Imagine a highly automated warehouse where various equipment operates efficiently and orders flow in and out seamlessly. However, without a powerful "brain" to coordinate these complex operations, the entire system could descend into chaos. This "brain" is what we now call the Warehouse Execution System (WES).
In recent years, with the rapid growth of e-commerce and increasing consumer demands for logistics efficiency, traditional warehouse management models face significant challenges. The influx of omnichannel orders and the need to process small-batch, high-frequency orders have placed greater demands on warehouse operational efficiency. In this context, WES has emerged as the core driver of smart logistics.
WES: Evolution from "Bridge" to "Brain"
In the past, Warehouse Control Systems (WCS) primarily served as "bridges," connecting underlying automated material handling systems with upper-level order, customer, and inventory management systems. However, as business needs evolved, WCS functionality became insufficient. WES emerged from this gap, not only incorporating WCS capabilities but also adding advanced features like wave-less processing and real-time operational intelligence to better coordinate resources and handle omnichannel fulfillment pressures.
The growing value of WES is evident in recent mergers and acquisitions among WES providers. Major material handling automation suppliers have been acquiring WES capabilities either through purchases or in-house development, reflecting rapidly increasing market demand.
According to Clint Reiser, senior analyst at ARC Advisory Group, omnichannel environments place tremendous pressure on distribution centers. To handle growing order volumes, particularly the rapid processing of small e-commerce orders, businesses increasingly require WES and advanced WCS solutions. Reiser estimates the WES solutions market is growing at approximately 10% annually.
Core WES Functionality: Beyond Traditional WCS
WES delivers value through greater standardization and productization compared to customized WCS deployments of the past. More importantly, WES focuses on advanced order fulfillment and operational intelligence. It not only controls underlying automation equipment but also optimizes order processing workflows and provides real-time operational data analysis.
As Ed Romaine, VP of Sales and Marketing at SI Systems explains: "As WES matures, it absolutely becomes more productized, like any type of software. WES excels at continuously monitoring different automation silos and balancing them according to changing order fulfillment requirements and available resources."
WES solutions combine WCS and Warehouse Management System (WMS) functionality, managing warehouse operations in a more real-time manner than traditional WMS. Connected to automated material handling systems, WES can precisely identify bottlenecks while incorporating certain WMS-level functions like wave management, order picking, or packaging.
Modularity and Configurability
WES solutions have become more standardized and configurable, particularly for basic functions like routing. As Helgi Thor Leja, senior industry leader at Fortna notes: "Years ago, WCS solutions were largely custom-built for each client. Today, we achieve standardization through WCS integration templates and standard drivers for automation equipment."
Mike Howes, VP of Software and Control Engineering at FORTE Industries, explains their WES suite contains simple "best practice" approaches for functions like picking or packaging that users can configure via workflow engines. "This provides the configurability needed to manage processes without product customization," says Howes.
While WES becomes more configurable, it may never achieve the standardization of office productivity software. As Jay Moris, President of Invata Intralogistics observes: "WES solutions leverage pre-established logic for key functions and standard interfaces with WMS or ERP systems, but each deployment remains somewhat unique to the distribution center's specific processes and equipment configurations."
Higher-Level Focus Areas
Wave-less processing represents one key WES differentiator. Unlike traditional wave-based approaches, WES continuously receives order demands from host systems and assigns work to optimal resources, maintaining steady, efficient fulfillment rhythms while accommodating e-commerce order insertions.
Another advanced WES capability involves analytics and business intelligence. Modern solutions correlate machine exceptions with labor resources and inventory levels to predict completion times or identify labor reallocation opportunities. As Paul Hendrikse, senior account manager at W&H Systems notes: "Fifteen years ago we only looked inside material handling systems. Today's solutions are more predictive and functional."
Business Intelligence and Mobility
Similar to Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES) in factories, WES provides dashboards to measure order fulfillment progress or uptime issues. Many providers now offer mobile-friendly dashboards, enabling managers to access operational intelligence anywhere.
Fortna, for example, offers mobile apps including dashboards and an application that lets users point a tablet camera at a fault point to relay real-time feeds to remote support experts. As Leja explains: "Many clients want to operate their business via iPad, viewing operations from anywhere with role-appropriate dashboards."
Maintenance technicians and managers also use WCS analytics and alerts to identify potential preventive maintenance needs or threshold violations. For high-volume omnichannel fulfillment centers, even brief downtime can cause hundreds of order delays, making uptime monitoring critical.