BY JAMES COOKE, EDITOR AT LARGE
techwatch
WCS or WMS:
Which is right for you?
NOT SO LONG AGO, SOFTWARE USED IN DISTRIBUTION
centers fit into neat categories. There was the warehouse management system (WMS), the market’s dominant application,
which essentially ran the DC operation, overseeing activities like
receiving, putaway, and picking. Then there was the warehouse
control system (WCS). Designed for distribution centers that
utilized automated material handling equipment, the WCS primarily served as an interface between the WMS and the automated devices.
Technically a type of application known as
“middleware,” the WCS essentially functioned
as an intermediary, passing along instructions
from the central software system to conveyors,
sorters, and the like. In the past, the “sole
function [of the WCS] was to manage transactions as they occurred in real time on a conveyor line, in a sortation system, or in a storage system, while the WMS did its thing,” said
John M. Hill, a director at the consulting firm
St. Onge. Hill made his remarks at a recent
meeting of the Supply Chain Execution (SCE)
Systems and Technology Group of the
Material Handling Industry of America, during a discussion on the changing nature of
WMS and WCS applications.
Today, some 35 companies—mostly systems integrators—
provide WCS for this purpose, according to Hill. But in recent
years, a number of WMS software developers have expanded
beyond their traditional niche and begun offering both a WMS
and a WCS. One such vendor is business software giant SAP,
which offers both a WMS and a WCS (along with a host of other
business applications). Others include the longtime WMS vendor RedPrairie as well as a relative newcomer to the marketplace,
Reddwerks.
As the boundaries between WCS and WMS applications have
blurred, some industry experts like Hill worry that DC managers
are getting confused as to what’s needed to make their opera-
tions run smoothly. They’re not sure whether they need a WCS,
a WMS, or a hybrid, he said at the SCE forum. “That disturbs me
because this market is continuing to emerge,
and we want sophisticated, well-informed
customers making the right kinds of deci-
sions for their operations.”
In response to those concerns, another
speaker at the forum noted that in at least one
important way, the selection process hasn’t
changed much. The choice of software type
still depends on what the company is doing in
its warehouse, said James F.
Le Tart, director of market-
ing at RedPrairie. LeTart
noted that almost every
type of warehouse needs a
WMS, but not every ware-
house needs a WCS—only
those with automated
equipment.
