Selecting a WMS
You choose a WMS once every ten to fifteen years. The package determines how your warehouse will work for years to come, which processes are possible and where you will run into limits. Yet many companies start the process with a longlist of vendors, while the real question is still unanswered: what should this system do for us?
This page brings together what you need to answer that question yourself.
The step-by-step guide
A WMS selection breaks down into ten steps, from defining your objectives to contracting. The order matters more than it seems: skip the process work and you automate the existing mess.
Where it goes wrong
Most failed implementations do not fail on technology. They fail on expectations, on scope, and on the assumption that the vendor will sort it out. The IT debacle at Pluripharm exposed six pitfalls you will recognise in almost any project.
A second question belongs on the table early: standard package or custom build. Both extremes come at a price, and most companies end up somewhere in between.
Know where you stand first
A WMS does not solve problems that sit in your processes. Before you start selecting, it is worth establishing how mature your warehouse is today and where the bottlenecks are.
Further reading
- AI will be a gamechanger for WMS implementations — why projects still take 200 days
- How AI is changing WMS — three types of AI in the warehouse
- Highly Competitive Warehouse Management — the book
We guide WMS selection projects from orientation to contracting. More about that approach.