Astor: WMS Warehouse management system

Warehouse management system "ASTOR: WMS": description

"ASTOR: WMS" — the specialized software platform developed for automation of different types of the warehouses including which are territorially separated.

System "ASTOR: WMS" provides the developed means for management of warehouse topology, parameters of the commodity nomenclature, planning of warehouse transactions, resource management, application of different techniques of storage and processing of loads.

This system allows to manage effectively warehouse logistics within different technology processes (acceptance and shipment of goods, internal transfers and. etc.) in real time.

Platform "ASTOR: WMS" is functionally scalable - for each option of the selected technology process there is an opportunity to use (or to implement) only those functions and opportunities which are necessary at present - and to pass to use of more advanced functions as required. The majority of settings of the WMS system can be configured by the logistics specialist or the programmer that allows to adapt quickly already working system to changes in technology processes of a warehouse.

Principles of work of ASTOR WMS

The warehouse is separated into zones, for the purpose of automation of procedures, such as acceptance, placement, storage, processing and shipment of goods. It allows to organize work of personnel on certain sections of the premises and to effectively distribute responsibility of workers. Inventory of all loads arriving on a warehouse which are marked with barcodes is carried out. Specialists by means of the shipping documentation of terminals read out barcodes, automatically bringing them in bases of information storage.

A system also considers all mandatory requirements to the correct storage conditions of goods at determination of places of their storage. For example, humidity, temperature, expiration date, compatibility with other goods and other parameters. WMS automatically determines storage locations of the accepted loads and appoints tasks to warehouse workers. Commands arrive on displays of radio terminals for each employee individually.

Functions of a system is: acceptance of goods and materials, their warehousing, automation of simultaneous acceptance and shipment of goods, order management, replenishment action, inventory management, management of work of personnel, management of storage of goods and another.

Functionality

Management of storage locations

At accomplishment of any operations on processing and storage of loads, platform "ASTOR: WMS" supports a possibility of the indication of the address of storage location on which this or that step of transaction is made.

The address of storage location can be multicomponent and reflect features of the architectural or technology organization of storage locations in a warehouse. The structure and depth of the address are set by the user independently and can change during operation of a system – for example, in connection with replanning of a warehouse or introduction of new sections of technology processing. Within one warehouse it is possible to have zones with different structure of addressing in them. Rules of uniqueness of the address of storage location are also defined by the user.

For each storage location there is a possibility of a task of any set of the additional properties characterizing this storage location, for example, such as – overall dimensions, "speed" of access to a cell, its appointment and. etc.

A system supports work with "temporary" storage locations - i.e. storage locations which will be automatically destroyed from the database of a system on reaching on them a zero balance. This mechanism is used when planning multistep warehouse transactions.

Work with packagings and returnable container

Platform "ASTOR: WMS" supports transactions with packagings – a special type of storage locations which may contain in itself(himself) other packagings and is processed as a unit. A system supports function of movement of packaging together with all its contents on different storage locations, along with functions of formation and separation of packagings.

The structure and rules of formation of the addresses of packagings is set by the user, thus, there is a possibility of tracking of all movements of separate packaging in the course of warehouse processing.

A system to provide the information on a commodity remaining balance by different units of storage, for example, for the pre-determined location of storage it can is possible to trace a goods remaining balance as in pieces, and, for example, in the whole packagings This information can be used for process optimization of selection and placement of goods.

Warehouse logistics

A system supports a possibility of simultaneous operation with several warehouse or the isolated sections in one building. Each building or section can be entered into a system as a separate "logical warehouse" for which there is an opportunity independently to set:

• Structure of the addresses of storage locations and packagings
• Rules of placement and selection
• Templates and scenarios of technology transactions
• Resources – the workers and the equipment processing a load in this warehouse.
• The number of the created "logical warehouses" is unlimited.

Management of the commodity nomenclature

The platform supports functions on database maintenance of the processed commodity nomenclature. For a certain type of the commodity nomenclature any number of additional characteristics can be set. The directory of the nomenclature can have any hierarchy. Functions of import and export of data from different formats are supported.

