Transportation logistics is all about getting products from one place to another. Often, this means moving it into and out of warehouses, which requires communication with warehousing staff to ensure fluid operations. While a transportation management system (TMS) manages one side of things, a warehousing management system (WMS) governs the other. Connect the two management systems, and you’ve got a recipe for streamlined operations that removes warehousing from its traditional silo.
Your TMS and WMS Work Better Together
Freight and warehousing exist as two sides of the same coin, but it’s important to connect data points between them. From the moment a product is loaded onto a truck to the time it enters warehouse inventory and departs for its final destination, there are opportunities for cooperation between TMS and WMS platforms.
While a TMS will provide relevant transportation data to track a product’s journey, a WMS ensures it’s appropriately handled and managed along the way — no matter how long it remains at a site. A seamless product journey requires connecting these two systems. For instance, warehousing tech that reads RFID signals to auto-receive inventory can interface with cloud platforms to determine product destination, shipping timeline, and truck availability.
Continuously monitoring the product journey, instead of relying on checkpoints at disparate steps in the supply chain, makes it easier to identify inefficiency, and this continuous visibility stems from the synergistic flow of data between a TMS and a WMS.
Recognizing Warehousing Improvements
Supply chain bottlenecks frequently occur at static inventory points. The product arrives at a site and sits idle until there’s a way to move it to the next leg of its journey. Coordination between your TMS and WMS thwarts these bottlenecks and the conditions that create them. Using the data transparency that follows systems integration, warehousing managers can:
- Manage inventory more efficiently, with an emphasis on timely warehouse throughput.
- Create integrations for carrier, shipment, and customer data to prevent mistakes.
- Streamline pick-and-pack operations to reduce total product inventory time.
- Highlight quicker and more accurate fulfillment opportunities in complex supply chains.
- Staff for loading, unloading, and warehouse ops more efficiently with predictive data analysis.
TMS data provides visibility about the comings and goings of product, which informs better management once it’s received into inventory. With access to this data, warehouse managers know what it is, who brought it, when it got there, and how it traveled. Incorporating that data into the WMS illuminates critical variables, including where product is stored and how long it’s been there. And when it comes time to ship it out, collaboration with the TMS ensures historical data travels with the product.
The true benefit of connecting TMS and WMS data is continuous visibility within the supply chain. Integrating your WMS platform with real-time TMS data makes it easier to manage warehousing operations and prevent costly bottlenecks.
Benefits of Warehousing Efficiency
Combining TMS and WMS data offers benefits beyond better warehousing operations. The data gleaned from these systems can lead to increased efficiency throughout your company, including benefits for sales and marketing, finance and accounting, IT, and enterprise asset management ops. It all comes down to visibility.