A warehouse management system (WMS) is a type of software that provides the tools necessary to manage warehouse operations and inventory movement to save time and eliminate manual processes. Warehouse management systems help optimize inventory storage and tracking, warehousing operations, workload distribution, and shipping.

These types of warehousing solutions give you unprecedented visibility and real-time insight into every action that’s happening in the warehouse. A good warehouse management system will even help generate electronic picking lists based on orders that have inventory stored close to one another to decrease inefficiency

Warehouse management systems are important as they eliminate manual processes and guesswork and instead streamline processes that, save time and provide a more accurate snapshot of what’s going on inside a facility without needing to conduct continuous warehouse audits.

This information helps warehouse managers identify areas of improvement and track progress to drive optimizations throughout the supply chain, from when inventory hits the loading docks to when it’s shipped out to its next destination.

Warehouse management software provides the tools to drive strategic big picture improvements as well as those to monitor the day-to-day. What a management team sees in the warehouse management system will be different from a picker or packer who relies on the system to know what to pick or pack next on the warehouse floor.

Each warehouse management system may have different functionality deployed depending on the business it serves (e.g., what a direct-to-consumer ecommerce seller needs isn’t the same as a large brick and mortar store chain).