WMS Warehouse Management System

Chapter 1 System Overview

1.1 System Introduction

The WMS (Warehouse Management System) is a professional management system oriented toward the warehouse floor execution layer. Unlike ERP, which focuses solely on accounting management, the WMS is dedicated to the physical handling of goods in the warehouse. Through refined location management, batch and expiry control, barcode-scanning operations, and intelligent strategy allocation, it resolves common problems in traditional warehouses—such as mis-shipment, omitted shipment, inaccurate inventory, disorganized materials, and difficult traceability—thereby achieving intelligent, standardized, and digitalized warehouse operations. The system supports integration with software and hardware including ERP, MES, TMS, OA, barcode printers, PDA handheld terminals, electronic label picking systems, automated warehouses, AGVs, and weighbridges.

1.2 Key Functional Highlights

• Full-process scanning operations: eliminate manual handwriting errors; all inbound, outbound, stocktaking, and transfer operations are verified by barcode scanning.
• Refined location management: a three-level warehouse–storage area–location architecture, with every material mapped to a precise location.
• Intelligent outbound strategies: support FIFO (First-In, First-Out), FEFO (First-Expired, First-Out), and specified-batch outbound.
• Full-chain traceability: material batch, production date, expiry, serial number, operator, and operation time are all recorded throughout the process.
• Multi-level permission control: distinguishes administrators, supervisors, and frontline operators; high-risk operations require approval and are fully logged.
• Real-time inventory synchronization: inventory is updated immediately upon completion of each operation, keeping book records and physical stock in real-time sync.
• Full-dimension reporting: support operations statistics, inventory analysis, slow-moving stock, expiry alerts, and stocktaking analysis.

1.3 Operating Environment and Hardware Requirements

1.3.1 PC Side

Supports Windows/macOS systems and is compatible with mainstream browsers such as Chrome and Edge. No client installation is required—users can log in and operate directly via a web page.

1.3.2 Mobile PDA

Android handheld scanning terminals support Wi-Fi connectivity, rapid scanning, offline caching, and automatic data synchronization, and are used for on-site receiving, putaway, picking, rechecking, stocktaking, and transfer operations.

1.3.3 Supporting Hardware

Wired/wireless barcode scanners, barcode printers, material label paper, location labels, pallet labels, electronic scales (optional), and DPS (Digital Picking System) electronic picking labels (optional).

Chapter 2 System Initialization and Master Data Setup

Before any warehouse operations can commence, master data initialization must be completed. Errors in base data will result in anomalies across all documents, inventory, and operations.

2.1 Warehouse Profile Setup

Function path: System Settings – Master Data – Warehouse Management.

Operation instructions: Add all of the enterprise’s warehouses, including the raw material warehouse, finished goods warehouse, semi-finished goods warehouse, returns warehouse, nonconforming goods warehouse, pending-inspection warehouse, outsourced processing warehouse, and others.

Required fields: warehouse code, warehouse name, warehouse type, warehouse address, person in charge, contact phone, and warehouse status (enabled/disabled).

2.2 Storage Area Profile Setup

Function path: System Settings – Master Data – Storage Area Management. Used to divide a warehouse into zones.

Common storage areas: receiving area, pending-inspection area, qualified goods storage area, picking area, packing area, returns area, nonconforming goods area, and slow-moving stock area.

Purpose: enables zoned management; different storage areas can be governed by different operation rules to isolate qualified, nonconforming, and pending-inspection materials.

2.3 Location Profile Setup

Function path: System Settings – Master Data – Location Management. A location is the smallest storage unit in a warehouse.

Recommended coding rule: warehouse code – storage area code – row – level – position, e.g., C01-A01-02-03.

Required parameters: location code, owning warehouse, owning storage area, location type (rack position/floor stack position/pallet position), maximum storage quantity, whether mixed storage is prohibited, and location status. The system supports batch import of locations for rapid whole-warehouse initialization.

2.4 Material Profile Setup

Function path: System Settings – Master Data – Material Management. The material profile is core master data; all inbound and outbound documents depend on material information.

Basic information: material code, material name, specification/model, unit, auxiliary unit, material category, supplier, default location, safety stock, and maximum stock.

