Getting more from a leading WMS

The problem

A leading WMS does most things well. The gaps are where the warehouse feels it.

A handheld screen that slows the picker down. A job that needs doing in bulk, with no button for it anywhere in the standard screens.

Asking the vendor to change the core product isn't always quick, and it isn't always possible. Meanwhile the warehouse works around the gap, every shift.

None of these is a reason to replace a WMS. Each one is a reason to fix a gap.

What I built

Fixes that sit around the WMS rather than inside it.

• Handheld (HHD) picking fixes, so the scanner screen does what the picker needs.
• WMS API scripting and tooling for the jobs the standard screens don't cover.

Each one works with the WMS as it is. Nothing in the core system has to be rebuilt.

How it runs now

The WMS stays the WMS. The fixes live on the handheld and in scripts that call the WMS API.

Pickers get a handheld that works the way they pick. Bulk jobs run as scripts instead of screen after screen of clicking.

It's a pattern I use a lot. Leave the core system alone, understand exactly where it falls short for this warehouse, and build the missing piece around it. The vendor keeps looking after the WMS. The warehouse gets the behaviour it needs.