Businesses with warehouses and DCs who want to evolve their operations to save time, improve efficiency, and gain quicker return on investments should look at combining an agile approach to warehouse change with configurable, modular, and scalable technologies. Michael Weir, Managing Director at Microlistics, explains how Microlistics WMS makes this possible.
Microlistics is in the business of helping retailers, manufacturers, 3PLs and logistics companies update their warehouses and DCs through an evolutionary approach to warehouse management.
This approach has many benefits, including providing a faster speed to technology benefit, reducing business costs, and making for a higher and quicker return on investments (ROIs).
Microlistics WMS is a cloud-based system which Michael Weir, Managing Director of Microlistics, says can provide warehouses with a configurable, modular, scalable tool that will provide immediate and ongoing returns from day one.
FLEXIBLE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT WITH THE CLOUD
Cloud-based systems use a modular approach allowing scaling up of the solution and supporting infrastructure over time. As business needs evolve processing power can be increased up to match, whereas traditional on-premise installations require a business to consider what sort of hardware it needs in its facility, both today and for the future.
The Microlistics WMS is a modular system – i.e., it is split into separable modules for different applications. Because hosting is outsourced to the cloud, there is no server hardware requirement on-premises. This means that it’s easier to scale upwards as and when a business needs more processing, whereas if a business’s WMS capability had on-premise infrastructure, then it would have to consider adding to that physical infrastructure to get the desired processing capability – an additional and unnecessary burden.
“With on-premise installations customers provide hardware and we provide them with the WMS application,” Michael explains. “They need to set up and manage the infrastructure, whereas with Microlistics Cloud we provide a fully hosted solution that the business simply connects to.
“By opting for a cloud-based system, our customers save time and effort, allowing them to focus on being great logistics businesses. We handle the infrastructure, the hosting and operating of the systems, managing the databases, updating the software, dealing with disaster recovery, and the platform’s administration.”
Another reason why Microlistics recommends a cloud-driven WMS is because it’s less expensive upfront than the on-premise option. The installation of an on-premise setup has upfront licencing fees and ongoing support costs in addition to initial server infrastructure, while cloud-based alternatives only require a monthly service fee.
“This can help a business with its ROI by reducing software costs to a lower monthly fee from day one,” says Michael. “There’s a lot less investment upfront so it keeps the initial cost down by not requiring you to purchase expensive hardware on a larger scale. Cloud-based systems are also more scalable, and less IT team support is necessary so businesses don’t need to hire experts in that field or delegate these roles to other staff – meaning those staff can focus on other duties.
“You don’t need to predict from a hardware and infrastructure point of view what your future operations will be, especially important with larger organisations rolling out WMS across multiple entities, warehouses, and potentially multiple countries. With the cloud you can start small and as the system requirements increase – based on expanded usage – you can build on the cloud infrastructure, which gives you a better cost upfront and guarantees flexibility over time. You can alter the system as needed.”
When businesses want to install the WMS into multiple facilities or locations, they can start with one, then “copy and paste” the configuration to others, saving time, energy, and money.
In contrast, an on-premise install can require costly infrastructure additions or upgrades for expansion which eats into a company’s ROI.
Companies that want to futureproof their operations and ensure long-term benefits can fall into a trap, notes Mike. “Organisations wanting to future proof their investment may look to design an all-encompassing solution upfront, but that becomes a very lengthy process.
“It takes a long time to understand requirements and design operational and system solutions over a large scale, across many warehouses and even countries. Configuring, deploying, testing, and rolling it out all takes significant time. The trap we see is that by the time solutions are finally rolled out to operations, business requirements change, and those solutions become redundant and the opportunity for earlier gains has passed.
“When you build something that’s complex, that becomes rigid, it’s hard for the business to gain benefits. This is why it’s important to take an agile approach to warehouse change and choose modular, capable, and configurable technology.
“You need to think about what tomorrow’s challenges might be and allow for those possibilities, but not be locked into them because the business is quickly changing.
“You need to make quicker progress on today’s goals and build some excitement from delivering improvements to the operation.
“As businesses and their customers are becoming more demanding, those businesses in turn are more demanding on the logistics operations, so you need to be ready to embrace the change.
“Focusing on iterative improvement and expansion rather than trying to achieve everything today and working with a WMS that is modular and configurable allows you to have that agile approach when rolling it throughout your business.”
REAPING ROIs: PIECE BY PIECE
The easiest way to build returns and to get them quickly is to be mindful when investing. By limiting the initial investment in terms of time, effort from the internal team, and cost, then a business will obtain a higher return quicker.
The trick is to not overinvest at the beginning, to achieve early results, reduce expenses, increase throughput, then reinvest in further ongoing improvements.
The COVID pandemic has shown businesses and their warehouses need to be adaptable and able to rapidly change.
“Warehouses on a day-to-day basis are driven by repetition, which gives efficiency; but that strength in efficiency can also make it difficult for them to change,” notes Michael.
“Considering the scope when installing a WMS is essential, as well as establishing an iterative approach where a business gets the outcomes it needs overtime.
“You’re going to get that return from your effort and your investment quickly, at a smaller scale, and then continue to iterate on a more agile basis and grow from there.”
He says this gives a business several advantages, including immediate runs on the board and keeping it flexible so the business isn’t locked into a plan.
THE MICROLISTICS CLOUD-BASED WMS DIFFERENCE
Microlistics WMS is an advanced platform for optimising warehouse operations. It provides core warehouse efficiencies as well as allowing a business to utilise other key technologies, whether it’s automation or integration.
“Microlistics’ WMS gives its users a strong flexible platform that allows the warehouse operation to achieve what it needs initially,” Michael says. “The risk, though, with updating any operational software is that it requires a considerable amount of time and money and can be a drawn-out process over months or even years.”
He adds that it’s about having a sensible approach that gets a business onto an updated system which gives it those speed-to-technology benefits and a quicker turnaround of its requirements
For more information on Microlistics, click here.