Top 5 reasons to upgrade Manhattan WM iSeries Systems

In general, Manhattan WM iSeries shop shares similar sentiments on WM iSeries upgrade.

System is stable, no major concerns on operations side. Life is good, why to invest!

Think again! Here are the few value-add that you should know by upgrading to latest release.

Operational Efficiency

Supply Chain landscape is changing, and your customer expectations are changing.

It’s imperative to review your warehouse efficiency from receiving, waving, shipping through inventory control processes and incorporate new features to your operational workflows.

Recent study shows that productivity is driven by inventory count. Lack of inventory accuracy, insufficient locations and floor process impacts productivity high time.

Carrier Compliance

Believe it or not, carriers are becoming technology shops.

Carriers like FedEx, UPS offers latest features. However, those are not backward compatible. Upgrading Manhattan WMi will help you tap into those value add services. Some of the new services offered in latest WMi are UPS Sure post and FedEx Residential Delivery.

Take advantage of latest features

Omni-Channel:

Improvements are made to support Omni-channel allocation for customers who utilize both Retail and Wholesale/DTC flows. The receiving process now permits Wholesale/DTC and Retail allocations from the same LPN.

In addition, a new standalone trigger allows users to fulfill additional pick tickets and/or retail store distributions using Wholesale/DTC and/or Retail residual inventory. This reduces restocking efforts, increases pulling efficiency, and speeds up order processing. Omni-Channel enabled functionality is supported for single-SKU cases.

Web Service Support:

WM has introduced outward web service functionality that allows users to track cartons from within WMi. Available for cartons being shipped via FedEx and UPS services.

Order Streaming:

It is an order fulfillment methodology intended to increase order throughput for direct-to-consumer facilities seeking an alternative to traditional Pack Waves.

By implementing the Order Streaming methodology, clients can configure the system once to suit their business needs and not worry about having to plan work on a day-to-day basis.

~400 IBM i shops were surveyed about their plans for modernization. From the responses, more than 50% have plans to modernize!

Features that support same day delivery goals

Replenishment Engine:

The Replenishment Engine will run, at appropriate time intervals, create any necessary replenishment tasks for unreleased pick tickets in the Order Streaming Pool. This will ensure that replenishment tasks are generated even before the pick tickets are released to the floor.

Consequently, if the Replenishment Engine is run, the instances of picking tasks being held due to pending replenishments will be less than what would typically be found in a traditional order fulfillment model.

Secure FTP:

Some carriers are moving from standard FTP to Secure FTP as a communication protocol for transmission of EDI. Manhattan WMi has been enhanced to support Secure FTP using SSH as a transmission method for EDI under EDI configuration.

Order Prioritization Engine:

The Order Prioritization Engine offers flexibility to the process enabling the most important orders to be fulfilled first. This engine, run in user configured time intervals, will assign priorities to unreleased pick tickets in the Order Streaming Pool based on Order Prioritization rules and will also reprioritize pick tickets based on the Order Re-Prioritization Rules. Pick tickets will be released to the floor in the ascending sequence of Order Priority. Hot Orders are always set to the highest priority. Wave less Packing Option: The Shortage Picking/Packing process in WMi 2014 is enhanced to pack Pick tickets that are not waved. Using this option any pick ticket that needs to be fulfilled immediately could be picked/packed in a single step. This option can be configured to allow users to identify the location from which inventory has to be allocated for the pick ticket. Exception inventory in packing location can also be used to fulfill orders. Any Pick ticket that is in Unselected status (‘10’) can be scanned in this option to allow packing for that Pick ticket.

Ready for Cloud Journey

Without question, cloud is becoming reality and becoming inevitable. Recent Gartner study shows that growing number of enterprises is already using or seriously considering cloud. Staying in latest versions aid you to leverage system integrations smoother.

Winning the Unified Commerce journey needs end to end integration!

End to End integration plays pivotal role in meeting your multichannel and customer experience goals. Staying on latest WMi features will give seamless integration across your channels including On-premise and Cloud technologies.

Latest Code Base

Save your customization cost! Take advantage of the latest features that Manhattan developed without having to invest from your side. Most probably that key features that you are wanting to do may be there. It is key for your modernization efforts.

Remember, there is always room for growth and savings!

ITOrizon focuses on Supply Chain Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, Enterprise Order Management, and Digital Business.

ITOrizon performs design, development, implementation (upgrade, additional rollout), customization and production support for below software vendors.

• Manhattan Associates – WMi, WMOS, DOM, TMS, SCI, LMS
• Oracle – OTM, WMS(LogFire), GTM, Fusion
• Netsuite
• IBM Sterling
• Synapse
• Ramco

With years of Industry expertise across various verticals, we bring the latest Gartner and other Industry analysts’ research to recommend the best of breed solutions and processes to our customers. In addition to our consultative approach, we specialize in very selective software vendor package and technology platforms to be that SINGLE trusted partner to our customers in their business and IT journeys. We also provide development and support services to take complete ownership of our design and deliveries.