A warehouse management system (WMS) tracks stock where it physically sits, by pallet, location and batch, and directs receiving, put-away, picking and dispatch. CodeFish builds and connects it for Australian distributors and manufacturers who have outgrown a single stock number in the ERP and a picker who knows where everything is. Unlike an inventory module, it tells people where to go and stops the pick when the scan does not match. You know where your 400 units are, and what you promise customers is what actually ships.
Warehouse Management Systems
The system says the stock is there. Someone has walked the aisle to check, and it is not.
Types of warehouse software
Most warehouses run two or three of these. The WMS is what keeps them agreeing on stock.
ERP inventory module
One quantity per item per site, owned by finance. Enough for one site and predictable stock. See [ERP integration](/enterprise-integration/erp-integration).
Standalone WMS
Locations, directed picking and cycle counts on scanners. You find stock in seconds instead of asking whoever has been there longest.
3PL platforms
Built for logistics providers holding other people's stock. See [CartonCloud alternative](/enterprise-integration/cartoncloud-alternative) for when you outgrow one.
Batch and traceability
Batch in, batch out, with a full trace in minutes during a recall. See [food traceability](/business-automation/food-traceability-software).
Production and consumption
Raw materials issued to the line and finished goods booked back in. See [manufacturing execution](/enterprise-integration/mes-manufacturing-execution-system).
Spare parts stores
Critical spares held and reordered before the lead time bites. See [maintenance management](/enterprise-integration/cmms-maintenance-management).
What a warehouse system has to do
Ordered by what usually pays back first in a mid-market warehouse.
Receiving and put-away
Stock booked in against the purchase order at the dock, with a location assigned. Every number downstream is right because the first one was.
Location-level stock
Not just how much you have, but where it is. New starters find stock on day one, without asking the person who has worked there longest.
Directed picking
The system says what to pick and where to go, in an order that suits the layout, and stops the pick when the scan does not match. Wrong-item dispatches get caught on the floor, not by the customer.
Batch and expiry
Which batch is where, and what to pick first, enforced on the pick. Less stock written off, and a recall that targets one batch instead of the whole range.
Dispatch and proof
What went on which truck, signed for by whom. Delivery disputes are settled with a record, not a paper docket in a cab.
Cycle counting
Small counts every day instead of a shutdown once a year. Accuracy is measured weekly, so the stock number stays one you can sell against.
Do we buy a WMS, build one or use the ERP?
Use the ERP until it runs out. Build only the gap.
Start with what you already own, and we will say so. With one site, a manageable SKU count and predictable stock, the ERP inventory module and disciplined receiving will do, and no WMS fixes a discipline problem. You have outgrown it when stock needs locations, pickers need directing, or batch and expiry must be enforced. Often the answer is a focused build on top of the ERP that adds locations, scanning and directed picking, so you pay only for what the ERP cannot do.
What does a warehouse management system cost?
Start with a fixed-price workshop. The floor sets the rest.
Every warehouse project starts with a Rapid Insight Workshop, fixed at $9,000 + GST, on the floor with your pickers following stock from dock to truck. The price after that follows your floor more than the software: how many locations you have, whether the racking is labelled, and whether the aisles have wireless coverage and scanning hardware. Where labelling or wireless needs doing first, we quote it as its own piece of work. A defined build is fixed-price as an Amplify project, and a warehouse that is still changing, with new lines or a second site, runs as an Apex partnership, so you only pay for work the floor will use.
How a warehouse project runs
Walk the stock (1–2 weeks)
From the dock to the truck, with a count against the system at each step. The gap between the number and the shelf is the business case, and it is usually larger than anyone has admitted in a meeting.
Label, then scan (4–8 weeks)
Locations labelled, then receiving and picking moved onto scanners. Receiving goes first, because accuracy at the dock is what makes everything downstream possible.
Count, and keep counting
Cycle counting becomes routine rather than an annual event, and the accuracy number gets watched. The stock figure stays one you can promise customers against, a year on and beyond.
How we deliver warehouse work
Web App Development
Web application development services for internal tools, customer portals and SaaS products. Built in Adelaide to a fixed price, with a one-year warranty.
Rapid Insight Workshop
We map how your business really runs — systems, costs, friction — and return a prioritised roadmap with a business case. $9,000 + GST, fixed.
Systems Integration
For operations businesses running five or more systems. We connect your ERP, CRM, warehouse and field systems so nobody retypes data, and keep them connected as a long-term partner.
Warehouse questions we get asked
It will make it measurable and enforceable, which is most of the battle, but the fix is process. Accuracy comes from disciplined receiving, locations that are labelled and honoured, and cycle counting that actually happens. A system laid over undisciplined receiving records the errors faster and more precisely.
Phones work for lower volumes and are much cheaper to replace. Dedicated scanners earn their place at high pick volumes, in cold storage where a phone screen and battery struggle, and where the device is going to get dropped daily. We size this in the workshop rather than defaulting to the expensive answer.
The scanning app has to keep working offline and sync when it reconnects, and that is decided at the start rather than added later. Cool rooms, steel racking and far corners of the shed are where coverage fails. A pick that stops when the signal does gets finished on paper, and the stock number drifts again.
No. The ERP keeps the money, the item master and the stock value, and finance rarely wants to change it. The WMS sits beside it, takes purchase and sales orders in and sends receipts, picks and adjustments back, through an integration rather than a replacement.
The same integration problem, with a partner on the other end. Most third-party logistics providers can exchange stock and order data, though often by file rather than a live API. The thing to settle early is who is right about stock when the two systems disagree, because that argument is guaranteed.
Usually. What matters is that locations are labelled and consistent, not that the layout is optimal. Relayout is a separate project and rarely needs to happen first, though a WMS will show you exactly where the layout is costing you walking time.
Four to eight weeks after the workshop for one warehouse, assuming locations are labelled and wireless coverage exists in the aisles. Where those need doing first, that is a prerequisite piece of work with its own timeline, and we will say so before quoting the software.
The answer is not automatically a replacement. CartonCloud is built for third-party logistics, so it tends to strain once you own the stock and need batch and expiry enforced on the pick rather than recorded afterwards. Three routes are open: connect it to your other systems, build the missing pieces around it, or replace it. Our CartonCloud alternative page covers when each is the right call and how the work runs without stopping dispatch.
You do: the code, the data and the documentation. Stock, batch and dispatch history is what you rely on for audits, recalls and customer disputes, so it needs to outlive both the software and whoever built it.