Engineered labor standards are one of the most powerful tools warehouse leaders have to improve productivity, create fairness, and uncover operational waste. They are also one of the fastest ways to damage trust if rolled out poorly.

Many distribution centers learn this the hard way. What starts as a well-intentioned efficiency initiative quickly turns into pushback, disengagement, and a perception that management cares more about numbers than people. The result is often worse performance than before.

The challenge is not whether labor standards matter. They do. The real challenge is how to implement them in a way that strengthens operations without eroding morale. That requires a people-first approach grounded in transparency, realism, and collaboration.

Below are practical strategies warehouse leaders can use to strike that balance.

Acknowledge the Challenge Up Front 

Labor standards exist for good reasons. They help leaders understand true capacity, balance workloads, plan labor more accurately, and identify process inefficiencies. When done well, they can actually make work more fair by setting consistent expectations instead of relying on gut feel or favoritism.

Employees, however, often see something very different.

From the floor, labor standards can feel like a threat. Associates worry about unrealistic expectations, loss of autonomy, or being punished for factors outside their control. Many have experienced past initiatives where standards were introduced quietly, enforced aggressively, and never adjusted when reality changed. That history creates skepticism and distrust.

Ignoring those concerns does not make them go away. Acknowledging them openly is the first step toward earning buy-in. Leaders who recognize the emotional side of labor standards signal that this is not just a math exercise. It is a change that affects real people doing real work.

Build Transparency into the Process

One of the fastest ways to lose trust is to treat labor standards like a black box.

Employees need to understand the why. Why are standards being introduced now? What problems are they meant to solve? How will success be measured? Most resistance comes from uncertainty, not laziness.

Transparency also means explaining how standards are developed. Associates should know whether times are based on engineered studies, historical data, or assumptions. They should understand what is included and what is not. If allowances are built in for breaks, fatigue, and variability, say so clearly.

When people understand how expectations are set, standards feel less arbitrary. They become something to engage with rather than something being done to them.

Involve Employees Early and Often

Labor standards should never be created in isolation from the people who do the work.

One effective approach is to use pilot programs before a full rollout. Select a small area, a limited set of tasks, or a volunteer group to test standards in real conditions. This creates space to identify gaps, refine assumptions, and learn what works before scaling.

Employee committees can also play a powerful role. Involving experienced associates in validating standards builds credibility and surfaces practical insights that engineers and managers may miss. It also sends a clear message that employee input matters.

When associates help shape the standards, they are far more likely to trust them and defend them.

Keep Standards Fair and Realistic

Nothing undermines morale faster than goals that feel unattainable.

Fair standards must account for the realities of warehouse work. That includes natural variability in order profiles, travel distances, congestion, equipment availability, and human fatigue. Breaks and allowances are not optional extras. They are essential components of any credible standard.

It is also important to separate standards from punishment. When expectations are framed as minimums tied directly to discipline, fear quickly replaces engagement. Standards should represent reasonable performance for a trained associate working under normal conditions, not peak performance on a perfect day.

Fairness builds trust. Unrealistic targets destroy it.

Implement Gradually and Use Standards as Coaching Tools

Even well-designed standards can fail if implementation is rushed or heavy-handed.

Supervisors play a critical role here. They need training not just on what the standards are, but how to use them constructively. Standards should support coaching conversations, process improvement, and workload balancing, not constant policing.

Gradual implementation gives everyone time to adapt. Start with visibility and education before enforcement. Use early data to identify process issues rather than individual shortcomings. When performance gaps appear, ask why before assigning blame.

It also helps to clearly communicate employee benefits. Labor standards can enable fairer workload distribution, reduce burnout in high-volume areas, and create objective criteria for recognition and advancement. When associates see how standards improve their day-to-day experience, resistance decreases.

Create Quick Wins That Build Trust

Pairing a labor standards rollout with visible improvements can accelerate buy-in.

