Though the current recession will undoubtedly bite deeper than those of the recent decades, recovery will come, and those businesses that have managed best during the recession will be best placed to take advantage of the upturn, when it arrives, says Bob Williams of LPC International.

The logistics sector will undoubtedly be hard-hit as consumer demand falls, and the demand for warehousing space and transport services declines. The decline in demand will be difficult in an industry which, by tradition, is very competitive, provides high levels of customer service and works on tight profit margins. Downturns inevitably affects those margins, and customers – who themselves suffer similar economic pressures – inevitably look to their service providers to take a share, and sometimes more than a fair share, of the “pain” of dealing with the situation.

What then, can de done to address the problem? Unless you are have sufficient resources and are confident enough to invest capital in the development of new facilities and infrastructure for the future, then planning for recession is essentially about introducing measures to drive costs out of the business in order to become “leaner and meaner” while still maintaining a healthy customer base.

LPC International is a leading logistics and supply chain consultancy specialising in warehouse and facility design and operational support. Based in Cirencester LPC has extensive experience in many industry and business sectors and has worked on both new facilities and re-engineering of existing, ranging in size upwards from 5,000ft2.

For a small business with a single warehouse there is huge pressure on your team to deliver cost-effective logistics and inventory management. For established businesses, you may have a time tested set of procedures and a warehouse team who have been with you for many years. This may work well for you at the moment, but does your current way of working equip your business for growth and change, does it rely on the knowledge in peoples’ heads, and is it as efficient as it could be? In a competitive and rapidly evolving marketplace, businesses with the flexibility to optimise and improve their warehouse processes are better positioned to save costs and secure new customers – pushing them ahead of their competitors.

A Warehouse Management System (WMS) helps you optimise your supply chain by improving control of your warehouse and logistics processes. There are many sound reasons to invest in a WMS, which we have discussed elsewhere on this blog. However, the question we will address in this article is how a warehouse management system works for you and how it uses this basis to affect positive changes throughout your operation.

The “changes” in terms of stockholding and in the pattern of demand that many companies are experiencing are becoming increasingly prevalent in distribution as companies endeavour to take cost out while improving or maintaining service levels. These changes have resulted in:

The Cloud is one of those terms that doesn’t have a commonly accepted, unambiguous definition. From the supply chain point of view, it can be considered an outsourced service that supplies or supports your IT systems. Virtually the complete range of systems and services can be ‘Clouded’ and this has the same drivers as shared user warehousing and transport services – sharing overheads and resources reduces costs; the ability to flex capacity to meet demand; paying only for what you use; and management by a third party. 

After reading our previous article, on the 'benefits of a warehouse management system', you may have begun to consider the improvements a WMS can make in your warehouse and supply chain. But what about implementing the system? Implementing such a wide ranging and important system as a WMS comes with its fair share of risk, if it is not properly planned. At many different points, something can go wrong that risks derailing or delaying the process, costing you money and lost productivity.

Before you consider implementing your new WMS, or even before you start shopping around seriously, it helps to have a draft implementation roadmap in place so that all the stakeholders in your business can go into the process with confidence.

A Warehouse Management System (WMS) can completely revolutionise the way a warehouse or distribution system is organised.

This is a bit like asking, how long is a piece of string? It depends how long you want it to be, or in the case of a WMS, what you want it to do and how many people are going to use it.

In simpler terms it could cost from a few tens of thousands of pounds to several hundreds of thousands of pounds to get installed and then there is the ongoing maintenance/support and the hardware to consider.

A summary description of a Warehouse Management System (WMS) in a sentence would be:

A WMS is a specialised system providing the management of the warehouse or distribution centre with the tools, functionality and information for the efficient operation of the warehouse and the management of its activities within the supply chain.