• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinar Library
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » Blogs » Think Tank » How CMMS Can Improve Warehouse Management

Think Tank
Think Tank RSS FeedRSS

How CMMS Can Improve Warehouse Management

How CMMS Can Improve Warehouse Management
March 11, 2019
Bryan Christiansen, SCB Contributor

Warehouse management is a balance of activities that begins from the moment goods arrive until they’re issued out.

Several crucial tasks control the operations within a warehouse. They revolve mostly around materials and assets on one hand, and employee management and maintenance oversight on the other.

Although such tasks have been performed manually in the past, these days most if not all are automated. This has become possible through the use of technologies such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), standalone warehouse management system (WMS) software, and computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS).

Let’s look at CMMS specifically, and consider how it improves various aspects of warehouse management, resulting in smoother and more efficient processes.

Asset Management

CMMS yields two major benefits in maintaining warehouse equipment: reduction in equipment downtime, and prolonged asset lifespan.

The inconvenience of equipment downtime is evident in the many processes that are disrupted every time there’s an unplanned shutdown. There are several reasons why a machine would fail, but in this context let’s assume it’s due to delayed maintenance.

Imagine that a forklift has shut down unexpectedly, causing packing activities to ground to a halt. Immediate repair is the priority, but the situation is aggravated by the unavailability of spare parts. Corporate managers estimate that problems with forklift maintenance can cost a facility thousands of dollars per minute.

CMMS can eliminate this problem by generating low-spare-parts alerts, recording equipment repair history, and even tracking asset condition trends if the facility were to implement condition-based maintenance. The result is reduced downtime, prolonged asset lifespans and monetary savings.

Process Management

Warehouses can achieve higher efficiency by automating the collation, organization and distribution of relevant information from one central location. (The CMMS can be accessed from anywhere, as long as there is internet connectivity.) Managers can attend to issues at the warehouse and make informed decisions without being physically present. In addition, a mobile-enabled CMMS can boost communication among staff, who can check the status of work orders, monitor the progress of repairs, and receive alerts on the go.

Spare Parts Management

CMMS allows for better control of the entire process of spare parts procurement, from vendor management to purchasing, stocking and issuing of parts. It provides a concise picture of what’s happening with all kinds of replaceable components. It helps managers to generate purchase requests, track specific information about items, note their location in real time, and monitor storeroom levels.

Because CMMS tracks data over time, it enables insights that form the basis for short- and long-term stock planning. By identifying a pattern of parts consumption over time, it helps to prevent situations where, for example, a component is needed for an urgent repair but is out of stock. The system issues alerts when parts-inventory stock falls below predefined thresholds.

CMMS is a cloud-based system, allowing all users to access the same information no matter where they’re located. As a result, they can more easily coordinate maintenance activities that are dependent on the availability of a particular spare part.

Maintenance Scheduling

When it comes to effective equipment maintenance, the best bet is to take a proactive approach.

There are a number of proactive maintenance strategies to choose from today, with preventive and predictive maintenance being the most dominant. In all cases, a CMMS eliminates the need to spend time manually plotting and scheduling maintenance activities. Attempting to manage maintenance manually in a large, modern-day warehouse is a surefire recipe for chaos. Activities will clash, important tasks will be overlooked, and downtime will increase as the maintenance team struggles to address one emergency after the other.

Regulatory Auditing

Warehouse owners face strict requirements for routine regulatory inspections, as well as safety and compliance audits. (That’s especially the case for the food and health sectors.) OSHA maintains stringent safety regulations and guidelines for warehouses. The most common audits are for quality assurance, meter readings, safety and hazard inspections.

CMMS software can be used to create, schedule, perform, and record a wide variety of inspections. The records also serve as evidence of compliance, because of the system’s ability to upload related documents such as checklists, images, and step-by-step procedures to validate that interventions were correctly executed.

When all is said and done, warehouse management is a demanding venture with little tolerance for mistakes and inefficiencies. Instead of wasting valuable time trying to manage everything manually, consider a tool like CMMS to keep chaos at bay. It will help to eliminate many warehouse-management headaches.

Bryan Christiansen is founder and CEO of Limble CMMS.

All Warehouse Services Conveyors & Sortation Lift Trucks & AGVs RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice Order Fulfillment Warehouse Management Systems

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter!

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • DOCUMENTS BEARING THE INSIGNIA OF US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LIE ON A TABLE

    New CBP Regs Call for Greater Diligence by Brokers in Reporting Security Breaches

    Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
  • A WORKER IN A WAREHOUSE, SUPERIMPOSED WITH GRAPHICS SHOWING SUPPLY NETWORK

    Enabling Intelligent Visibility With Supply Chain Analytics

    Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
  • GSCMS-Promo.png

    Watch: Introducing the Global Supply Chain Marketing Summit

    Education & Professional Development
  • A HAND TURNS A LARGE, LIGHTED DIAL WITH THE WORD RISK ON IT iStock-NicoElNino-1364371014.jpg

    Measuring KPIs and KRIs for Comprehensive Supplier Performance Management

    Technology
  • DEEPLY CRACKED EARTH UNDER A BLUE CLOUDY SKY

    Why Maritime Supply Chains Must Adapt to Sustainability Regulations

    Ocean Transportation

Digital Edition

Scb nov 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain Innovator of the Year

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • New Revenue for Cloud-Based TMS that Embeds Orderful’s Modern EDI Platform

  • Convenience Store Client Maximizes Profit and Improves Customer Service

  • A Digitally Native Footwear Brand Finds Rapid Fulfillment

  • Expanding Apparel Brand Scales Seamlessly with E-Commerce Technology

  • How a Global LSP Scaled its Security Program and Won More Business

Visit Our Sponsors

Orderful Yang Ming Alithya
Barcoding Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics
CoEnterprise Data Capture Deposco
E2open GAINSystems Generix
Geodis GEP GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated IFM
Infor Inmar Keelvar
Kinaxis Korber Lean Solutions Group 2H
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Logility
LogistiVIEW Lucas Systems MCA Connect
MPO Nvidia Old Dominion
OpenText ORTEC Overhaul
Parsyl PMMI QIMA
Redwood Logistics Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash Saddle Creek Logistics
Schneider Dedicated Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD
Shipwell Tecsys TGW Systems
Thomson Reuters Tive Trailer Bridge
Vecna Robotics Verity
Verusen
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2023 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing