Why do warehouse needs change and how have WMS evolved and will they evolve?

Why do warehouse needs change and how have WMS evolved and will they evolve?

Warehouse needs are constantly changing and warehouse management systems must evolve to meet these changes. In this article, I will address the reasons warehouse needs change, how WMS have adapted over time, and what we can expect in future needs.

Timeline of events that cause changes in warehouse needs

The concept of warehousing is very old. Most people agree that it began with the need for the Egyptians to store provisions during the seven prosperous years to withstand the next seven lean years prophesied by Joseph. Since then, the reasons for storing and distributing merchandise have constantly evolved, as have the needs for the variables and processes to be controlled. These changes have been triggered by two main factors: technological breakthroughs and external events. The most relevant are shown in the table below. The color coding attempts to reflect the relationship between technology and external catalysts:

Evolution of warehouse management systems

The warehouse software management solution started to show itself in the 1970s and was propelled by Walmart’s opening of its 1^st Distribution Center in 1971. Since then, the evolution of WMS has been exponential following technological advances in IOT. The table below shows a quick synthesis of the evolution of warehouse systems.

Future of Warehouse Management Systems

The changes caused by COVID and the technological trends represented in the Internet of Things (IOT) will continue to drive the evolution of WMS. This is a partial list of the needs that we believe the warehouse management systems of the future will have to address.

• Support and integration with “smart technologies”
• Expanded drop shipping capabilities
• Sophisticated planning logic in their systems, all with a view to supporting more complex ordering environments.
• Automatic updating of the software installed in all the customer’s warehouses, at the same time, whenever there is a change or an added solution requested by the customer.

LACEUP SOLUTIONS was created in 2004 to provide integrated solutions to all the needs of distributors, from warehousing, to routing and delivery, to DSD. We have grown surfing the IOT wave which is why our solutions match our customer’s needs.

I hope this article on warehouse evolution and the future of WMS has been helpful to you. I will continue to post information related to warehouse management, distribution practices and trends, and the economy in general. If you are interested in this article or want to learn more about Laceup Solutions, please subscribe to stay updated on future articles.

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