AL Systems Concludes Successful Warehouse Control System vs. Warehouse Management System Webinar

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Rockaway, NJ - AL Systems, a leading provider of Warehouse Control System and Order Fulfillment Automation solutions, just concluded a successful webinar titled Warehouse Control System vs. Warehouse Management System.  The webinar was attended by over 50 supply chain and distribution executives who were eager to learn more about the new features of Warehouse Control systems and its impact on their distribution operations.

There are several misconceptions about the functionalities and capabilities of a Warehouse Control System as compared to a Warehouse Management System.  A Warehouse Management System is a planning system designed to manage movement and storage of materials within a warehouse and distribution center.  Despite being an extremely valuable resource in warehousing and distribution operations, customizing a Warehouse Management System to control warehouse automation and material handling subsystems can not only be very expensive and time consuming, but also jeopardize future upgrades. To address this issue, many companies are now turning to Warehouse Control Systems.

A Warehouse Control System, on the other hand, is an execution system designed to direct real-time activities within a warehouse and distribution center.  A Warehouse Control System provides a single point of connection between a Warehouse Management System, ERP and/or host system and the “shop floor”, ensuring all floor activities are running smoothly, maximizing the efficiency of operators as well as warehouse automation and material handling subsystems such as Pick to Light, Voice Picking, RF, Conveyor Systems, Sortation Systems, Automated Labeling Equipment etc. 

The Warehouse Control System landscape is changing rapidly, whereby the new breed is equipped to handle most of the Warehouse Management System functions and more, but at a much lower cost.  The key takeaways from this event were 1) Assess your business issues to determine if adding a Warehouse Control System will benefit you; 2) If the benefit is there, do not rush in - review your current operations and processes to understand where you can improve; 3) Find the right Warehouse Control System that provides what your Warehouse Management System does not - do not compromise; 4) Where overlapping functionality exists in both, select the component that best meets your process requirements at the best return on investment; 5) Design how the Warehouse Management System and Warehouse Control System will work together in terms of functionality, data, interfaces and reporting.