How familiar are you with NetSuite’s Warehouse Management System (WMS)? Essentially, NetSuite’s WMS is a comprehensive tool that manages inventory and fulfillment operations for a business. Let’s take a look at some of the key features that the NetSuite Warehouse Management System provides.
Key WMS Features and Processes
NetSuite’s WMS revolves around three key processes: inbound processing, inventory processing, and outbound processing.
Inbound Processing
First, inbound processing. With the NetSuite WMS, you can easily receive and process inventory. All the records in the Procure to Pay process are connected in NetSuite. What this means for inbound processing, then, is that receiving inventory is a simple matter of pulling up the original purchase order and selecting the Receive button. The same is true for processing returns and transfer orders. Receiving the order on the original transaction record will prompt NetSuite to create an Item Receipt record that is already populated with the information from the original transaction.
Putting inventory away in your warehouse is another key step for inbound processing, and NetSuite supports this need as well. You can mark the location of inventory using the bin feature in NetSuite. In addition, with the various item type records that NetSuite provides you can categorize your inventory by things like lot-numbered or serialized items.
Inventory Processing
Once the inventory is in your warehouse, NetSuite provides support for processing and managing that inventory. For example, if you need to transfer inventory within your warehouse, marking the new location on inventory item records will automatically update the total inventory count for both the old and new locations. There are also multiple ways for you to search for specific inventory, including using the item name, the item number, and the UPC. From these searches, you will have access to the entire list of similar items that you have in inventory.
At times, you may need to adjust inventory levels outside of the normal transaction process. When that happens, you can use an inventory adjustment record to easily keep your overall inventory count accurate. You may also create cycle count plans in NetSuite that set a schedule for counting your inventory. And with the NetSuite WMS mobile option, employees can easily perform these counts simply with their phones. When inventory counts for any items go below desired levels, a preconfigured replenishment report will alert you.
Outbound Processing
The final step of the NetSuite Warehouse Management System is outbound processing. With outbound processing, NetSuite provides support via its pick, pack, and ship features. When sales orders are released to the warehouse, warehouse managers can create waves of orders to be picked. Then, pickers in the warehouse can easily access the orders in each wave via a mobile device. Pick task records further manage the entire picking process by providing exact item and quantity information and assigning a picker to the task.
NetSuite provides support for packing orders, whether or not you manually pack orders. When you use NetSuite during the packing process, you can easily access and enter carton details and the pack status of items. You can even take packing orders to the next level with NetSuite’s Pack Station SuiteApp, which would enable you to use a Pack Station kiosk in your warehouse.
And finally, NetSuite supports the shipping process. After you pick and pack an order, NetSuite will generate a shipping label for the order. With the NetSuite WMS Shipping Integration, NetSuite can also push information from shipping records to the appropriate shipping carrier for those orders.
Conclusion
Understanding these NetSuite WMS features will put your company on track to streamline warehouse operations and improve overall efficiency. Over the next several weeks, we’ll be digging deeper into the specific ways that NetSuite supports distributors. If this blog has been helpful, be sure to subscribe to the SuiteRep newsletter below to have those blogs delivered right to your inbox each week!