Automated material handling systems provider Viastore Systems Inc. will extend its SAP warehouse management solution implementation program to North America, adding to the firm's stable of software tools for intralogistics.

Viastore, a German firm with U.S. headquarters in Grand Rapids, Mich., has partnered with the German-based SAP in Europe since 1996, but will now provide those supply chain execution and warehouse management solutions for its U.S. customers as well.

Included in the package are SAP's extended warehouse management (EWM), logistics execution system (LES), and task and resource management (TRM) packages. In each case, Viastore can integrate different warehouse automation solutions directly to a SAP platform without using third-party middleware.

"Many companies have SAP, but aren't fully utilizing the supply chain modules," said Harouna Mohamadou, the recent Viastore hire named to the newly created position of Director SAP Consulting. "With the EWM and WM modules, for example, we can extend the use of those modules, streamline and speed up the execution as well as reporting, and allow customers to ultimately get more out of their existing solution," he said.

By adding SAP to its North American package, Viastore hopes to provide technology-neutral consultation that allows customers with automated or semi-automated warehouses to improve throughput, reduce inventory, and increase picking quality, Mohamadou said.