Replenishment Options
OVERVIEW
The DATASCOPE WMS replenishment system has two main modules. One is a simple replenishment system to move stock from a bulk area to a pick face location. The second module is a fully directed replenishment systems system.
Simple Replenishment Module
This module has been designed to monitor your pick face bin locations and to automatically generate replenishment orders based on the minimum, reorder and maximum levels of each pick face bin. This module has several important settings that allow your replenishments to be generated based on one of five rules. Some of these rules simply replenish the bin based on actual stock levels, while others replenish the bin to a level that includes future demand. This demand can be run off released picking slips or sales order lines in SYSPRO with a ship date before a set cut-off.
The replenishment orders are automatically generated and displayed on a PC-based review screen and the scanners on the warehouse or factory floor. A time tolerance can be set to turn any line red if the order has not been actioned within a set number of hours. The replenishment staff move through the warehouse, selecting replenishment lines on the scanner. These lines are presented to the user in date and time sequence so that the oldest replenishment orders are actioned first. A single-step or two-stage replenishment can be processed on the scanner. The single-step screen expects the user to fetch the bulk stock and scan it directly into the pick face. This is often used when the bulk location is above or close to the pick face. The two-stage process is used where the replenishment user builds up a pallet of multiple SKUs in the bulk area and then transfers the full pallet to the pick face area and offloads the products into the various pick face bins.
All transactions are recorded for KPI reporting.
Direct Replenishment Module
The directed replenishment module is far more complex. This module starts with a custom-built calculation, which is dropped into the core DATASCOPE WMS software. As such, the actual rules to generate replenishment orders are endless. We can easily build advanced replenishment calculations that are different by warehouse, warehouse area, or stock code product class. Each generated replenishment order is written to a replenishment master table for execution.
Much like the Sales order wave releasing screen, a review screen allows the replenishment manager to review replenishment lines in logical groupings and release these in waves. For instance, the manager may review all replenishment lines at 3 pm. First, all lines are auto-allocated. This process applies the preset stock allocation rules to find the most optimal stock to reserve. Once the lines have reserved stock from the bulk locations, the screen can be filtered by logical grouping before releasing in waves. For example, the manager may sort the replenishment orders by bulk bin Area, Zone, or even Aisle and then release multiple picking slips for each grouping. So, if the release were done at the Aisle level, we would end up with a separate picking slip by Aisle.
Replenishment staff are allocated picking slips and move through the warehouse, processing the replenishment picks. Each picking slip is picked onto a pallet or set of pallets and moved to the pick face area or the destination warehouse (the demand may have come from a pick face, another warehouse, or a factory location). This picking process applies full stock reservation logic, which manages stock availability in the bulk bin locations and ensures that the stock is not taken for a customer or another replenishment order.
Picked replenishment stock is moved to the destination area (Warehouse or pick face), and the standard replenishment Put Away screen is used to scan the stock into the destination bins.
Warehouse Replenishment Report
A Warehouse Replenishment Report assists Warehouse Managers in identifying which items tied to customer Sales Orders or Jobs are running low in the primary Distribution Center.