by Tony Liddar
30. November 2011 10:31
When you make a significant investment in anything, you want
to know that it’s fit for purpose and, as your situation changes, you can carry
your investment with you. After all, why would you buy an analogue tv set knowing
the digital switchover was imminent!
And why would you buy a digital tv without any future
proofing if it were the same price as one that was HD and 3D ready?
This question arose last week when giving a presentation to
a company planning for some significant changes and growth to its business.
A number of our customers in recent years have started off
as relatively small businesses (less than £10 million turnover and less than 10
MACS users) but in 2012 are expected to hit £100-200 million in turnover and
have approximately 5O users. The MACS wms has continually facilitated and
supported that growth, whereas the main system issues have surrounded the
financial accounting and CRM capability aspects of managing that growth. This
has invariably lead to thinking about ERP upgrade.
In the same way, I find it both interesting and disturbing
that apparently some warehouse management systems can only cope with, for
example, bulk pallets without any concept of pick face or single item picking,
or that they were designed for a particular market only (such as 3PL).
As a non-technical person purely looking at the practical
processes within the warehouse, I struggle to see why any of the items above
would be limiting factors. Sure, there are certain data capture requirements
and processes within specific sectors but having a holistic approach to the
strategic development of software is surely the best approach. Even some of our
existing customers who have increased (or are looking to expand) their e-fulfilment
businesses are wary of how they will be able to cope. But in my world there is
no difference here to “normal” warehousing procedures and such a direction
should not cause undue concern or pressure. From 100 orders per week to 10,000
orders per week, the management of consolidated orders to individual depots
with separate billing addresses, “drop ship” orders, the management of
consignment stock and demand forecasting/purchase ordering to multi choice
couriers, it’s all standard.
And if there is
something specifically not available, well it can be soon!