Quick wins might include fixing long-standing process irritants, improving equipment availability, adjusting slotting, or addressing safety concerns that employees have raised repeatedly. These changes demonstrate that management is listening and acting, not just measuring.

Celebrating progress matters too. Recognize teams that help refine standards, identify waste, or improve processes. Highlight examples where employee feedback led to real changes. Public acknowledgment reinforces collaboration and shared ownership.

Trust grows when people see their input reflected in outcomes.

Efficiency and Morale Are Not Opposites

The idea that labor standards must come at the expense of morale is a false tradeoff. The real issue is not the standards themselves, but how they are introduced and used.

Warehouses that succeed take a human-centered approach. They communicate clearly, involve employees, design fair expectations, and treat standards as tools for improvement rather than control. Over time, this builds a culture where performance data is seen as helpful, not threatening.

At Longbow Advantage, we see this play out every day. The most successful operations are the ones that treat labor standards as part of a broader partnership between leadership and the workforce.

Efficiency and trust can coexist. But only if leaders choose to build both intentionally.

Looking for support as you roll out labor standards?

Longbow Advantage works alongside warehouse and distribution leaders to share practical insights, lessons learned, and data-driven perspectives that support fair, effective labor standards implementations. If you’d like to talk through your situation or explore available options, we’re happy to start a conversation.

For many warehouse leaders, the phrase “continuous improvement” triggers an immediate reaction. More projects. More meetings. More disruption to an operation that is already stretched thin.

That hesitation is understandable. Warehouses run on tight schedules, fixed labor, and daily execution. The idea of reopening processes after a WMS implementation can feel risky, especially if the system is stable and orders are moving.

But continuous improvement does not have to mean constant upheaval. When done right, it is incremental, targeted, and designed to work around daily operations, not against them.

At Longbow Advantage, we see continuous improvement as a way to quietly unlock value that already exists inside your WMS and your operation, without putting go-live stability at risk.

Why Stability Is Not the Same as Optimization

After a WMS implementation, most organizations focus on stabilization first. That is the right call. Teams need time to learn the system, adjust to new workflows, and build confidence.

The problem is what happens next.

Once the system is stable, many organizations stop looking at it critically. Temporary workarounds become permanent. Manual checks stay in place even when the system can handle them. Processes grow more complex over time as exceptions stack on top of exceptions.

The operation works, but it works harder than it needs to.

Continuous improvement is about recognizing that stability is only the starting point. Optimization comes from revisiting processes with real operational experience in hand and asking one simple question: is this still the best way to do this?

The Fear of Disruption and Why It Persists

One of the biggest barriers to continuous improvement is the assumption that it requires large, disruptive initiatives. Full redesigns. Major retraining. Long timelines with uncertain outcomes.

In reality, most meaningful gains come from much smaller changes.

In many post-implementation assessments, we find opportunities that do not require new modules, new systems, or large-scale change management. Instead, they involve refining workflows, simplifying decision points, and better aligning system configuration with how the warehouse actually operates.

These are changes that can be planned, tested, and rolled out incrementally, often without frontline users even realizing a project is underway.

What Incremental Improvement Really Looks Like

Effective continuous improvement starts with focus.

Rather than trying to fix everything at once, Longbow approaches improvement by isolating individual functional areas or processes and evaluating them on their own merits. Receiving. Allocation. Picking. Putaway. Reporting.

Each area is reviewed with subject matter experts who live in the process every day. Their input matters because they know where time is lost, where workarounds exist, and where frustration shows up repeatedly.

From there, processes are examined step by step with a simple lens:

• Is this step required?
• Is it solving a real problem?
• Is it duplicated elsewhere in the workflow?
• Could the WMS handle this automatically?

This approach keeps the scope tight and the risk low.

A Simple Example with a Big Impact

In one engagement, Longbow reviewed an outbound allocation process that had grown to more than 40 steps over time. Each step made sense in isolation. Together, they created unnecessary complexity.

