Creating a Smart Warehouse Management System With Timly

The Solution: Functions and Processes

In order to map the internal warehouse processes in complex environments, certain requirements must be placed on warehouse management software. The data should be stored centrally and be accessible from different locations as easily as possible. Timly’s inventory management system has solved this with a cloud-based system. Users do not have to worry about administration and securing the network. Timly guarantees compliance with GDPR regulations and, with its fine-granular authorisation system, provides a tool to meet data protection and data security requirements.

Crucially, only an internet connection is required to use Timly’s cloud-based WMS. This allows employees to operate the warehouse management system even from changing work locations and from the home office. Flexible categories of goods and materials can be created in the system. Complex information and documentation can be stored for inventory items. Bulk items can be declared as consumables and are primarily defined by the number of items in stock. This also allows the material requirements in the company to be viewed and analysed very precisely.

To call up the profile of a material group, QR codes are available that can be attached as stickers at the storage location or on high-value goods. When goods are moved, every authorised warehouse employee scans the QR code and documents issues to persons, transfers to other locations as well as goods receipts without any effort. This also avoids human error, as no data has to be noted down by hand.

A history is stored in the system for each managed category. This means that it is always possible to trace when which material was issued to whom. If a goods category reaches a critical fill level, automated notifications can be sent to the responsible staff or external service providers. In this way, time-consuming stock control is eliminated and warehouse operating is optimised. The risk of work stoppages due to missing materials is reduced to almost zero.

Advantage Warehouse Management System: App as Optimisation Factor

Smartphones and tablets have become accepted as multifunctional devices in many areas. Since most employees already have a mobile device, Timly offers an inventory app for accessing the data in the warehouse management system. The camera of the mobile device also serves as a barcode scanner with which a QR code is read and the stored profile is called up. This allows employees on assembly or construction sites to document material consumption in real time.

Since Timly also allows a customer service vehicle to be defined as a so-called container for assigned materials, the fitter on site does not have to worry about the fill levels of consumables. The warehouse management software automatically sends him or the responsible employees in the warehouse a notification. At the same time, it is documented which parts have been installed at a work location. An additional ERP system is not necessary so that the complete internal material flow can be planned and the supply chain management can be kept in view.

Warehouse Management System – Excel Is No Longer an Alternative

For a long time, Excel was considered the ultimate programme for the advanced management of a wide variety of information. Formulas and macros automated inputs and calculations that had been carried out manually until then. But the software dates back to the time when stand-alone PCs were the technical state of the art. The display on mobile devices is hardly reasonable. The more extensive data records become, the more confusing the tables are.

A cloud-based warehouse management system like Timly’s Asset Management Software is designed for multi-user capability. The dynamic display of information is generated in real time from the database. Users only see necessary information. Control panels in the app are designed to be usable even in difficult weather and visibility conditions on site. This reduces the error rate in everyday life and ensures the necessary acceptance among employees. If input processes are complicated, they cause disruptions in the work processes. The risk increases that the prescribed documentation of goods movements is not carried out due to lack of time.

Is There a Professional Warehouse Management System Open Source?

If a software is also used for a key function such as the administration of merchandise management in a company, constant further development and the availability of professional support are indispensable. The timely provision of regular security updates and the adaptation of functions to current requirements are a non-negotiable minimum standard in the professional environment.

If, on the other hand, an inventory software does not cover the entire range of functions required, its use becomes uneconomical because the management of several data inventories in different systems complicates and slows down work processes and thus ultimately causes higher costs than those incurred with professional warehouse management systems such as Timly.