Warehouse

Control packed products in units of pallets, cases and each. Make the most of your storage facilites and perform detailed management of Inventory details, Warehouse Equipment and Labour requirements.

Based on the concept of random storage, Answer Warehousing helps provide a high level of space optimisation while being governed by user defined rules applicable to the various processes of putaway and picking.

As an integral component of Answer Enterprise ERP, Warehouse Management integrates with Inventory Management and Purchasing, Manufacturing and Planning, Sales Order Processing and Plant Maintenance modules to ensure a seamless operation across the whole of your business.

Deployment options

As a fully integrated module, Answer Warehouse is able to work in a Distribution Centre or in a Manufacturing Warehouse environment, or any combination of the two.
Warehousing can also be defined to run with a minimum configuration only, and contains all of the necessary interface facilities for host machine interfacing, enabling stand-alone running or as part of a third party configuration.

If it is installed as apart of the fully integrated application it extends the Inventory Management Functions that are available.
Answer Warehousing is comprised of two modules:

• Base Warehousing
• Advanced Warehousing utilising Hand Held Terminals

Minimal movement of stock

This module provides many benefits in the detailed management of Inventory, Warehouse space, equipment and labour utilisation.
This should lead to an overall reduction in space requirements, or the increased utilisation of existing space.

Minimal movement of stock means there is also a reduced risk of damage to stock and equipment.
Efficiency is further increased by reducing the time spent locating stock and taking advantage of any cross docking opportunities.

Improve Inventory accuracy

Answer Warehousing is extremely flexible, able to manage high volume situations with a flexible Cycle Counting facility. Additional validation techniques give an all round improvement in Inventory accuracy.

Maximum flexibility for Warehouse space

Answer Warehousing uses the concept of Zones, Logical Locations and Physical Locations to improve the physical organisation of the Warehouse.
Physical Locations are organised into Logical Locations, and Logical Locations into Zones, providing a three-tier structure.
Physical Locations are the only locations with defined space requirements or restrictions. This method of processing provides maximum flexibility in the space definition of a Warehouse.
The ability to group Physical Locations into a Logical Location and then into Zones is sometimes referred as ' Rubber' or 'Elastic' Warehousing.

Receipting check in

Receipting of goods is the process where deliveries are optionally logged in and then formally checked into the Warehouse into a Receipting Zone.

A wide range of Receipt Types are catered for, i.e. Purchase Orders, Works Orders, Customer Returns, Unplanned or Blind Receipts etc.
The Receipts process can also be Integrated into the Delivery Slot Booking process which enables predetermined Time Slices to be allocated to specific incoming Orders, Carriers, Customers, Vendors, etc.

The Receipting Check In Process is where all of the necessary data is gathered and/or generated for each individual Part.
This information on a Part-by-Part basis could encompass:

• Lot Control Details
• Serial Number Tracking Details
• Shelf Life Date Details
• Best Before Details
• Other User Required Date Tracking
• Country of Origin Tracking
• Date/Code Date Tracking
• Up to Five User Definable Tracking Dimensions, Quality Management and Sampling Methods

Receipting also provides the facility to print Goods Received Notes, Goods Received Tags with or without Bar Codes.

Putaway processing

The Putaway Process is the facility where Goods are moved from the Receipting Zone to their Final Destination, the Final Destination being defined via the available rules and/or overrides.
This Putaway confirmation then validates that the goods have been accurately assigned and accounted for.
Putaway processing will also cater for the situation where an interim or Two-Stage Putaway Strategy is being used.

Picking process

The Picking Process facility enables the Sales Orders, Stores Requisitions, Works Orders etc. to be selected for Picking and the allocation of suitable Items of Inventory assigned. The Rules that determine and will cater for Customer Shelf Life and Best Before Date preferences, if and where applicable.
The Picking Process also interacts with the Delivery Route/Round Maintenance facilities within the Sales Order Processing Module.
Picking Task confirmation confirms that the required actions have been performed and also determines the next process that the particular Picking Group will need to go through. This next process could be Sorting, Packing or moved directly to Shipping.

Sorting, packing, shipping

The Sort facility will Sort any objects that have been picked via the Batch Pick Method. Batch Picking will lose individual Order/Part identities, Sorting re-establishes this identity.
The Packing Facility provides the user with the capability to identify individual Parts that need to go through Packing procedures. Packing can be a Wrap, Labelling or any other procedure defined by the user.
The Shipping Process is where the Shipping Documentation is produced and a Shipment Confirmation of goods leaving the Warehouse is performed. At this point, the Inventory is down dated from the Shipping Zones and all the necessary updating of the other Answer Modules takes place.

Replenishments can be either manually generated or automatically generated. This process is a request to move Stock from one Physical Location to another based on pre-set parameters. For example, a parameter could be; when the Stock of a Part in Location 1 drops to below 20, top it back up to 20.

Physical/Cycle Count Processing allows the user to Freeze Inventory, Generate Documentation, Count and produce Variance Reports.

The Variance Valuation process is fully integrated at Transactional Level to the General Ledger for Accountancy purposes. Unplanned Cycle Counts are also catered for, where perhaps only a limited number of Parts and/or Locations are to be counted.

All the Transaction processing within the Answer Warehousing Module where the following changes are made require User Authorisation and User Defined Rules:

• Quantity Adjustments
• Inventory Status Adjustments
• Location Transfers
• Date Adjustments, Shelf Life, Best Before
• Inventory Centre Transfers
• Change Part Number Transactions

Key Features High level of space optimisation Minimal movement of stock Reduce time spent locating stock Flexible cycle counting facility Manage high volume situations Improve inventory accuracy Use concepts of zones, logical locations and physical locations

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