Warehouse Management System

WMS

• The WMS solution by ZANCANER is a departmental, parametric, multi company and multi language software that, using automatic and vocal detection and identification systems, takes advantage of bar code and radio frequency technologies; it easily adapts to customers’ needs by setting the tables available in the system according to the specific needs of the sector in which the customer operates.
• The WMS solution by ZANCANER is modular, scalable, easy to set up and integrated with different environments. It can be used as a main system or as a customized solution for specific goods handling tasks.
• WMS by ZANCANER optimises the use of a number of machines in logistic management and production processes
• Its advanced graphic interface enables operators to take advantage of a great number of support graphic functions while working: 3D warehouse views and positions give the sensation of really working in a physical space and being immediately informed when positions are full.

Pluses of the architecture

Software architecture

• Microsoft.NET and Framework 3.5 technology, developed with Visual Studio 2008
• Access to the local network, access to the Internet through a Web Service and direct access to the database through an http protocol from any remote station
• Client-server architecture for computer management using radiofrequency developed in Java

• Simple integration with LGV systems, automatic warehouses and end of line
• Possibility of using any brand of computers in radiofrequency
• Open to new technologies: BARCODE, VOICE, RFID

Functions for warehouse organisation

• Variable weight materials management
• Cross docking management
• Packing list and dispatch notes management
• Peripheral warehouse automatic and integrated management (Transit Point)
• Integration with EDI systems
• Native data export in different formats (.pdf, .xls, .txt)
  

Managed flows

Goods reception from suppliers and/or production line

• Link with purchase management
• Materials identification
• Labelling
• Quantity and quality control
• Order download and warehouse data upload

• Automatic location assignment
• Assignment control
• Assignment criteria

• Stock mapping updated in real time
• Picking reintegration
• In-house movements

• Link with sales / production management
• Defining picking requests through simulation
• Automatic generation of picking missions
• Defining picking logics (single order / consolidated shipments)
• Picking progress
• Checking picked goods
• Statistics

• Rotation inventory functions
• Traditional inventory

• Pallet preparation, orders
• Shipment note prints
• Packing list prints

Advantages

• Increase productivity
• Reduce goods check and storage time by up to 15%
• Decrease picking time up to 30%
• Reduce management costs
• Remove errors
• Increase work safety in difficult working environments

Picking

Picking is a significant lever to enhance competitiveness and, especially today, this is one of the most delicate problems when you are restructuring and organising stock, whether raw materials, semi-finished products, components or end products.

The WMS solution by ZANCANER is able to manage every type of picking.

Pick to light
Il “Pick to Light” is a manual picking system that does not require using paper documents. The operator receives the instructions about the picking operations that are to be made directly from units and displays located near the positions where the products requested can be found. After picking up the pieces required, the operator puts them on a conveyor belt or in boxes, baskets or trays situated on a conveyor that moves them to the station that has made the request.
Advantages: increase in productivity at picking, decrease in error percentage, fast data exchange with the management software, easy integration into already existing systems.

Picking in Movement – Man to goods
The operator is guided by a computer that manages picking operations and tells him, through a screen, which items should be picked up and the quantities. This makes it possible to optimize paths and the identifying of materials can be automated.

Picking in Position – Goods to man
The operator stands close to the picking station while the transportation system presents the materials to be picked to him. Taking full advantage of the “goods to man” concept, the goods stored in the warehouse are quickly moved and sorted sequentially in the different picking stations. The specificity of this solution is that, through the association of different warehousing systems, it is able to simultaneously meet storage speed, picking speed and storage density requirements.
Picking operations are thus extremely rationalized, with a subsequent significant increase in the operator’s performance, improved working conditions, error reduction and reduced time required to execute orders.

Voice Picking
The Voice Picking technology is based on wireless terminals so as to enable operators to have their hands free when handling packages of very different sizes and weights.
This solution enables operators to receive voice indications about the product to be picked, about the quantities and the place where it should be located by exchanging data with the management software through a voice dialogue. The system translates the data coming from the management software into phonetic instructions for the operator. Data transmission is performed through a radiofrequency network that connects the server to the terminal which is safely attached to the operator’s belt. With headphones and a microphone the operator can listen to instructions and answer the management software even in the most difficult and noisy industrial environments.
Advantages: improved productivity by over 15%, reduced paths to go to and from administrative departments, reduced costs for printing paper documents, possibility for the operator who’s got free hands, to focus more carefully on his/her tasks, real-time feedback, real-time update about stocks, reduced training time.

Picking RFID
The RFID technology makes it possible to automatically read hardware TAGS which are applied to stored packages (radiofrequency codes). The electronic label identifying packages and pallets makes it possible to carry out automatic recognition operations throughout the logistic cycle. Identification is performed by using an antenna to read the tag (or transponder) that has been attached to the object. The tag contains information about the relevant object (such as its code, date of production, manufacturer). Information can either be static or change over time. The tag does not need electric power to be operated. When the tag is “lit” by the magnetic field of the antenna, it is able to store a minimum quantity of energy that is all it needs to transmit the information it contains to a short distance.
Identifying each container and each shelf in the warehouse with tags reduces errors when picking and provides reliable product identification. It is not necessary to open packages in order to check contents looking for the bar code. And it is no longer necessary to manually count items in order to check physical stocks. Scanning operations from a remote position make it possible to identify and check for the presence of specific objects in the warehouse. Technology makes it possible to simultaneously read several tags, up to 100 at a time.
Advantages: real-time information about stocks, tags need not be visible to be read, possibility of adding more information on chips, identification and check processes can be performed in 1/10 second, clear or coded communication.