Software Agents: Filling Gaps and Optimizing both WMS & WCS Operations

In the latest issue of Modern Materials Handling, Bob Trebilcock has an excellent article titled “Looking Ahead to a New Year in Material Handling” that highlights industry trends for 2014.

In the piece, there are a number of insightful interviews, including one with Steve Banker, a respected industry analyst with ARC Advisory, where he discusses his take on the importance of software agents.

The advice: “Keep an eye on software agents.” We couldn’t agree more.

As Trebilcock points out, the lines between the warehouse management system (WMS) and warehouse control system (WCS) are blurring as they encroach upon each other’s previously defined roles in the warehouse.

Each of these common systems has come at the needs of the warehouse from very specific and different directions. WMS has and continues to focus on people-driven processes, while WCS grew up supporting automation-driven processes, providing the real-time integration to the machine layer.

Historically, these areas of focus had a clear divide in roles: WMS - people; WCS - automation. Increasingly, the real-time needs of automated facilities have demanded more business process logic in the WCS layer.

In response to this trend, Banker cites: “We need a new software architecture that takes distributed intelligence, or software agents, into account.” He then works through a clear example of how this new architecture could be constructed, from the high-level global picture provided by a WMS, through the automation control provided by a WCS, and finally a critical layer of software agents that act at the equipment level in order to provide a granular level of optimization not currently possible with conventional WCS.

All of these levels would communicate with each other to provide top-to-bottom optimization of the warehouse operations.

This thinking is exactly what drove FORTE to develop the Agent Framework environment that’s the power behind the modular design of the FORTE Smart Warehouse Suite™ - what we term warehouse execution software (WES). We discussed the Agent Framework in detail recently in a blog post.

But while the example Banker provides in the article perfectly suits larger operations that have both WMS and WCS implementations, there’s another key aspect of the use of agent software: to bridge the gaps in the variety of automated operations where companies find themselves.

As we discussed in a recent white paper, in our experience, there are often three categories into which most companies fall with regard to their current system implementation:

• No existing WMS (or ERP system only) - With its many application modules driven by the Agent Framework, the FORTE WES can provide WMS-like capabilities in lieu of a full-fledged WMS.
• A legacy WMS with limited functionality - When companies are constrained by their system’s finite functionality set, the WES software agents extend the WMS capabilities as operations dictate.
• A best-of-breed WMS with reluctance to complicate the upgrade path - When complicated (and costly) code changes are required in the WMS, increasing the cost and risk associated with future WMS upgrades, WES offers the desired functionality with reduced risk and significantly improved time to deployment through the use of software agents.

So, through the use of software agents, any company can implement the specific functionality requirements they require at any point from the global system overview down to the discrete equipment component level.

Additionally, the use of agents seamlessly integrates with legacy systems and the various functions that comprise the Smart Warehouse Suite modules. By using the proper agents to correspond with the existing systems and the needed functionality, the FORTE WES modules can be quickly and cost-effectively configured and deployed to match the specific needs of a customer’s warehouse - without ever touching the code in the existing system.

Whether you have a best-of-breed WMS/WCS or are working with an ERP system, be sure to check out Bob Trebilcock’s article and consider how software agents could fill the gaps in your operations, expand your capabilities and greatly accelerate access to the functionality you need to keep your competitive advantage while setting the stage for future growth.