Game ON!

Feeling guilty about all those hours spent in front of your PlayStation, Wii or Xbox? Consider it training to use the next generation of warehouse software. ARC Advisory Group’s Steve Banker explains how video game technology is poised to take the WMS field by storm—and why you might want to take it seriously.

Gamers, take heart! Video game visualization technology has come to the warehouse management system (WMS) market.

Next View Software was first vendor to introduce this type of visualization technology to the WMS market.

When I first saw this technology demonstrated, it struck me as one of the most innovative and intriguing solutions I’d seen in the logistics software industry in several years.

Interestingly, Next View was not the only software vendor with this idea. Since then, I’ve seen similar solutions from two separate companies: Consafe Logistics and Accellos.

Accellos, by the way, has some Canadian roots, with a head office in Markham, Ontario and a workforce of about 80 people north of the border. The company also recently acquired RadioBeacon and Headwater Technology, both Toronto-based.

These three different WMS vendors have come up with the same idea independently and are releasing their offerings to market within months of each other. The Next View and Accellos solutions are already available, while Consafe’s solution will come out in the second half of 2009.

The array of new products and modules are not just slick packages that fall under the “nice to have” category as additions to a WMS solution.

These video game-like graphical user interfaces (GUIs) are likely to produce improvements in slotting, detection of warehouse congestion and error prevention.

This is because they are easier for people to use. Whenever a software solution’s usability improves, new forms of productivity are enabled. The personal computer revolution, after all, was based as much on improved user interfaces as it was on increased computing power.

See the warehouse in 3D
So, why do I find this type of product so exciting?

These solutions have taken the next generation of GUI—which is already being widely used and applied to gaming systems from Microsoft (the Xbox), Nintendo (Wii) and Sony (PlayStation)—and applied it to enterprise-class applications.

The core structure of human thought, as reflected in all languages, is underpinned with a three-dimensional (3D) view of space over time. This is why the expression a “picture is worth a thousand words” rings so true. The GUI technology used in modern gaming systems replicates this.

In a WMS with this type of interface, users are able supplement their two-dimensional user interface icons and displays with 3D visual and spatial moving images.
As the screenshot on page 23 shows, these solutions provide you with a 3D virtual tour of your warehouse. By moving the cursor, you can simulate walking the aisles or shift the perspective to get a bird’s-eye view of your facility.

If you double-click on a rack location, you can get information on the inventory stored there to determine its source, SKU number, the amount of time it has been in storage and whatever other data a shipper chooses to keep in its WMS.

The benefits to business
The power of this type of system comes when it is used to detect and act on events or problems in real time.

For example, if you have an ‘aged inventory’ alert, you aren’t forced to print out sheets and sheets of tabular data that make your eyes glaze over.

Instead, you can execute a query to display the warehouse layouts in 3D. Every location with aged inventory lights up and blinks on the screen. You can then zoom in on particular pallet locations and examine that inventory.

Almost instantly you can start to take corrective action, like advising a supervisor to immediately unload the trailers with aged inventory, or re-slotting aged inventory to a forward pick zone to be consumed more quickly.

The software allows users to visualize other problem areas as well. For instance, the GUI can show partial pallets located in full pallet locations, or high-velocity product that has been slotted in a slow-moving zone.

It is true that the tasks described above (slotting and aged inventory) can be in large part automated though a standard WMS. But that requires buyers to know precisely which functionalities they need in order to configure the software for those capabilities, or, in the case of functions like slotting, to buy an add-on module. Further, the more of these types of advanced features that are required, the longer and more expensive the implementation will be. In the future, when robust visualization tools become more common, we may see that such add-on functionalities are no longer necessary.

Another interesting aspect of adding GUI visualization capabilities to the WMS is breadth. Other advanced technologies—like product lifecycle management (PLM) tools, for instance—have long had very robust 3D graphics, but these tools tend to be the domain of select ‘power’ users.

The next generation of advanced 3D visualization interfaces will empower not just a small subset of specialists, but a broad swath of managers and floor
personnel. In this way, 3D visualization will help democratize analytics.

Dollars and cents
What about cost? It should come as no surprise that a GUI-ready WMS will set you back more than an Xbox. My rough estimate is that it would cost about US$50,000 to purchase the software and US$75,000 to implement it.

That said, you may not have to swap out your entire system. Next View, for one, has made it clear that they are willing to sell their solution as a bolt-on to a traditional WMS.

It normally takes only a few days to train personnel to use the technology—even less if, like many, they already have experience playing video games.

The primary measurable payback comes in slotting. Since the software enables better layouts, it allows people to move through the warehouse more efficiently. Assuming your volume does not increase, you can schedule fewer people to work shifts, which should decrease your labour spend.

Personally, I love the look and feel of these products, and I believe their intuitiveness and ease of use will increase a manager’s productivity.

The fact that three different WMS companies came up with the same idea and developed similar products leads me to believe that visualization technology will ultimately become standard in WMS, and indeed in a variety of other enterprise applications.

Steve Banker is service director of supply chain management at ARC Advisory Group. He can be reached at sbanker@arcweb.com.