WMS revamped for better order picking

Leading brands that formerly relied on retail partners to distribute their products are racing to improve their revenues, margins and customer relationships by expanding their direct-to-consumer (DTC) business. According to Forbes, the number of manufacturers selling directly to consumers is expected to grow 71% this year. However, traditional warehouses have not been designed to handle small DTC orders.

Manhattan Associates now has improved its market-leading WMS solution for today’s connected commerce world. The updated solutions provide better order intelligence and better integration with robots.

Manhattan has enhanced its Order Streaming capabilities to produce a single, intelligent fulfilment optimisation engine capable of simultaneously processing wave, waveless and flow-through orders in a single facility. Order Streaming dynamically manages different fulfilment methods with reduced order processing times, increased accuracy and higher service levels, using machine learning to orchestrate activities between workforce and automation assets.

Manhattan says it is the first company to embed a Warehouse Execution System (WES) within a WMS to efficiently orchestrate workflow across the full spectrum of resources. Manhattan’s WES is built to integrate quickly and seamlessly with any automation and can coordinate operations across multiple sites.

Manhattan is also delivering Unified Distribution Control, a user interface (UI) that leverages modern touchscreen technologies and data visualisation techniques to help supervisors see, diagnose, and fix anything from any location. The analytics give managers a wide perspective of warehouse performance with actionable insights and respond to trends or issues in real time. The interface also includes an associate version that helps streamline task completion and reduce training times, giving users a consistent and familiar experience on both fixed stations and mobile tablet form factors across all major operating systems.