During review, the team identified decisions that were being made multiple times, checks that existed only because of outdated assumptions, and manual steps that the WMS could already manage automatically.

By removing redundancy and aligning the process more closely with standard system behavior, the workflow was reduced to a fraction of its original size. The result was faster execution, clearer accountability, and fewer errors.

No system upgrade was required. No operational shutdown was needed. The improvement came from simplifying what already existed.

Continuous Improvement Without Operational Whiplash

Another common concern is timing. Warehouse leaders worry that improvement initiatives will pull key people away from daily execution.

That is why the most effective continuous improvement efforts are structured around the operation, not layered on top of it.

At Longbow, assessments are designed to respect operational realities. Interviews are targeted. Onsite walkthroughs are purposeful. Recommendations are prioritized so teams can choose when and how to act on them.

Not every opportunity needs to be addressed at once. Some changes deliver immediate ROI. Others can wait until the business is ready.

This flexibility allows organizations to improve continuously without overwhelming their teams.

Turning Small Changes into Measurable ROI

Continuous improvement is often misunderstood as a theoretical exercise. In practice, it is one of the most reliable ways to accelerate return on investment after go-live.

When processes are simplified, throughput improves. When manual steps are eliminated, labor is used more effectively. When reporting aligns with how the operation actually runs, leaders make better decisions faster.

These gains add up.

In post-implementation assessments, it is common to uncover dozens of improvement opportunities across functional areas. By evaluating each opportunity based on effort and impact, organizations can focus on the changes that deliver value quickly, without committing to large-scale projects.

Why Experience Matters

Not all continuous improvement efforts are equal.

What makes the difference is practical experience. Knowing how a WMS is designed to function. Understanding how warehouses operate under real-world constraints. Recognizing when a process issue is truly operational versus when it is driven by configuration.

Longbow’s approach is rooted in decades of hands-on implementation and operational experience. Improvement recommendations are not generic best practices. They are grounded in what works, what scales, and what actually sticks.

The Takeaway

Continuous improvement does not have to be disruptive to be effective.

When approached incrementally, with a clear understanding of both the system and the operation, it becomes a way to quietly improve performance while protecting stability.

If your WMS has been live long enough for habits to form, but not so long that inefficiencies feel permanent, now is the right time to take a closer look.

Need some guidance? We’re ready to help.

Introduction 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is not just a passing trend. It is reshaping how we think about process optimization, data interpretation, and long-term scalability across industries. For warehouse and supply chain operations, AI is becoming a key differentiator between companies that simply keep up and those that set new standards for efficiency and innovation.

The real opportunity lies in how AI can enhance the systems and methodologies that drive daily warehouse operations. Tools such as Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), supply chain execution software, and integration frameworks can all benefit from AI. When applied correctly, AI can strengthen delivery predictability, accelerate time-to-value, and improve scalability across implementations and ongoing operations.

Rethinking AI in the Warehouse

When most people think about AI in warehouse environments, they picture robotics or automation such as machines picking, sorting, or transporting goods. While those technologies are important, they only represent a small part of the potential.

Directionally speaking, the next phase of progress will come from embedding AI directly into methodologies and governance toolkits. When AI becomes part of the delivery foundation and understands templates, processes, and standards, it transitions from being a helper to being an integrated part of operational excellence.

Instead of simply generating ideas, AI can learn to apply and scale proven practices automatically, creating more predictable implementations and measurable performance outcomes. The goal is not for AI to replace expertise but to amplify it.

Building the Right Foundation: Context is Everything

One of the biggest lessons from early AI experimentation is that context matters.

AI on its own is not intelligent in the way humans are. It needs structure, input, and direction. By grounding it in reference materials such as configuration standards, integration rules, or process documentation, teams can train AI to think and act within an established framework. Once those inputs exist, the outputs become far more meaningful.

In one early test, I used AI to analyze and update a legacy code sample based on established guidelines. The AI quickly identified multiple areas for correction and generated an improved version that was roughly 85 percent accurate before refinement. It was not perfect, but it reduced hours of manual effort and served as a strong foundation for review.

