Ensuring WMS success

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Ensuring WMS success

Instances of WMS implementations being over budget and timescale are quite frequent. In this article, Susanna Patton aims to briefly explore which factors determine WMS implementation success or failure, and identify how such factors can be positively influenced to ensure success

The last decade has seen leaps in the sophistication and application of warehouse management systems. Logistics and supply chain providers recognise the business benefits of such systems which drive operational efficiency and process, underpinning the strategic direction, and in an industry marked by high capital expenditure and stringent cost control it is the implementation of such sophisticated systems which provide the “value added” for an organisation. Unfortunately instances of WMS implementations being over budget and timescale are quite frequent.

This article aims to briefly explore which factors determine WMS implementation success or failure, and identify how such factors can be positively influenced to ensure success. The reason for this approach is twofold. Primarily, a WMS is a significant investment which for reasons of business efficacy requires a demonstrable financial return. Failure to provide such a return needs to be understood and learnt from.

Secondly, implementation of a WMS frequently requires significant cultural adjustment for an organisation. The most appropriate method of organisational adaptation must be identified and applied to ensure implementation success. The question which arises is that when there are two companies that facsimile one another, why does one WMS system have success and the other does not. Most significantly it should be observed that “one size does not fit all”, therefore a best practice model of suitable agility must be developed which is able to respond to environmental and organisational change.

Research has demonstrated that the most significant factors influencing success or failure of implementation are the organisational culture and leadership style of the implementation team sponsors or managers. Quite literally, an inappropriate leadership style or approach will make or break the implementation. Successful WMS implementation is a matter of careful planning and organisational understanding. 1 % hardware and software, (financial and management resource), and 99% cultural change management, (adaptive management style and effective project engagement).

The Organisations

Academic research was undertaken which compared and contrasted three organisations of similar headcount and turnover, from three differing specialist logistical sectors. Post implementation each organisation was forced to engage specialist consultants as a fire-fighting measure; resulting in considerable additional cost to the business in addition to the lost revenue and considerable man-power already thrown at the problem. Employees were apathetic to the initiatives and the management team had their credibility and capability severely questioned. It was also observed that dismissing the incumbent leader caused further confusion and disorganisation.

Ultimately all three implementations were temporarily shelved as they went back to the software house for re-design and re-implementation, whilst the organisations tried to re-build their reputation and credibility with customers and clients. In theory, a WMS delivers step-change cost and service benefits and management information visibility. The reality was loss of customer service, reputation and conflicting management information with huge cost implications for the businesses. So the obvious question presents itself – how can these problems be avoided?

Some ideas for success!

Results of the research demonstrated that there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach to this issue, however five underlying themes presented themselves:-

Active Stakeholder involvement
“Big bang” mentality
Cultural change movement
Do your research
Expectations

Active Stakeholder involvement

The first theme was active stakeholder involvement, getting the right people involved from day one. Stakeholder buy-in is critical, as those on the shop floor and first line management hold the power to make it fail. How you “sell” it to your employees is dependant on the culture of your site or organisation, but it is often helpful to challenge the more vocal personalities from the outset as a focal point.

“Big bang” mentality

Another common theme was the “big bang” mentality. Attempting to introduce a significantly different working process or practice with no test or contingency in place resulted in serious service failure every time. The suggestion from this is straightforward: wherever possible try and keep step changes incremental, floor-based and owned locally.

Cultural change movement

The third theme revolves around organisational culture and the understanding of it. There are a wide variety of sophisticated WMS’s available, so it’s important to find a match between your organisation and the software provider in the method of working and communication. It’s equally important that you have the right person leading the project, someone who has a thorough understanding of the idiosyncrasies of your organisation and working practices and can generate enthusiasm, or, considerable experience of implementations – (ideally both!).

Do your research

Fourthly it’s worth investing resource in research. Packages are available at all levels and in modular format, so it’s worth taking the time to find something that suits your organisation as there’s no point in making a huge investment in something you’re not going to use. Research has shown that each stakeholder will use 1-2 reports daily, 2-3 reports weekly, increasing to 4-5 on an annual basis. Therefore care should be taken with regard to over-complication, as often the “extra” reporting suite will deliver limited value-added. Also, it’s worth confirming compatibility with existing systems and that the IT capability exists to support and integrate it.

Expectations

Finally, research demonstrated that understanding the expectations of the stakeholders and managing them appropriately was one of the most fundamental and accurate predictors of success. Ensuring that understanding was clear across the organisations and that the targets were realistic and matched the bespoke requirements of the organisation. Managing upwards is very important, remembering that it is a new environment for the organisational leaders. Controlling spurious or part information from the project is a fundamental driver to ensure that business confidence is maintained for the project.

The most striking theme across each case study was that WMS implementation is a continuous cycle of learning. Each organisation learnt from their own experiences and every organisation stumbled at some point, even those who delivered their implementation within their criterion of success. The difference was that they took the time to pause and re-focus when they realised it was going wrong, and addressed the issues before they snowballed. They adhered to the maxim that it was impossible to plan too much.

Susanna Patton is a consultant with The Consultancy Company.

www.the-consultancy.co.uk