How Flexible is Your Warehouse?

Flexibility in the warehouse can mean a lot of different things, depending on your role in the warehouse. For example, as a warehouse manager you may want to have the flexibility to move and balance labor, as a warehouse executive you may want to have the flexibility to incorporate value-add processes, and as an owner you may want the flexibility to add a new product line. How easy is it to accomplish these goals in your warehouse? To remain competitive, the warehouse must be flexible on many levels.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word flexible as:
• “capable of bending or being bent”
• “easily changed: able to change or to do different things”
• “willing to change or to try different things”

A popular Albert Einstein quote states “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.”

Inbound Logistics magazine published an article last year entitled “Building a Smarter Warehouse” that stated:

“The intelligent warehouse features three critical traits – visibility, mobility, and flexibility.”

The most significant way to achieve flexibility in the warehouse is to implement an advanced WMS (Warehouse Management System) like Interlink’s Warehouse-LINK®. Warehouse-LINK® is designed to provide flexibility throughout the entire warehouse operation. Flexibility extends to space utilization, business rules, reporting, inquiries, cycle counting, labor management, and management in receiving, QC, inventory tracking, putaway, replenishment, order processing, picking, and shipping.

Another Einstein quote says that “insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.” The flexibility of Warehouse-LINK® opens the door to do things differently like providing more value-added services and new products to your customers. Flexibility is not an option; it is an expectation. It doesn’t matter if you’re doing B2B business or omnichannel; flexibility is the key to successful, intelligent, profitable warehousing.