Like a well-oiled machine, warehouse personnel are tasked with driving production and seamlessly moving products from Point A to Point B. Keeping track of orders and inventory, controlling the real-time activities of automated material handling equipment like robots, and retrieving products is engrained in warehouse management systems (WMS) and warehouse control systems (WCS).
Although WMS and WCS operations can work together to streamline storage and retrieval tasks, their capabilities have notable differences. A WMS controls the movement, storage and retrieval of materials and products within a warehouse, handling such core duties as inventory management, lot or batch tracking, order fulfillment and product movement/traceability, explains Dave Williams, vice president of software at York, Pa.-based Westfalia Technologies Inc.