In the digital age, large-scale operations without system support are unimaginable. Gartner defines WMS as “an application that helps manage the daily operations of a warehouse or distribution center”, but today’s e-commerce warehousing and distribution is a service link with points, lines, and surfaces, not an isolated system. Thousands of SKUs, snowflake-like orders, order push, inventory, distribution, performance, settlement, monitoring and other cross-integration of business, breaking the boundaries of various functional systems in traditional logistics, and linking the user interface, data model and business logic involved in supply chain execution. Overseas warehouses are multi-service and multi-link operations, requiring a comprehensive professional system or multiple business subsystems to support.
The difference in software is essentially the difference in business models, and the system must meet specific industries or business environments. Overseas warehouses have many unique system function requirements, supporting cross-border import and export, transit, agency, order capture, address and distribution channel matching, flexible configuration of multiple languages, measurement units and billing statistics, etc. Overseas warehouses at least need a customer-oriented OMS, a channel-oriented TMS, and a WMS for internal warehouse operations. More additional services or extended operations may require other systems or interfaces with other systems. OMS mainly solves customer-oriented management and operations such as SKU review, ASN forecast, recharge billing, order delivery, inventory monitoring, etc., and can be integrated with the customer’s internal foreign trade ERP and customer service CRM through API interfaces. TMS is more about the integration of channel calibers such as head-leg transportation, last-leg distribution, customs clearance process, logistics billing, etc., and many are derived from agency systems such as freight forwarding, express delivery, and parcels. WMS is responsible for process management and execution control within the warehouse, integrating automated equipment, labor performance, yard management, simple processing, billing, etc., and interacting with customer systems and e-commerce platforms. If you want to manage multi-country warehousing, the wheel system must implement a “cloud” architecture to achieve the purpose of multi-warehouse, sharing, and interconnection.
The core functions of WMS are widely applicable. Through the continuous accumulation of industry solutions, it gradually moves from personalization to standardization. Through rule configuration and industry templates, it realizes the differentiated needs of different industries, different cargo owners, different warehouse types, and different products. Without modifying the underlying code, the entire system looks like it is tailor-made for customers. Many warehouses do not need complex WMS functions. SaaS software can be rented online by multiple users, making WMS configurable in functions and computing resources. The managed service solves problems such as systems, equipment, deployment, and talents, and can be upgraded regularly. However, there is still controversy over whether to completely abandon WMS local deployment. WMS is different from other management software. It not only analyzes and calculates goods, orders, and operation data, but also integrates some physical operations into the software in real time. Physical equipment requires high response and high concurrency of the system. With the cloud warehouse system, some problems will undoubtedly be significantly magnified. Therefore, the low-cost solution of cloud warehouse with no installation and easy implementation is widely accepted by small and medium-sized warehouses with small business volume and simple requirements; as shown in Figure 6-12, it is the deployment of overseas warehouse system in cross-border Internet. Large warehouses often need to deploy hardware interface integration applications such as handheld terminals, measurement and weighing, and automatic control in the warehouse. It is the functional scope of system integration products. WCs is a warehouse control system, which is a management control system between WMS and PLC. It accepts the instructions of WMS system and sends them to PLC, thereby driving the operation line to produce corresponding mechanical actions.
There are several types of WMS software. Oracle and SAP are typical large-scale commercial suites. WMS is a component in ERP; JDA, MA and Infor are independent professional software in traditional retail and 3PL. These two types of commercial software are expensive, lack flexibility, and are difficult to adapt to functions. They are rarely used in the field of cross-border logistics. Domestic software development has a strong Internet flavor, seeking speed, innovation and change. There are many e-commerce and emerging small and medium-sized enterprises. There are countless self-developed cross-border logistics software, which are maturely connected with common foreign trade ERP, logistics companies and platforms. For remote implementation of overseas warehouses, sufficient information must be collected in advance to avoid repetitions during the implementation process, and local IT must be equipped to ensure post-operation and maintenance.