Our warehouse management expertise has been built directly into Aurora. It includes features found in the desktop edition as well as:

• multi-user access with multiple languages and full permission management
• multiple global warehouses with configurable colour-coded warehouse bays and products — see whether a product is correctly stored at a glance
• instant stock summary — know how many products are available at any time
• historical stock reports — do you need to know what was held last Tuesday at 3.15pm? No problem.
• grant access to your supplier and clients — allow them to view their own stock and make pick requests
• pessimistic picking — it’s not possible for clients to over-pick products
• auto-picking by expiry date, ownership, and first-in first-out
• configurable dashboard panels and reports

Aurora is hosted on our servers and provided as a pay-as-you-go service configured to your requirements. There’s nothing to install, nothing to manage, and nothing to back-up. Software updates are free and available instantly.

Aurora uses the same web security systems as online banks. However, you can also run it on an internal intranet system if you prefer.

For more information, refer to our SWS Aurora page…

SWS Aurora trial programme

We are currently offering trials of SWS Aurora to selected companies. Availability is limited so please contact us immediately if you would like to join the programme.

Validating bar codes was an essential part of the set up process, discussions with our client and the website hosting company were also key to making this a great success from day 1.

The new site has been designed and developed by OptimalWorks Ltd, an award-winning company based in Exmouth, Devon.

The content has been re-organised and structured so it is even easier to find the content you require. Regular news and events can now be posted and you can subscribe to our feed using email or an RSS reader.

Craig Buckler of OptimalWorks commented:

The new SWS design uses modern HTML5 techniques to ensure the site works on a variety of desktop and mobile devices. You can access pages whether you’re using the latest iPhone, an old Nokia, Firefox 5, or Internet Explorer 6 on an ancient laptop. In addition, every page is printer-friendly.

Exciting developments will appear during the next few months. This is just the start.

SWS has grasped the opportunities of both types of internet usage and now regularly includes modules to handle website, email and file transfer data. To learn more why don’t you subscribe to our e-newsletter, it’s free and it’ll keep you up to date with warehouse software technology.

To subscribe:

1. Click subscribe to our newsletter.
2. Choose Get Smart Warehouse Systems delivered by email or any of the news reader links.

The absence of racking poses a number of specific problems. Put-away can stack an incoming block on top of another since a rental charge is applied to each space. However, when picking, FIFO may request pallets to be removed from the bottom or middle of the stack. SWS names this process ‘Gravity’ and many people use the term ‘Live storage’.

Following SWS consultancy, the procedure at Tablogix now works as follows:

1. A pick list is produced and the warehouse operator removes the pallet from the stack.
2. They return to the office to confirm the pick.
3. On receiving confirmation, SWS reconfigures its data to reflect the change in position of the remaining pallets in the stack. A record is written to the charging routine for invoicing.

Note: some sites have fixed locations, i.e. one-location, one-product code. It is not common practice and does not improve warehouse management software efficiency because SWS looks for empty locations close to existing similar products.

Fixed locations are good for certain types of article. SWS normally make your picking locations fixed and the bulk locations allocated by the system rules. We have used multiple location codes right across our user base and can set the rules to provide combinations of multiple, mixed and same-code put-aways. Our SWS-trained installation consultants will advise you on the application of bulk, picking, fixed, free, multiple and mixed-multiple locations.

If you have third-party suppliers who need to inspect the stock you are holding on their behalf, why not add the our “SIERRA” module which permits access to SWS on the web from anywhere. This facility has major implications for users with more than one warehouse.

To solve the problem, we used the SWS Multiple Location Coding format. Each location is given a unique code, for example “AAA01A”, describing the zone (A), the aisle (next A) the column or bay (the third A), the height and the side. We permit up to 9 characters to define a location and, in this case, we add a slash code (/01, /02 … /99).

In effect, this divides a location into 99 section where each holds a different box of items. The warehouse management system allocates a sub-section to a product code. From the user’s perspective, they only see the master code location (“AAA01A”) while the SWS system applies logic when placing an article into an appropriate sub-section to join others of the same code.

Elm Park ‘receive’ pallets to locations which are the same height or taller than the article. Interestingly, because they store product for third parties, they use the location coding and check digits supplied by their client.

SWS is able to cater for location heights of any kind and will accept the location format from other warehouse systems. This is useful if you need a new warehouse management system but you do not want to re-define your locations again. A special report in spreadsheet format was exported to the client to show where stock is placed.