The HC-SL scales are designed for products up to a
maximum 60 kg. The high level of weighing accuracy
(up to 5 g) permits speeds of up to 2. 9 m/s in calibrated
mode. A sandwich which creates a rigid platform for the
parcel to travel over the scale‘s weigh bridge.
HIGH WEIGHING ACCURACY
AND THROUGHPUT OF PARCELS
HC;SL
wipotec-ocs.com
management, payroll, and metrics manage-
ment,” Magnan says. “But our upgrade was
more about its ability to interface with our
customers, so when they buy a product, it’s
already reserved in our system, so we know
we’ve got the inventory. And then our
system sends out the tracking number for
UPS or some other carrier directly to the
end-customer.”
After looking at a dozen WMS offer-
ings, RK Logistics chose a product from
Alpharetta, Georgia-based Deposco Inc.,
a provider of omnichannel warehouse
management and order fulfillment soft-
ware. Key to that selection decision was
Deposco’s experience with integration
products and its menu of pre-built “mod-
ules” enabling rapid plug-and-play con-
nections with dozens of enterprise resource
management, warehousing and order man-
agement, e-commerce, and retail online
ordering platforms, RK Logistics says.
Those tight integrations now allow a
direct feed of orders from each client’s system into RK’s version of the cloud-based
Deposco software, which then provides
instructions to the RK fulfillment workers
who pull, pack, and ship the orders. In the
meantime, the software provides each client with complete inventory and order-cy-cle visibility throughout the process.
CARE AND FEEDING OF A NEW WMS
Buying a social WMS product to run your
warehouse and communicate with other
technology platforms is a critical first step
toward keeping pace with the fast-changing
world of e-commerce. But even the newest
software will soon become obsolete if it’s
not updated regularly. A successful WMS
upgrade requires a commitment on the
user’s part to follow the vendor’s update
schedule, says Adam Kline, senior director
for product management at WMS vendor
Manhattan Associates.
Most software products—whether it’s
a WMS or the operating system on your
laptop—push update reminders out to
their users several times a year. Those new
versions can include bug fixes, provide
protection against new cyberthreats, or
improve efficiency. However, not everyone
installs them because the changes can also
disrupt connections to other systems.
Kline likens the situation to a consum-
er who’s happy using an outdated
smartphone but one day discovers
the latest apps no longer run on
that old version of the Android
OS. While the consumer might be
inconvenienced if Microsoft Office
or PowerPoint no longer works on
their phone, the consequences of
failing to update an operating sys-
tem could be far more severe for
today’s fast-paced DC operations—
especially in sectors like retail, phar-
maceuticals, high tech, or food and
beverage, he says.
“It’s a slippery slope, because
there’s also change from an infrastructure perspective. You might
need to update the OS on a server,
add the new version of Linux, or
change a database that’s no longer
supported by Oracle,” Kline says.
“For a while, you were able to patch
those holes, like the guy in the
TV ads with the waterproof ‘Flex
Tape,’ covering holes leaking water.
It works for a while, but in the end,
it’s just tape.” The takeaway for DCs
(and tape guys): You cannot rely on
patches forever.
WORKING TOWARD THE SAME
GOAL
Warehouse operators, retailers, and
3PLs are all looking for an edge
in the rush to provide fast, cheap,
transparent fulfillment. Swapping
out a legacy WMS for a shiny new
model can be an important part of
that arms race, but it’s crucial to
remember that no software product
runs on an island.
Instead, warehouse technology in
the e-commerce era must be social,
experts say. The optimal WMS
products are those that can play well
with others, seamlessly exchanging
data with other software platforms
and automated warehouse equipment as they work together toward
a common goal. n
