Within the four walls of a typical warehouse today reside a host of applications, each designed to manage a wide assortment of tasks. Perhaps the most commonly known among these is the warehouse management system (WMS), which has played a key role in distribution facilities for decades.

More recently, another application has entered the mix of warehouse operations: the warehouse execution system (WES). Not to be confused with its closely related cousins — the WMS, the WCS (warehouse control system), or even the OMS (order management system) — the warehouse execution system was developed to help warehouses respond to an increasingly complex supply chain environment, something the other systems haven’t fully been able to achieve on their own. This integrative, AI-enabled tool has the power to automate decisions, orchestrate operations between both humans and machines, adjust to constantly changing circumstances, and manage the overall operational flow of the warehouse. 

Seth Patin, chief executive officer of LogistiVIEW, a provider of warehouse management software, believes the key differentiator between the WES and other applications is its ability to make decisions in a much more detailed way than a typical WMS. “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to deliver efficiency and meet SLAs [service-level agreements] with all the massive disruption and cost increases that are constantly taking place,” says Patin. “Warehouse execution goes beyond the what to focus on the who, the what, the where, the why, the how within a warehouse.”

But what exactly has changed in the warehouse landscape to necessitate this new tool, and how can the WES not only respond to today’s most pressing challenges, but also prepare distributors for the future of warehouse operations? Download Connecting the Dots: The Role of the Modern-Day Warehouse Execution System to find out more.

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