Warehouse management encompasses the principles and processes involved in running the day-to-day operation of a warehouse. At a high level, this includes receiving and organizing warehouse space, scheduling labor, managing inventory and fulfilling orders. Zoom in closer and you'll see that effective warehouse management involves optimizing and integrating each of those processes to ensure all aspects of a warehouse operation work together to increase productivity and keeps costs lows.

Warehouse operation are generally invisible to customers, but they play a vital behind-the-scenes role in ensuring on-time delivery. To achieve this goal, good warehouse processes run as efficiently and accurately as possible. For example, warehouse management involves optimizing the use of warehouse space to minimize inventory storage; making inventory easy for staff to find; ensuring adequate staffing; efficiently fulfilling orders; and coordinating communication with suppliers and transportation companies so materials arrive and orders ship on time. The benefit of good warehouse management-namely fast, high-quality service at low cost-can ripple out to the entire supply chain, strengthening relationships with suppliers as well as customers.But given the many elements involved, optimizing warehouse management can be a complex task. That's why many organizations are turning to warehouse management systems for help.

A warehouse management system (WMS) is a software solution that aims to simplify the complexity of managing a warehouse. Often provided as part of an integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP) suite of business applications, a WMS can support and help to optimize every aspect of warehouse management. For example, a WMS can:

Leverage data and automation to conduct demand analyses, forecast sales and create efficient daily operating plans.

Provide real-time insight into inventory location and quantity.