For teams managing aging codebases or migrating to new system architectures, that type of head start can dramatically shorten delivery cycles and improve time-to-value.

AI as a Co-Pilot, Not an Autopilot

Implementing AI does not mean handing over control to a machine. The most effective approach treats AI as a co-pilot: a system that analyzes large volumes of information, identifies inefficiencies, and suggests optimizations while human experts make the final decisions.

In the context of warehouse environments, that can mean:

• Accelerating code modernization: AI can help bring legacy configurations or integrations up to current standards, reducing technical debt.

• Improving compliance and quality: AI can review thousands of lines of code or configuration to ensure alignment with project rules or governance models.

• Streamlining documentation: Instead of manually drafting or updating documentation, AI can generate initial versions for teams to validate and refine.

• Enhancing performance optimization: By analyzing operational data, AI can identify bottlenecks and recommend tuning or parameter changes.

In each case, AI does not replace human intelligence. It multiplies efficiency and precision, resulting in faster delivery, fewer errors, and stronger alignment with business objectives.

Why This Matters for Supply Chain Leaders

For organizations managing complex warehouse networks, the gap between functional and optimized operations has a direct impact on profitability. Integrating AI into warehouse methodologies should aim to:

• Shorten time-to-value and accelerate deployment cycles

• Reduce manual rework and repetitive tasks

• Improve governance and compliance consistency

• Increase system scalability and reliability across facilities

Beyond measurable efficiency, AI brings greater predictability to delivery timelines and outcomes. This ensures that projects stay aligned with both operational goals and investment expectations.

As supply chain ecosystems evolve, AI will increasingly become part of the operational fabric, reinforcing both strategic agility and long-term resilience.

At Longbow, we’ve spent years refining our understanding of how to combine deep operational expertise with data-driven insight. AI is simply part of the next step in that journey. By bringing intelligence into the heart of how we configure, test, and maintain warehouse systems, we’re defining innovation.

Bringing AI Into Real-World Warehouse Intelligence

As part of our commitment to operational excellence, Longbow is applying these same AI principles within our own technology ecosystem, including Rebus—our real-time SaaS platform that unifies labor, automation, and inventory data into actionable intelligence. Rebus now incorporates AI to expand its analytics capabilities, helping warehouse teams uncover deeper patterns, forecast trends with greater accuracy, and accelerate operational decision-making.

Earlier this year, we introduced AI Trend Forecasting to give organizations a forward-looking view of labor and performance indicators. Building on that momentum, we recently launched AI-driven dashboards that automatically surface key insights and flag emerging issues, dramatically reducing the manual effort traditionally required to interpret complex operational data.

These advancements reflect the same principles guiding our broader AI strategy: combining deep operational expertise with structured methodologies to deliver practical, measurable value. By embedding AI into both our delivery frameworks and our technology ecosystem, we’re helping supply chain leaders achieve greater predictability, scalability, and speed across their warehouse operations.

The Road Ahead

We’ve moved beyond experimentation. Early results already show that AI can streamline configuration, testing, and deployment workflows while improving governance and reducing manual effort. The next evolution lies in training AI systems to operate within refined methodologies, creating a future where these tools handle the heavy lifting so people can focus on innovation, problem-solving, and strategic execution.

AI is not here to replace the warehouse workforce. It is here to make their work smarter, faster, and more rewarding. The more we embed AI into structured processes and governance frameworks, the more it will drive measurable improvements in performance, scalability, and time-to-value.

At Longbow Advantage, that’s what we’re building toward: a smarter, more connected, and more efficient future for warehouse operations.

Interested in learning how AI could accelerate time-to-value and drive efficiencies in your warehouse operations?

Contact us to start the conversation.