Storage batches

When carrying out warehouse transactions there is a possibility of consolidation of separate units of the commodity nomenclature in groups (a storage batch). For a batch of storage there is a possibility of a task of set of additional signs which can be used when processing the goods entering this batch. Using this mechanism processing of goods for which it is necessary to consider such parameters as, for example can be organized

• Expiration date
• Storage life
• Serial or VIN number
• The certificate having limited validity period
• Belonging to a certain delivery lot or productions
• Goods accessory to a certain client
• Other…

A system supports functions of creation, removal, management of structure of batches. Using this mechanism, it is possible to manage the strategy of placement and selection of goods, goods availability for these or those warehouse transactions and. etc.

Technology processes

Competitive conducting transactions

Platform "ASTOR: WMS" supports simultaneous carrying out different warehouse transactions – acceptances, shipments, movements, inventories. For each planned activity the necessary remaining balance of goods on certain storage locations is automatically reserved (or an empty seat) that excludes collisions.

Templates of transactions

For each transaction type – acceptance, shipment or movement - there is a possibility of a task of a template of process according to which this operation will be performed. It is possible to give the following template of transaction of shipment as an example

• Selection from a location
• Marking
• Delivery in a complete set zone
• Control of quantity
• Quality control
• Packaging
• Preparation of the accompanying documentation
• Loading in the vehicle
• Sending

For each template it is possible to set conditions under which it can be applied. For example, it is possible to create different templates for separate types of goods and/or batches which require specific processing. Templates of transactions can be set taking into account a "logical" warehouse in which transaction will be executed.

For each step of transaction the indication of storage location (technology section) on which is possible it will be executed. Thus, in case of need, tracking of "trajectory" of the movement of certain commodity units within a warehouse is possible. Thanks to the present possibility, in combination with functions implementation of transactions of cross docking becomes planirovaniye possible.

Rules of placement

For support of different techniques of placement of goods in a warehouse, the platform "ASTOR: WMS" supports the mechanism of rules of placements – the conditions set by the user according to whom placement of goods in a warehouse should be made. Rules of placement allow to consider specific requirements to storage of goods, architecture of a warehouse, parameters of storage locations and. etc. Examples of rules of placement:

• On one storage location it is impossible to store different types of goods
• It is impossible to store identical goods from different batches on one location
• The goods of a certain type should be stored only in a certain zone of a warehouse
• It is impossible to place food products and household chemicals nearby
• The goods of a certain group can be placed not above the second tier

The platform automatically monitors accomplishment of rules of placement during the course of performance of any transaction increasing a remaining balance on certain storage locations.

As required the user has an opportunity to change structure and contents of rules of placement, adapting a system to changes of logistics of work of a warehouse.

Rules of selection

Similar to the mechanism of rules of placement, a system supports a possibility of a task of rules of selection – the conditions set by the user defining batches and/or storage locations from which selection of goods should be made. It is possible to give as an example of rules of selection:

• Ship certain groups of goods having restrictions on an expiration date, on FEFO
• Ship goods only from a selection zone
• Ship goods only from cells with a certain status

The user can set a transaction type (shipment or movement), conditions (for example, types of goods, the client and. etc.) and "logical" warehouses to which these or those rules of selection will be applied. At selection execution of operations a system will automatically check whether there correspond cells and batches to the set rules.

Algorithms of the choice of storage locations for performing transactions

Using the mechanism of rules of selection or placement, it is possible to apply flexibly the different strategy of the choice of storage locations for selection or placement of goods. Platform "ASTOR: WMS" supports a possibility of application of different fitting algorithms of storage locations at accomplishment of specific warehouse transaction. Rules of selection or placement define a set of admissible storage locations on which can transaction is executed, the algorithm selects the specific storage locations answering to the strategy implemented by this algorithm from this set. For example, at transaction of selection the following strategy can be applied:

• Bypass the minimum number of cells for selection of the set quantity
• Release as much as possible cells occupied by goods.

Algorithms are made out in the form of external modules with the open code, thus, systems capabilities can be easily expanded due to connection of new algorithms.

Work planning of a warehouse

In structure of the platform "ASTOR: WMS" enter means both for long-term planning of work of a warehouse, and for operational management of the resources (workers, the equipment) performing this or that warehouse transaction. There is a possibility of creation of the working schedule of a warehouse on a certain planning period, at the same time for each procedural transaction it is possible to set:

• recurrence template
• start time and termination or duration
• additional criteria according to which the positions processed in this transaction will be selected

For example, the regulations of shipment to a certain client, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, since 8 a.m. can be set. In this case a system will automatically create tasks for shipment for all of the requests of this client which arrived at the moment.

