New Manhattan Associates application lets DC managers go mobile

Manhattan Associates, a supply chain commerce software provider, unveiled a mobile warehouse application Monday at the ProMat trade show in Chicago.

Called Mobile Distribution Management, the product is the first one on the market that allows distribution managers to keep full insight into labor, activities, waves and tasks, even as they roam the warehouse carrying a mobile device, the company said.

The result is that managers will finally be able to provide real-time coaching and feedback to employees, all while tracking a wide range of logistics management data that is unified into a single view, said Peter Schnorbach, senior director of product management for Manhattan Associates.

"This is something we get asked about all the time," Schnorbach said. "By marrying up warehouse management and labor management on a mobile platform, we can help build credibility and a higher level of engagement between supervisors and employees."

Managers can even use the new application to dynamically allocate work in progress directly from the DC floor, according to the company. Possible changes include reprioritizing tasks, putting tasks on hold, and assigning a task to a specific employee.