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA | November 12, 2025 — Longbow Advantage, a trusted leader in supply chain technology consulting and data visibility solutions, announced a strategic partnership with Softeon, the only tier-1 warehouse management system (WMS) provider exclusively focused on optimizing warehouse and fulfillment performance to increase operational efficiency.

This partnership brings together Longbow’s 25+ years of implementation expertise with Softeon’s best-in-class WMS technology, to deliver more seamless, efficient, and insight-driven supply chain transformations for customers worldwide.

As Longbow continues to expand its implementation and integration capabilities, this partnership adds Softeon’s modern, flexible WMS platform to its portfolio. This enables Longbow consultants to provide clients with a proven solution designed to orchestrate complex fulfillment operations with speed and precision.

Longbow Advantage brings deep supply chain expertise and a consultative, hands-on approach that goes far beyond software implementation. Acting as a true strategic partner, Longbow’s team of subject matter experts advises, designs, and operationalizes solutions that drive measurable business outcomes. Leveraging best-in-class frameworks and proven toolkits, Longbow helps organizations accelerate time-to-value, reduce implementation risk, and ensure that technology investments translate into real operational performance.

“We’re proud to partner with Softeon to deliver practical WMS transformation built on experience, discipline, and innovation,” said Ryan Uhlenkamp, CEO of Longbow Advantage. “Softeon’s modern, flexible WMS pairs perfectly with our operational expertise and structured delivery frameworks, giving customers faster time-to-value, greater predictability, and confidence that their technology will perform in the real world.”

From methodology to execution, the partnership combines Longbow’s proven project frameworks and experienced consulting team with Softeon’s configurable and scalable WMS. Together, the companies will deliver implementations that reduce complexity, improve visibility, and drive continuous performance improvement.

“At Softeon, we’ve always believed that the best technology deserves the best implementation experience,” says Jim Hoefflin, CEO, Softeon. “Partnering with Longbow, an organization that shares our deep operational knowledge and customer-first philosophy, ensures that our customers can realize faster time-to-value and more predictable outcomes from their WMS investment.”

About Longbow Advantage

Longbow Advantage helps leading supply chain organizations implement, integrate, and optimize warehouse management (WMS), labor management (LMS), and automation systems with precision and efficiency. With a focus on data-driven solutions, Longbow helps organizations optimize warehouse and distribution center operations.  

In addition to its consulting expertise, Longbow continues to innovate through solutions like Rebus, which unifies data across disparate warehouse and supply chain systems to deliver real-time operational insights and smarter decision-making. 

For more information about Longbow Advantage, visit longbowadvantage.com.

About Softeon

Softeon is a WMS provider focused exclusively on optimizing warehouse and fulfillment operations. For over two decades, Softeon has been helping our customers succeed in optimizing their fulfilment operations. Investing in R&D enables us to develop software to solve the most complex warehouse challenges. Softeon is laser-focused on customer results, with a 100% track record of deployment success. We believe warehouse leaders shouldn’t have to settle for a one-size-fits-all approach to technology. For more information, please visit www.softeon.com.

MONTREAL, QUEBEC, CANADA | October 27, 2025 — Longbow Advantage, an award-winning WMS operations consultancy partner and Alpine Supply Chain Solutions, an established leader in client-side WMS implementations, have teamed up to provide comprehensive WMS implementation services. Collectively, the two firms have successfully completed more than 400 WMS projects led by two of the industry’s most experienced implementation teams.

“Warehouse leaders don’t just buy software, they buy outcomes. By combining Alpine’s client‑side program leadership with Longbow’s deep operational and integration expertise, we’re helping customers stand up the right WMS for their business with less risk, tighter timelines, and measurable results,” said Longbow Advantage CEO, Ryan Uhlenkamp. “Alpine shares our pragmatic, on‑the‑floor approach. That alignment is why this partnership works and why it will deliver immediate value to our shared customers.”

The joint offering follows a proven, multi-step framework designed to achieve business goals while minimizing disruption to daily operations. We start with discovery to map processes, data flows, and KPIs. Next comes solution design that configures the right WMS for real-world workflows and defines integration across ERP, labor, automation, and inventory.