Control attributes (core switches):

• Batch management: when enabled, a batch number must be entered on inbound, and outbound is offset against batches.
• Expiry management: when enabled, the production date and validity period must be entered; the system automatically issues alerts for near-expiry and expired materials.
• Serial number management: when enabled, each item is assigned a unique code for precise full-chain traceability.
• Quality inspection required: when enabled, receiving automatically generates an inspection task; materials may only be put away after passing inspection.
• Mixed storage allowed: controls whether multiple materials may be stored in the same location.

2.5 Business Partner Profiles

Includes supplier profiles and customer profiles, maintaining code, name, contact person, phone, address, settlement method, and other information. They are used to link purchase inbound, sales outbound, and return transactions.

2.6 User and Role Permission Setup

Function path: System Settings – Permission Management.

1. Role management: preset roles of receiving clerk, picker, recheck clerk, warehouse supervisor, and system administrator; permission templates can be customized.

2. User management: add accounts, set passwords, bind roles, and assign operable warehouses.

3. Fine-grained permissions: support menu permissions, operation permissions (add/modify/delete/approve/print/export), and data permissions (isolating data across different warehouses).

2.7 System Parameter Configuration

System operating rules can be customized, including the outbound strategy, near-expiry alert days, whether approval is enabled, whether scanning is mandatory, whether negative inventory is allowed, document coding rules, and label printing templates.

Chapter 3 System Login and Home Dashboard

3.1 System Login

1. Enter the system access address to open the login page.

2. Enter the account and password to complete verified login.

3. Certain versions support SMS verification, U-Key login, and IP whitelist restrictions.

4. Each account is dedicated to a specific user; the system automatically records login logs, operation IP, and operation time.

3.2 Home Dashboard

The home page is a data-visualization dashboard that displays the warehouse operating status in real time:

• Pending tasks: tasks awaiting receiving, inspection, putaway, picking, recheck, and stocktaking.
• Data statistics: today’s inbound quantity, today’s outbound quantity, current total inventory, and total inventory value.
• Alert information: near-expiry material alerts, below-safety-stock alerts, and slow-moving stock alerts.
• Quick entries: quickly create documents, print labels, query inventory, and handle tasks.

Chapter 4 Inbound Management Module (Full Workflow)

Inbound transactions include purchase inbound, finished goods inbound, semi-finished goods inbound, return inbound, gift/promotional item inbound, transfer inbound, and stock-gain inbound.

General workflow: scheduled receiving – on-site receiving – quality inspection (optional) – smart putaway – inventory posting.

4.1 Inbound Notification (Scheduled Receiving)

Function path: Inbound Management – Inbound Notification Document.

Business scenario: register arrival information in advance to help the warehouse prepare stock and reserve locations; supports automatic synchronization of ERP orders.

Operation steps:

1. Create a notification document, selecting the supplier, document type, and expected arrival date.

2. Add the material code, name, scheduled quantity, and specification.

3. Save and submit; the document status becomes Pending Receiving.

4. The notification document can be printed for delivery reconciliation.

4.2 On-Site Receiving Operations (Primarily PDA)

Function path: PDA – Receiving Task.

Operation steps:

1. After logging in to the PDA, pending receiving tasks load automatically.

2. Select the corresponding notification document and scan the material barcode.

3. Enter the actual received quantity, batch number, production date, expiry date, and delivery note number.

4. Separate qualified, damaged, and nonconforming materials; nonconforming materials are flagged and transferred to the pending-inspection/nonconforming area.

5. Submit to complete receiving; the document flows to Pending Inspection or Pending Putaway.

Supports partial receiving, over-receiving, and short-difference registration; all differences are automatically logged.

4.3 IQC Incoming Quality Inspection

Function path: Inbound Management – Inspection Document. This workflow is triggered only for materials with the inspection attribute enabled.

Operation steps:

1. The system automatically generates an inspection task and pushes it to the PDA.

2. The inspector selects sampling inspection or full inspection and records the inspection results.

3. Qualified: automatically flows to the putaway process.

4. Nonconforming: the option is available to return to supplier, accept with concession, or quarantine into the nonconforming goods warehouse.

5. Save the inspection record; it is archived permanently and remains traceable.

4.4 Smart Putaway Operations

Function path: PDA – Putaway Task. The system automatically recommends the optimal location based on material strategies (fixed location, nearest same-material location, or available empty location).

