Warehouses sit at the heart of the supply chain, fulfilling customer promises and playing a critical role in driving satisfaction and repeat sales.
Logistics teams have a hard time optimizing warehouses for cost, service, sustainability and other metrics, even in the most stable business environment. Factoring in skyrocketing operational costs, labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, it’s more important than ever to improve warehouse optimization.
Leading manufacturers, retailers and logistics services providers (LSPs) have already realized the value of advanced warehouse management system (WMS) solutions to achieve visibility and control, streamline processes and improve efficiency across the distribution network. But increasingly they’re adding a new capability — a warehouse execution system (WES) — to optimize performance in today’s complex, disrupted environment.
What exactly is a WES? And how can it improve your warehouse efficiency?
WES is the brain of the warehouse
A WMS provides the foundational rules and processes for your warehouse. A WES, however, acts as the "brain," adding a layer of intelligence and cognition. It leverages advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to create dynamic plans and resolve disruptions in real time. This is a crucial element of how to run an efficient warehouse.
A WES orchestrates work across all warehouse resources — human and machine — dynamically adapting to changing conditions. It continuously improves speed, accuracy and profitability with minimal human intervention. In a world of constant disruptions, a WES autonomously finds optimal solutions that maximize cost, service, sustainability and other key outcomes.
“A WMS provides a set of rules, algorithms and processes that define the core of your warehousing business,” explains Joe Kozenski, Product Director for WES at Blue Yonder.
“This is a critical tool of the warehousing toolbox but a WES adds an extra layer of intelligence and cognition. Think of it as the ‘brain’ of the warehouse. It applies advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to create dynamic plans and resolve problems like disruptions — based on real-time signals it’s gathering from across the warehouse.”
A WES is purpose-built to seamlessly orchestrate work across all warehouse resources — both humans and machines — in a dynamic manner as conditions change. It uses advanced technology to continuously improve speed, accuracy and profitability across the warehouse, with minimal human intervention. In an age when disruptions have become commonplace, a WES autonomously finds an optimal resolution that maximizes cost, service, sustainability and other outcomes — while taking real-world constraints into account.
“Let’s say a carrier is making a pickup at 5 p.m., and the entire warehouse is already enacting a plan for getting hundreds of orders out that day. That plan has been carefully defined, based on specific task assignments, the facility’s physical layout, the human and machine resources available, travel times and established task completion times,” says Joe. “That’s an incredible feat of orchestration already that was done by the warehouse supervisors, managers and experts.”
“But now a disruption occurs,” he continues. “An employee comes in late or leaves early. A picking robot breaks down or runs out of a charge. A scheduled incoming delivery never shows up. A rush order comes in from a top-tier customer. The carefully defined plan is thrown into chaos. These are too many variables to manage in real time, which is where the WES comes in for assistance.”
“What’s the best resolution, across the warehouse? Literally thousands of calculations might be required now. While that problem exceeds human cognition, it’s easy for the WES,” Joe notes. “The WES applies analytics and starts reassigning tasks — based on cost, service, sustainability and other outcomes. It automatically and immediately matches labor, robotics, equipment, and other resources with a newly defined set of priorities, in real time.”
Decision automation: the key to warehouse optimization
“More than ever, the warehouse needs to constantly change course, seamlessly and in concert, as conditions change,” Joe stresses. “That ongoing course correction can’t be driven by time-consuming, error-prone manual analysis. Instead, the WES automatically senses a disruption and accurately chooses the right corrective action to keep end-to-end operations on track. It even pulls the execution lever. And ML makes the WES smarter all the time. This shifts the dynamic to for your workforce to manage the whole process to managing the exceptions or decisions that aren’t automated responses.”
WES doesn’t just solve real-time problems, but it also tackles longer-range planning challenges. If a warehouse needs to process 40% more orders to meet short-term seasonal demand, the WES can figure out how to enable that volume increase. It creates and tests a variety of scenarios, from adding new employees to onboarding new robotics. The logistics team can then choose the optimal course of action moving forward.