For each planned activity a system supports a possibility of a task of the planned start time and duration, and fixes real operation length. This information can be used for the plan-fact analysis and optimization of technology processes of a warehouse.

Planning of procedural transactions

Intra warehouse transactions are movements, consolidations, inventories and. etc. can be planned in the general context of work of a warehouse – for example, for release of certain storage locations before the planned acceptance of goods.

Planning and resource management

For each performed warehouse operation there is a possibility of purpose of resources for accomplishment of this transaction. Resources can be appointed both for accomplishment of a certain transaction entirely, and for processing of separate positions, accomplishment of separate steps of transaction. There is a possibility of purpose of priorities to tasks and control of overloads of resources. A system fixes labor costs at accomplishment of each transaction; these data can be then are used for regulation, payroll, tariffing of services and. etc.

Management of problem situations

A system supports functions of fixing of different problem situations – shortages, excesses, regradings, defects, damage of goods, wrong shipments and. etc. with indication of time, storage location, guilty persons and other necessary information. At the same time the warehouse status is as appropriate updated, processing and storage of "problem" commodity units will be organized. If the problem situation was detected during the course of performance any other warehouse transaction, for example, of shipment or acceptance, possibilities of the choice of a different add-on mode of initial transaction – failure from shipment, selection from alternative storage locations are supported and. etc.

Platform "ASTOR: WMS" allows to carry out "technical" inventory in parallel with other transactions, providing selective blocking of the inventoried objects – storage locations, types of goods, storage batches.

Architecture of the software product

Platform "ASTOR: WMS" is the multilink application that provides the high level of scalability, performance, ample opportunities on integration into the existing enterprise management systems.

Are a part of the platform:

• Application server
• Database server
• Standard user interface
• Module of configuring and setup
• The module for work with the specialized equipment is on-line TSD, printers of barcodes, scanners.

Scalability

For balancing of loading and increase in fault tolerance, different components of a system can be placed on different servers. For each "logical" warehouse the dedicated server can be installed, or work can be conducted in the single database. Platform "ASTOR: WMS" thanks to the architecture allows to build the distributed WMS-applications. Use of the "thin" clients working through Internet network is possible. The application on the platform "ASTOR: WMS" can work as Web service

Integration

Applications on the platform "ASTOR: WMS" can be integrated into the existing enterprise management systems, or work as independent applications. Data exchange interfaces and program interfaces of the platform are open for developers and are documented.

Security and reliability

Access to functions of the platform is controlled by means of Windows OS. The platform supports separation of access rights. Access isolation to data depending on their contents – for example, on warehouses, groups of the commodity nomenclature is possible and. etc.

The structure and a set of user rights of a system are configured in the course of administration of a system. Recording of work of users is conducted. Four levels of recording are possible.

Maintenance and implementation

Platform "ASTOR: WMS" is the standard software product that provides the high level of quality, first technical support, regular updating of standard software modules. Administration of all a component of the platform is executed by standard means of the operating system that requires the minimum additional training of IT specialists of the customer.

The majority of parameters systems can be customized without involvement of third-party specialists. Among them:

• Structure of "logical" warehouses
• Structure of the addresses of storage locations
• Additional characteristics of storage locations, commodity nomenclature, resources, storage batches
• Rules of placement and selection
• Templates of technology processes

Interfaces of the platform are completely documented; upon completion of an implementation project the customer receives the complete set of the project documentation sufficient for independent maintenance and development of a system.

Development of a system - RS WMS

For flexible management by trade inventories the ASTOR company developed the functional software solution for a warehouse of alcoholic products of any type and the area - ASTOR RS WMS.

The software solution "ASTOR RS WMS" provides the noticeable growth of efficiency of a warehouse during the considerable time frame. Wide analytical systems capabilities are allowed to have timely in a real mode of time the unrolled reporting in all respects of activity of a warehouse (acceptance and shipment of goods, inventory, internal transfers and. etc.).

At the expense of the developed ergonomics, the available macro language, high performance of ASTOR RS WMS helps to perform company management:

• Lot-based accounting, automatic formation of the accompanying documentation to batches;
• Control of expiration dates and dates of pouring;
• Control of placement of goods to within a cell, automatic calculation of storage locations for the arriving goods;
• Management of problem situations;
• Time recording and control of actions of personnel.