We then build activities and ready the data for implementation and data migration, testing, and go-live. Go-live is supported with hypercare, clear SOPs and work instructions, and embedded change management.

“With Longbow Advantage’s operations and WMS expertise along with the client-side implementation expertise Alpine brings to every project, I’m thrilled about what this partnership brings to our customers,” added Alpine Managing Principal, Michael Wohlwend. “Longbow and Alpine together represent the industry’s most comprehensive implementation team, led by some of the most experienced professionals available.”

To work with Alpine Supply Chain Solutions and Longbow Advantage on your WMS implementation, contact us here.

About Longbow Advantage

Longbow Advantage helps leading supply chain organizations implement, integrate, and optimize warehouse management (WMS), labor management (LMS), and automation systems with precision and efficiency. With more than 65% of its delivery team bringing hands-on supply chain experience, Longbow combines deep industry expertise with a proven methodology to deliver faster project mobilization, seamless migrations, and measurable operational results. For more information about Longbow Advantage, visit longbowadvantage.com.

About Alpine Supply Chain Solutions

Alpine Supply Chain Solutions is a boutique consulting firm specializing in warehouse optimization, supply chain strategy, and distribution network efficiency. Through data-driven analysis and hands-on expertise, Alpine helps companies enhance operational performance, reduce costs, and scale for growth. For more information visit alpinesupplychainsolutions.com.

Introduction 

Most automation projects don’t fail because of robots. They fail because the WMS and the processes behind it aren’t ready. If your WMS isn’t the brain—driving real-time decisions, exceptions, and inventory truth—automation becomes an expensive traffic jam. (For example, a client recently spent seven figures on equipment, but because the WMS couldn’t handle cancel messages from the AS/RS, the team reconciled by hand for months.)

Your WMS decides eligibility, allocates work, handles exceptions, and keeps inventory truthful at machine speed. If that brain isn’t ready, the best hardware turns into a very expensive queue.

Why we’re focusing on the WMS 

We’ll center these warning signs on the WMS because, in automated operations, it’s the brain that decides what moves when—and why. Robots, shuttles, and conveyors only execute; the WMS allocates work, validates eligibility, reconciles exceptions, and keeps inventory truthful at machine speed. If that brain isn’t ready—if events aren’t real-time, exceptions aren’t modeled, or data isn’t clean—the best hardware becomes an expensive queue. 

Facilities, process, and data still matter. Power, floor, and safety set the stage; streamlined workflows reduce waste; high-quality masters inform decisions. But each of those succeeds or fails through the WMS, where rules live and transactions are recorded. That’s why the five warning signs you’re about to read all orbit the same center: a WMS that can truly run automation. 

And now, onto the five warning signs your warehouse isn’t ready for automation. 

1) The WMS isn’t the system of record (or can’t talk in real-time) 

If allocation, eligibility, confirmations, and inventory truth don’t live in the WMS—with bi-directional events in seconds—automation turns into dueling sources of truth. You’ll see tote contents disagree with the WMS, tasks hanging in “in-progress,” and operators forced to click through workarounds in both systems.

The result is rework, inventory drift, and a loss of trust in the numbers that run your SLA. Make the WMS the brain and ensure the automation layer never “owns” inventory—only executes it. When timing matters (short waves, late carrier cutoffs), sub-second event flow is the difference between hitting the truck and missing it.
 

Quick check: For every automated step, list the WMS events published/consumed (create, confirm, cancel/adjust, error). Note the SLA for each message (<2s typical). Prove with a test that a cancel mid-stream cleanly unwinds inventory and work in both systems.

2) Exceptions aren’t designed end-to-end in the WMS

Happy paths are easy; real operations are made of edge cases. Jams, shorts, label misprints, picker no-reads, and mid-flow order cancels all demand named exception codes, owners, and recovery steps—and they must be modeled where inventory is authoritative: the WMS.

