Editor’s Pick: How to Choose the Right System for Appointment Scheduling

By Talking Logistics

Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Pick” series where we highlight posts published by our sponsors that provide practical knowledge and advice on timely and important supply chain and logistics topics. This recent post by Tony Wayda from JBF Consulting’s blog highlights the intricacies of appointment scheduling in supply chain management and the importance of WMS, TMS, and YMS integration.

As we all know, appointment scheduling is a critical part of supply chain planning and is essential for labor planning and flow control in and out of the DC. While appointment scheduling can be done through a WMS, it’s not always perfect.

Some systems are able to execute inbound scheduling perfectly but are lacking when it comes to outbound, or vice versa. Appointment scheduling is often handled externally, which means people rely on spreadsheets or other manual systems, leading to gaps in business requirements if you’re just using a warehouse management system by itself.

A TMS seems to be a natural place for carriers to set appointments because it typically has more information about what is happening with carriers. However, most tier 1 WMS and YMS support appointment scheduling too, and a YMS includes some additional functionality. A YMS can help by filling in any gaps a WMS or TMS may have, but that also means more integrations, more chance of potential errors, added effort, and additional cost.

And even then, a YMS may not address all the missing gaps, so it can often feel like a middleman that doesn’t pull its own weight.