I was the Operations Manager of a 3PL that handled the 3.2-hectare National Distribution Center for one of the largest food companies in the Philippines.
The client-company had an ERP solution from one of the Top 2 ERP solution companies in Manila but for some reason, the ERP was not extended to the National Distribution Center i.e. the 3PL had to secure its own Warehouse Management System or WMS.
Word had it that the WMS of the ERP company would have cost P35 Million which I could not verify if it was true but anyway, the ERP was said to be able to data interface with the WMS software purchased by the 3PL and there should not be any problem. Or, is there?
As I was then new in the company, I had to ask the clerk in charge of the WMS (not a computer programmer) and he said between the ERP and WMS sits a Middleware that translates data to and fro the two software, more like a United Nations interpreter.
I did not think much of it till crunch time came. You see the client-company does most of its annual sales on the last 2 months of the year and outbound shipments can reach as high as 90 trucks (from trailers, container vans, 10-wheelers to small trucks) in a single day. That's when I noticed that things were slowing down.
You see the customer's Sales Invoices were stock allocated and printed using the ERP but the necessary picklists needed by my warehouse crew to pick the stocks were printed on the WMS and naturally, things were slowing down due to the long Waiting Time waiting for the middleware to translate the data flow (21,000 line-transactions per day) between the ERP and the WMS. It could not translate Nihongo fast enough!!!!
To humor you, the clerk told me the middleware prints the ERP data into a flat file (in Nihongo, an Excel worksheet) to which another clerk cuts and pastes it onto the WMS for it to do its thing. Huh??????? Terrific!
I have an ERP worth P100 Million more or less and a WMS worth about P5 Million and am using an Excel program worth P3,000 to make it all work. Jeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzz!!!!
I heard on the rumormill is that big ERP would not give the source codes pertaining to the data interface to the WMS local reseller to ensure 100% compatability because big ERP also is selling a P35-Million WMS of their own. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . whatever happened to Excellent Customer Service.
A friend of mine who is accredited by an ERP company as a Systems Consultant (or whatever they call them) said she never believed in 100% compatability. The truth is it always has problems and the only way to use an ERP and WMS from the same company.
By the way, I would like to invite you to visit my Sulit Homepage as there are some business opportunities that you guys might be able to help me out with. If you are interested, just click the Sulit Logo below:
The client-company had an ERP solution from one of the Top 2 ERP solution companies in Manila but for some reason, the ERP was not extended to the National Distribution Center i.e. the 3PL had to secure its own Warehouse Management System or WMS.
Word had it that the WMS of the ERP company would have cost P35 Million which I could not verify if it was true but anyway, the ERP was said to be able to data interface with the WMS software purchased by the 3PL and there should not be any problem. Or, is there?
As I was then new in the company, I had to ask the clerk in charge of the WMS (not a computer programmer) and he said between the ERP and WMS sits a Middleware that translates data to and fro the two software, more like a United Nations interpreter.
I did not think much of it till crunch time came. You see the client-company does most of its annual sales on the last 2 months of the year and outbound shipments can reach as high as 90 trucks (from trailers, container vans, 10-wheelers to small trucks) in a single day. That's when I noticed that things were slowing down.
You see the customer's Sales Invoices were stock allocated and printed using the ERP but the necessary picklists needed by my warehouse crew to pick the stocks were printed on the WMS and naturally, things were slowing down due to the long Waiting Time waiting for the middleware to translate the data flow (21,000 line-transactions per day) between the ERP and the WMS. It could not translate Nihongo fast enough!!!!
To humor you, the clerk told me the middleware prints the ERP data into a flat file (in Nihongo, an Excel worksheet) to which another clerk cuts and pastes it onto the WMS for it to do its thing. Huh??????? Terrific!
I have an ERP worth P100 Million more or less and a WMS worth about P5 Million and am using an Excel program worth P3,000 to make it all work. Jeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzz!!!!
I heard on the rumormill is that big ERP would not give the source codes pertaining to the data interface to the WMS local reseller to ensure 100% compatability because big ERP also is selling a P35-Million WMS of their own. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. . . . whatever happened to Excellent Customer Service.
A friend of mine who is accredited by an ERP company as a Systems Consultant (or whatever they call them) said she never believed in 100% compatability. The truth is it always has problems and the only way to use an ERP and WMS from the same company.
By the way, I would like to invite you to visit my Sulit Homepage as there are some business opportunities that you guys might be able to help me out with. If you are interested, just click the Sulit Logo below:
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