Operation steps:

1. Receive the putaway task and review the materials awaiting putaway and the recommended locations.

2. Scan the material barcode and the target location barcode.

3. Confirm the putaway quantity and submit to complete.

4. The system automatically increases the inventory of the corresponding location, and the document status updates to Put Away.

Supports full-pallet putaway and batch putaway, eliminating misplacement and disorderly location storage.

4.5 Inbound Review and Document Printing

The warehouse supervisor reviews completed inbound documents; after approval, the inventory officially takes effect and is synchronized back to the ERP system. The system supports printing of inbound documents, material labels, batch labels, and pallet labels.

Chapter 5 Outbound Management Module (Full Workflow)

Outbound types: sales outbound, production material issue, outsourced outbound, sample outbound, transfer outbound, and stock-loss outbound.

General workflow: outbound order generation – intelligent stock allocation – picking – recheck – packing – shipment confirmation – inventory deduction.

5.1 Outbound Order Generation

Two methods:

1. The ERP automatically synchronizes sales orders and production material issue orders to generate outbound tasks.

2. The WMS manually creates an outbound document, selecting the customer/department, materials, and outbound quantities.

The system automatically locks the available stock of the corresponding batch and location based on the FIFO/FEFO strategy and generates picking tasks.

5.2 Picking Operations (Core PDA Operation)

The system supports two picking modes—order-picking and batch-picking—to suit different business scenarios.

Operation steps:

1. The PDA receives the pending picking task and displays the picking location, material, and quantity.

2. Scan the location barcode and the material barcode; the system performs automatic error-prevention verification.

3. Enter the actual picked quantity and confirm submission.

4. Once all picking is complete, the document flows to Pending Recheck.

Error-prevention mechanism: mismatched barcodes, over-picking, and insufficient stock automatically trigger pop-up interception to prevent wrong and missed picks.

5.3 Outbound Recheck Operations

Function: performs a secondary verification of material, quantity, and batch to eliminate shipment errors.

Operation steps:

1. The PDA receives the recheck task and scans the order number.

2. Scan the material barcodes line by line to verify the physical goods against the system document.

3. Recheck passed: flows to packing and shipment.

4. Recheck exception: returns to the picking stage, where the difference is flagged and picking is redone.

5.4 Packing and Weighing

Scan the order to bind packaging boxes, enter the package weight and volume, and support splitting one order into multiple packages. Packing lists and logistics waybills are automatically generated, accommodating e-commerce and logistics shipment scenarios.

5.5 Outbound Shipment Confirmation

After packing, the administrator confirms shipment; the system automatically deducts inventory, the document status changes to Shipped Out, and the data is synchronized back to the ERP system, completing the full outbound workflow.

Chapter 6 In-Warehouse Management Module

6.1 Location Transfer (Move)

Business scenarios: rack reorganization, material replenishment, location optimization, and material relocation.

Operation flow: create a transfer document – issue a PDA task – confirm move-out – confirm move-in – review and complete.

The system automatically deducts inventory from the source location and adds it to the target location, with full trace logging to ensure accurate location-level inventory.

6.2 Inventory Freeze and Unfreeze

Scenarios: materials pending inspection, quality anomalies, customer locks, and inventory hold, where outbound allocation must be prohibited.

Operation: select the material, location, frozen quantity, and freeze reason; after approval, the inventory is frozen. Unfreezing restores the available inventory.

6.3 Inventory Adjustment

For small inventory variances not covered by stocktaking, manual increase or decrease is supported; an adjustment reason must be entered and submitted for approval. All high-risk operations are fully logged to prevent arbitrary ledger changes.

6.4 Batch and Expiry Management

1. Automatically calculate the remaining validity period of materials and issue early alerts for near-expiry and expired materials.

2. Outbound is strictly executed according to the FIFO and FEFO strategies.

3. Supports batch and expiry traceability, allowing queries of material inbound time, operators, and storage locations.

6.5 Real-Time Inventory Query

Supports multi-dimensional queries by material, location, batch, expiry, and inventory status; real-time inventory, inventory transactions, and inbound/outbound details can be viewed and exported to Excel.

Chapter 7 Stocktaking Management Module

The system supports dynamic stocktaking, static full stocktaking, cycle counting, storage-area stocktaking, and single-item stocktaking, accommodating scenarios such as stocktaking without business suspension, end-of-month full stocktaking, and periodic sampling audits.

