From SCDigest's On-Target E-Magazine
- Sept. 15, 2014 -
Supply Chain News: Key Trends in Warehouse Management System Market Part 1
Current Trends Featured in Big Ideas Videocast on Present and Future of WMS
SCDigest Editorial Staff
Warehouse Management Systems represent about the most mature area of any category of supply chain software, with the first real-time WMS solutions being deployed in the mid-1970s, some 40 years ago.
Yet, the WMS market remains vibrant, selling well in general and with vendors managing to keep re-inventing the category.
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One key impact of this platform trend, Gilmore noted, is that it complicates the WMS selection and buying process. |
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That idea was among the key themes of the recent "Big Ideas" Videocast on "The Present and Future of Warehouse Management Systems." The Big Ideas Videocast Series is a partnership between our Supply Chain Television Channel and CSCMP to deliver an on-going series of outstanding broadcasts on the top supply chain and logistics issues of the day.
This WMS-focused Videocast actually kicked off the Big Ideas series, which will continue into next year.
The broadcast featured SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore, who has significant WMS experience, including implementing WMS systems many years ago, and Dinesh Dongre, VP of product strategy at Softeon, a leading provider of WMS and other supply chain software solutions.
The first portion of the broadcast focused on key trends in the WMS market. Gilmore suggested the following top trends"
Massive Consolidation of Vendors: The past decade saw a tremendous amount of consolidation in the WMS space. That has led to a number of at least reasonably well-known WMS providers to be swallowed up by others. Most notable in recent years was supply chain planning company JDA Software merging with RedPrairie in late 2012 and retaining the JDA name to create a planning and execution software giant.
Just a few months ago, WMS provider Accellos - which focused more on smaller companies - acquired HighJump Software, which provides WMS solutions to middle-tier and some larger companies, continuing the consolidation trend (the combined company is keeping the HighJump name).
Overall, that has meant fewer WMS alternatives for companies, though between the WMS offerings of ERP providers, best of breed offerings from Manhattan Associates, JDA, Software, HighJump and a few others, and a small new generation of Cloud-focused providers such as Snap Fulfill and Logfire, there are still a good number of options for companies interested in WMS.
WMS as a Platform: The trend started more than a decade ago, when providers moved beyond just WMS offerings to "supply chain execution suites," which included solution modules such as transportation management, labor management, supply chain visibility and more.
However, the true integration between those modules was often lacking much depth. More recently, leading WMS providers have or are building up a technology platform upon which all their solutions will work, with the same user interface, technology foundation, database and more across their entire suites.
This will enable much deeper levels of integration between modules, and the creation of custom processes and "workflows" between various solution modules without custom code, as well as the ability to easily add new modules into an existing implementation via plugging in to the platform.
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