new oLPN or to an existing oLPN
 Lock/Unlock oLPN: To Lock/Unlock the oLPNs that is going to
be shipped out
 Palletize oLPN: To put multiple oLPNs on to a single pallet
 Cancel oLPN: To cancel the packed oLPNs
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 Warehouse Management System
• Receiving
• Put Away
• Picking
• Shipping
• QC\ Validation
• Inventory Locations
• Space Management
• Reports

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Warehouse Layout

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