How can the right WMS solutions help your business be ready for the issues caused by labour shortages and other challenges? See these key three ways.
The reasons behind the current set of labour shortages in the manufacturing industry are varied, complicated, and multi-faceted. The intoxicating cocktail of Brexit’s aftermath, COVID-19 challenges, and the war in Ukraine, has been combined with a variety of other cultural considerations and economic experiences to leave manufacturers more than a little struggle-weary. Problems with supply chains have hardly helped, with many businesses actively searching for the best way possible to secure themselves against this perfect storm.
With all this happening, its entirely understandable that manufacturers are looking to see if they can find a silver bullet. Some special solution that will bring about an end to so many of their different woes. The right WMS package has the potential to offer this kind of power. To understand why, consider these three crucial advantages the right WMS can provide
Save workers time by removing rekeying
Rekeying is one of the most repetitive, time-consuming, and error-prone tasks that so many manufacturing businesses seem to still perform. The problems are obvious, and yet readily accepted as just the “cost of doing business”. However, this has a severe and detrimental effect on your overall workforce, as they find their effectiveness ground down by a task that seems unnecessary and unbearable in its repetitiveness.
The right WMS software can get this task taken away from your staff by auto-generating all the information you need into exactly the correct format of the document. Not only does this help with staff retention, as it takes away one of the least-liked parts of any manufacturing workplace, it also makes your overall business operation far more efficient. It should be obvious that when a document need not be directly drafted by manual means, it shouldn’t be. Discover how WMS can make such rekeying a relic of the recent past.
Prepare for possible issues with end-to-end visibility
One of the key issues around staff shortages and labour-related issues for manufacturers is not so much not having the staff, but rather not knowing when exactly you are going to need them most. Predicting specific periods that are going to be busier and more in demand is a difficult task at the best of times. You need to know when and how you will be in the best need of more staff. That means you need to know the entirety of your business’s operations clearly. That means you need end-to-end visibility. For that, you need WMS.
WMS is more than just for your warehousing. It allows a comprehensive analysis of every step of your overall business situation. By interconnecting it into things like your courier connections, your supply chain situation, your CRM, and your online presence, you can develop a clear and complete comprehension of when and where new staff will be needed. Different sectors have different visibility of seasonality of sales. Without an end-to-end system, you won’t know when the demand is peaking and when more workers will be needed. That’s why your business needs 
WMS.
Adapt for automation with a robot-ready WMS
Some aspects of the ongoing labour situation are leading more and more businesses to look more seriously at the possibilities of automation. Robotic technology continues to advance in leaps and bounds, and with tech and retail giants like Amazon, Wayfair, and Ocado investing heavily in these technologies, many smaller operations are wondering how well they can scale down these solutions to fit their needs. However, there is one big hurdle that blocks many manufacturers from considering this. Compatibility. How will an entirely new technology fit in with the existing infrastructure they have in place? Surely such a thing will be a disruptive logistical nightmare?
Not with the right WMS solution. Properly prepared WMS providers have been keeping a careful eye on the overarching situation in terms of flexible robotics and industry 4.0. With the right technicians and talented engineers, companies like OrderWise have prepared a system that can connect your WMS system directly into a futureproofed 
robotic automation system. One that can let your existing staff focus on the important work they do, while simultaneously blunting the edge for aggressive hiring around peak seasons. See how modern WMS fits into automation today.
Jon Roberts, Sales Director at OrderWise
jon.roberts@orderwise.co.uk
