Ceva Logistics

Natesan Andiyappillai

With the current global pandemic COVID-19, the Supply Chain Organizations have realized the importance of the Logistics channel in a Supply Chain than ever before.

The Logistics plays a very critical role in meeting the current market demand and to better forecast for the future, thus gaining the competitive advantage for their businesses.

And, Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) is being one of the most vital and critical IT systems that helps the Logistics business to be visible and transparent for all the stakeholders in a business, thus making timely and precise decisions. As the technological developments evolve in the fast changing digital market in the last decade or so, it has huge impact on the IT systems in general and WMS has no exception to it. Logistics businesses have been adopting these digital technologies to cope up with the technological changes which helps to meet the unpredictable demand even with the current challenging situation such as COVID-19 and thus help to provide the better customer service.

One of the primary and key ways to mitigate the current challenges according to Natesan Andiyappillai, a Logistics systems expert and researcher is by using the Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). In his recently published research paper, Digital Transformation in Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Implementations Andiyappillai has pointed out that numerous logistics and supply chain businesses can gain a competitive advantage in their business areas if they focus on utilizing the WMS.

"To realize the full benefits associated with the implementation of WMS, a business should choose WMS according to their business needs"

The global growth of the logistics is not something to be underrated. As per latest research done by EMR, the global third-party logistics (3PL) market attained a value of nearly USD 910.4 billion in 2019. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.25% in the forecast period 2020-2025 and is projected to reach nearly USD 1237.6 billion by 2025.Despite the existence of numerous opportunities in WMS technology, data from the Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) has indicated that one-third of the Warehouses in the US do not currently have any WMS implemented. And, this number is very likely to go up exponentially at the Asian Logistics and Supply Chain market due to different reasons. This according to Andiyappillai is one of the vital factors that make these companies not to fulfill their inventory visibility and full potential.

There are numerous benefits associated with WMS according to the research include increased visibility, flexibility and productivity. To realize the full benefits associated with the implementation of WMS, a business should choose WMS according to their business needs. “Warehouse Management System can be selected based on the business and customer requirements as there are many in the market and choosing and implementing the right one is critical for the success of the business.” he reiterated.

There is no doubt that the growth of digital technology has provided a great opportunity for businesses to streamline their logistics processes and activities digitally so that they can meet the very dynamic and fast changing needs of the market than ever before.