Some Players in the Field of Labor Management

An LMS typically interfaces with existing warehouse management systems (WMSs) but can be implemented in other ways as well. For example, if your organization is already using an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system with warehouse management functionality, then the addition of an LMS just might be the stepping stone you need toward better managing your labor force’s productivity. Just because you have a WMS doesn’t necessarily mean you have LMS functionality.

Here is a small (and certainly not an exhaustive) list of vendors that focus on LMS:

Manhattan Associates, Inc. was one of the first to release a labor forecast/optimization application designed specifically for the needs of distribution managers. Manhattan Associates’ labor forecast/optimization functionality, embedded in the industry-leading Labor Management Solution.

Infor’s labor management system helps its clients to reduce their labor costs. Its solution provides workforce planning, staffing, and execution capabilities, along with the ability to monitor direct and indirect labor and provide feedback to workers and supervisors as picking, packing, and shipping activities are completed.

Workplace Systems - Workforce Management Solutions address all areas of staff planning and staff tracking together with all aspects of planning and tracking of the work done by staff including resources required. These standard products address all market sectors but, additionally, specialized vertical market solutions are available which address the particular requirements of retail, hospitality, emergency services, utilities and telecommunications, aviation and rail, manufacturing, and healthcare.

Manufacturing Systems with an IQ

For its part, IQMS boasts a 98 percent customer retention rate and continuous profitability and growth, which traits have not always characterized QAD. Currently, IQMS has a total of over 500 corporate customers at over 1,000 locations in 4 continents and 11 countries. These user companies range from a single site with only 5 users to companies with 10 sites and an unlimited number of users.

IQMS focuses on small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS) operations in the discrete manufacturing, repetitive manufacturing, and process manufacturing environments. These companies tend to embrace lean manufacturing (and overall “lean business”) principles and thus require low-maintenance and cost-effective (but fully functional) ERP systems. To that end, perpetual licensing provides the rights to all future upgrades and includes database licensing too.

Master of Its Own Destiny (and Its Own Domain)

Being privately held and not burdened with the stifling demands of private equity firms, venture funds, or public shareholders has proven to be a blessing for IQMS. Namely, not only has IQMS stayed away from the disturbance of the ongoing vendor consolidation bonanza, but it has also been able to control its own destiny and make independent decisions about product development. IQMS customers are also intimately involved in product development via annual user meetings, an online user group, and participation in focused development teams.

In keeping with growth and its commitment to delivering leading-edge solutions, IQMS added employees to every department in 2008 (with a total head count now well over 100), and created new work units including the Automation and Oracle Data Services groups. These groups are focused exclusively on system advancements, customer satisfaction, and bridging shop floor equipment directly into functional ERP applications.

APICS 2009 From the Expo Floor

One reason why the S&OP software category is doing well these days is that the companies that have the core components (like demand planning, supply chain planning [SCP], transportation management systems [TMS], etc.) are looking for the next level of automation, and an S&OP overlay or composite application provide this. Also from a business standpoint, there is a great appeal to the “balancing supply and demand for profitability” message, especially in times of recession (i.e., reduced demand and scarce cash). In other words, sharing a common plan (and being on the same page) means that the sales folks can no longer (with impunity) be selling without regard to the production plant’s ability to deliver, while the production counterparts can no longer ignore market demand in their production planning processes.

Even more, today there is a move away from S&OP being merely a collaborative SCP process designed to drive more accurate demand forecasts and align demand with production capabilities to ensure timely fulfillment of customer orders. Namely, as companies face increased global competition and supply chain challenges, along with rising transportation costs and volatile economic and market conditions, many industry-leading manufacturers–as well as consumer packaged goods (CPG) distributors and their retailing partners–have been working towards elevating their S&OP processes to an enterprise-wide global scale.

These trading partners are striving for this scale in order to enhance supply chain visibility, reduce costs, and achieve more integrated business planning and management. As a result, businesses of all types and sizes are now discovering how this next generation of S&OP approach and enabling tools can actually become mission-critical elements of an integrated business planning (IBP) strategy, as introduced in Part 1. Some of the primary business drivers for IBP include the following:

* significant organizational pressure to improve corporate performance
* the need for a more formal process and tool-sets to grow business
* drastic shifts in consumer buying patterns driven by the economic downturn
* large cost reduction initiatives including a desire to reduce inventory and working capital.