Warehouse management systems (WMS) have long been used to manage warehouse and distribution centers.

Irista, an HK Systems company, has added production materials track and control capabilities as well as inbound transportation management to its warehouse management system. These additions address the unique materials flow challenges of the manufacturing environment. That includes the ability to receive production work orders from an enterprise resource planning or production planning system. It also schedules and routes raw materials in a timely manner to the correct manufacturing or assembly line.

"Traditionally, warehouse and transportation management systems have been designed to operate within an outbound finished goods distribution environment," says Scott Rishel, vice president of business development for Irista. "But that same technology can also be applied to track and control the inbound flow of raw materials from suppliers through the production process."

The result is "production logistics management," or a warehouse and transportation management solution designed to optimize the inbound and outbound processes associated with both manufacturing and distribution.