7.1 Creating a Stocktaking Task

Select the stocktaking warehouse, storage area, and material range, and set the stocktaking type. Inventory during the stocktaking period can be locked to prevent inbound/outbound operations from interfering with stocktaking data.

7.2 On-Site Stocktaking via PDA

1. The stocktaker claims the task and scans the location barcode.

2. The system automatically retrieves the book inventory.

3. Enter the physical quantity; the system automatically compares the physical count against the book inventory to identify variances.

4. Submit the task once all stocktaking is complete.

7.3 Variance Review and Re-count

The system automatically generates a stocktaking variance report showing stock gain and stock loss details. Warehouse personnel review the variance reasons and submit them to the supervisor for approval.

7.4 Stocktaking Gain/Loss Handling

After approval, the system automatically generates stock-gain inbound documents and stock-loss outbound documents, automatically adjusts the book inventory, and produces a formal stocktaking report for archival.

Chapter 8 Return Management Module

8.1 Customer Return Inbound

Create a return document and link it to the original sales order, registering the returned materials, quantities, and return reasons. After receiving and inspection, qualified goods enter the normal warehouse and nonconforming goods enter the nonconforming goods warehouse; inventory is automatically increased.

8.2 Supplier Return Outbound

For nonconforming incoming materials and surplus materials, create a supplier return outbound document; after PDA picking and recheck, the goods are shipped out, inventory is deducted, and a supplier return record is created.

Chapter 9 Report Center and Data Statistics

All reports support preview, printing, and export to Excel/PDF, and are used for warehouse reconciliation, performance evaluation, inventory analysis, and financial accounting. Core reports include:

• Inventory ledger report: full-lifecycle opening, inbound/outbound, and closing balance transactions for materials.
• Inbound/outbound detail and summary reports: aggregated by time, material, personnel, and document.
• Expiry alert report and near-expiry/expired material report.
• Slow-moving stock report: statistics of materials with no turnover for an extended period.
• Stocktaking variance report and stocktaking summary report.
• Employee operations efficiency report: workload statistics for receiving, picking, and rechecking.
• System operation log report and inventory transaction report.

Chapter 10 PDA Mobile General Operating Standards

1. The PDA remains connected to Wi-Fi throughout operations; operation data is synchronized in real time, supports offline caching, and is automatically uploaded once connectivity is restored.

2. All on-site operations must be performed via barcode scanning; manual arbitrary entry is prohibited.

3. When scanning errors occur, check barcode integrity and device status; skipping verification in violation of procedures is prohibited.

4. Submit tasks promptly after completing operations to avoid task backlog.

5. Log out of the account promptly at the end of the shift to prevent misuse by others.

Chapter 11 Common Issues and Exception Handling

• Barcode cannot be recognized: check for barcode wear, device faults, and network status; the material code can be manually entered as a fallback.
• Insufficient stock prevents picking: verify real-time inventory, whether inventory is frozen, and whether the batch is locked.
• Book-physical discrepancy: query inventory transactions to investigate wrong or missing documents and transfer errors, then correct via stocktaking or inventory adjustment.
• Document cannot be submitted: check the network, required fields, permission status, and whether the document has been approved or voided.
• Task not displayed: refresh the task list, verify warehouse permissions, and confirm that the upstream document has been issued.

Chapter 12 System Security and Operations & Maintenance Standards

1. Accounts are dedicated to specific users; sharing or lending accounts is prohibited.

2. High-risk operations such as inventory adjustment, document voiding, and data deletion must be approved and fully logged.

3. The system automatically backs up data on a regular basis to prevent data loss.

4. Unauthorized modification of system parameters, label templates, or coding rules is prohibited.

5. All operation logs and inventory transactions are permanently retained and support audit tracing.

Chapter 13 Document Status Description

• Draft: saved but not submitted; can be modified or deleted.
• Pending Processing: task generated, awaiting on-site operations.
• In Progress: the PDA is currently executing the operation.
• Pending Approval: operations completed, awaiting supervisor approval.
• Completed: the full workflow has finished, inventory has taken effect, and the document is archived.
• Voided: the document has been cancelled and does not affect inventory.
• Rejected: the document was returned due to an anomaly and must be modified and resubmitted.