A warehouse is a commercial facility that is used for storing goods. Warehouses are generally used by wholesalers, manufacturers, importers and transporters etc. A warehouse usually consists of a large simple facility with loading docks for the purpose of loading and unloading goods. A warehouse stores raw materials as well as finished products apart from several other items that may be used during and after the manufacturing process.

There are a few warehouses that are entirely automated and handled by trained and professional staff. Efficient functioning of a warehouse involves proper slotting of the warehouse. A proper slotting plan helps in controlling the productivity and labor costs of the warehouse.

Warehouse control system or WMS is an important feature of the supply chain that focuses on managing the storage and movement of items in a warehouse. It also records and processes all the related transactions like delivery, receipt and picking etc. Apart from that, it also involves communication and tracking between different product stations.

Warehouse management software is a program that lets you manage the day-to-day functions of your warehouse. This software provides warehouse management solutions by centralizing task management involving inventory level tracking and ascertaining and reporting the location of stocks.

Warehouse control software may work all on its own or as a part of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

Previously, warehouse management software used to be very simple which could only report to the management the location and amount of a particular stock. Today, however, this type of software has become very complex and complicated. Most importantly, recent warehouse control solutions also include Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for the purpose of routing and locating products. Since this type of software has become extremely intricate, it has become imperative that you hire a professional IT staff that is able to handle the software properly. In the beginning, warehouse management solutions were designed to record and control products within a warehouse, however, with time, warehouse management software proved their effectiveness in the fields of transportation, light manufacturing as well as finance and accounting.

Specifications, workings and processing of warehouse control software is significantly different from each other in several aspects, however, the fundamentals based on the quantity and location of the merchandise, remain the same across the board. The goal is to have the ability to provide effective control over the movement of stock within the warehouse, the production chain, and through to the finish.

Warehouse management solution not only involves storing merchandise and finished products, but also includes keeping track of all the transactions related to the warehousing operation.

Source by Rinda L Martin