If exceptions “live” only in the controls layer, you’ll fix the physical flow but corrupt the book inventory. That’s when teams start reconciling by hand and throughput falls off a cliff. Build exception paths like products: specify triggers, screens, fields, and the inventory/status updates they drive.

 
Quick check: For each transaction, document cancel, short, re-route, reprint, and mispick flows: who executes, where (WMS vs. control), what data updates (qty, lot/serial, status), and what the operator sees. In UAT, inject faults on purpose and prove the WMS remains the single point of truth.

3) You’re automating a bad process instead of fixing it 

Automation amplifies any wobble in your data. Inconsistent item masters (dims, weights, handling units), messy location types, or casual status usage forces constant human intervention—killing the very ROI you’re buying.

At machine speed, the system needs to trust dimensions for chute eligibility, respect lot/serial rules, and understand each location’s capabilities (putaway, pick, replen) without guesswork. If that foundation is soft, the software stalls, the hardware queues, and operators babysit. Treat item/location masters like production code: versioned, reviewed, and enforced.

 
Quick check: Validate cycle count accuracy in the target zones (≥99% for high-automation areas). Confirm pack hierarchies, substitution rules, and lot/serial handling are enforced in the WMS (not tribal knowledge). Run a data quality report: % of items with complete dims/weights, % locations with correct type/attributes, and a heatmap of ambiguous statuses.

4) Exception handling is an afterthought 

Automation makes good processes faster—and bad processes worse. If replen triggers are late, pick paths cross too often, or wave logic fights carrier SLAs, a shuttle or AMR fleet won’t fix it; it will enshrine it.

Translate your process into WMS rules, priorities, and statuses first. That means clean task interlocks (replen before pick), queue depth limits, and clear service priorities by order type. When these rules live in the WMS, the automation layer executes a coherent plan instead of improvising.

 
Quick check: Maintain current swimlanes for inbound, replen, picking, packing, shipping—tied to specific WMS tasks and status transitions. In a pilot zone, run A/B waves (current vs. proposed WMS rules) and measure touches/order, queue time, and % on-time to carrier cutoff. Only then should you lock the hardware.

5) Your data quality can’t support machine-speed decisions

Automation touches IT/OT, facilities, safety, and operations—but the integration contract lives with the WMS. Without a single owner, change control, and a test plan that mirrors live throughput and SKU mix, you’ll discover defects at go-live, not in the lab.

Successful teams treat this like a product launch: versioned payloads, performance budgets, rollback paths, and dress rehearsals that use real orders and carrier windows. Tie machine telemetry to WMS tasks so you can diagnose whether slowness is people, software, or equipment.

 
Quick check: Establish a cross-functional RACI; freeze message schemas with version tags; run unit → integration → performance → “truck-level” dress rehearsal. Define go/no-go criteria (e.g., ≥98% automated confirmations, <2% manual interventions, end-to-end cycle time ≤ target). Have a rollback that returns inventory and tasks to a clean WMS state.

Learn why so many automation implementations fail.

How to get ready (and move fast once you are) 

• Make the WMS the brain: confirm event models, timing, and exception flows before hardware is finalized.
• Harden the data: clean item/location masters and enforce status usage in the WMS.
• Design the recovery: document exceptions, owners, and inventory updates.
• Test like you ship: mirror throughput and carrier cutoffs; measure both human and machine utilization.

Conclusion

If you spotted even two of these warning signs, you’re not behind, you’re ahead of trouble. Fixing them now costs far less than fixing them after the steel is bolted and the software is “live.” That’s how you protect ROI and get the throughput you’re buying. 

Want an objective readiness check? 

If automation is on your roadmap, start by proving your WMS can run it. Longbow Advantage can give you a holistic WMS systems assessment. Our assessment evaluates the health of your WMS—architecture, data, and operations—so you know exactly where you stand before you buy hardware. 

Interested in learning more? Reach out to us.