5 ways a WMS helps your warehouse get to net zero

Posted on Thursday 11 November 2021

Operating a carbon neutral warehouse is something many companies will aspire to, but the financial resources to retrofit solar panels, rainwater irrigation, geothermal heat pumps and special cooling systems may not be within reach. Introducing a Warehouse Management System (WMS) system is an accessible route to reducing carbon emissions and will also deliver business optimisation benefits too.

Here are five ways a WMS can support your transition to net zero:

Operate with a smaller warehouse footprint

Using a WMS means you can use 30% less space than a conventional warehouse to store the same number of products and a smaller area requires less energy for lighting, heating or cooling.

Minimising handling reduces energy consumption

Further energy savings can be achieved because a WMS controls and optimises the amount of stock handling required for each transaction and eliminates unnecessary, wasteful stages in a workflow. Every time your materials handling costs are optimised by the WMS, it creates an opportunity to reduce energy consumption.

Reduce product and packaging waste

Built into a WMS is advanced materials handling logic, which calculates the best way to pack and wrap a pallet. This reduces product damage because pallets are cleverly loaded, which cuts the amount of plastic wrapping needed.

Operational analysis for further refinements

Stored within a WMS is a mine of information about every aspect of your intralogistics operation. This data can be mined to identify further opportunities to cut costs – maybe by re-organising warehouse layouts or spotting when power could be switched off during slower periods.

Removing paper from the warehouse

Using a WMS with mobile devices means operatives can be directed through workflows, which reduces the need for paper. This also improves process efficiency because data does not have to be input at a later date and an audit trail is automatically created, so goods remain visible throughout the supply chain.

Find out how Indigo WMS can help your warehouse achieve net zero.