enVista advising on WES, inventory flow strategies

Hot button software trends such as warehouse execution systems (WESs) meant to orchestrate the flow of work within DCs hold potential, but their effectiveness benefits from upfront assessment of what WES does best in relation to what warehouse management system (WMS) software does well, said Tim Talarico, a senior director with enVista (Booth 3876) during a booth visit.

As a supply chain consulting firm, the question of how WES fits into the landscape is being asked by more clients, said Talarico. Whether you call the trend “WES” or simply an evolution of warehouse control system (WCS) software, the important thing is to study how WCS/WCS overlaps with WMS in areas such as wave management to determine if one or both systems are right for your operation.

A software vendor agnostic assessment of how systems can best work together is crucial before making system choices, said Talarico. “It’s a matter of studying what systems a company has in place, assessing what’s working well, and what isn’t working, designing the systems and processes the user company really wants, and looking at solution choices from there,” he said.

To support a better understanding of emerging issues, Envista hosted two educational sessions at the show, one on WMS vs WCS, held Tuesday, and another on inventory flow and network design, held Wednesday.

ProMat 2015 is scheduled to be held March 23-26, 2014 at Chicago’s McCormick Place. The tradeshow will showcase the latest manufacturing, distribution and supply chain solutions in the material handling and logistics industry. Modern’s complete ProMat 2015 coverage.