Key Warehouse Management System Trends for 2008

By Bridget McCrea, Contributing Editor -- Logistics Management, 1/10/2008

The worldwide market for WMS is expected to grow at a 4.8 percent clip over the next five years, according to the latest research from ARC Advisory Group. The market hit $1.08 billion in 2006 and is forecasted to be over $1.36 billion in 2011. A mature market, according to ARC’s Steve Banker, service director for supply chain management, the WMS sector is headed for faster growth in the coming years than it has in years past. Credit the fact that the average WMS solution has a lifespan of 11 years, and the fact the market posted significant growth from 1995-2000, with driving future demand for the software solution. Ian Hobkirk, senior analyst for warehousing and transportation for The Aberdeen Group in Boston, calls WMS a relatively mature market, with only about 14 percent of companies lacking such a solution. “Everyone else has something in place, or some level of warehouse automation,” says Hobkirk, who contrasts that with the TMS sector, where roughly half of the companies have no such technology in place.

Now, Hobkirk says many of the early adopters are looking to upgrade and/or replace their WMSs with today’s more technologically advanced, scalable solutions. Expect that trend to serve as the fuel that drives growth in the overall WMS market. “What companies are struggling with is whether they have a WMS that can grow with them,” says Hobkirk, “and that’s flexible enough to allow them to rapidly change business processes.”

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