What is a warehouse management system and do I need one?
A warehouse management system runs the physical building: where stock is put away, how pick paths are sequenced, how cartons are packed and labelled, and how receiving and cycle counts are recorded. You need one when the building is large enough that people spend meaningful time finding things, or when accuracy has started to slip.
A WMS and an OMS answer different questions. The OMS decides which location ships an order; the WMS decides which shelf the picker walks to. Brands on a 3PL consume their provider’s WMS instead of running one.
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