IN Brief:
- Hospitality supply chains are pushing for tighter cut-offs, higher availability, and faster despatch.
- Easy WMS will connect inbound, putaway, picking, and shipping data to WARE UK’s transport workflows.
- The Knowsley site is being set up to absorb higher daily vehicle throughput.
WARE UK is deploying Mecalux Easy WMS at a new distribution centre in Knowsley as it scales order processing and despatch for its cleaning and catering customers in the hospitality sector.
The company said the warehouse is being configured to handle 10 to 12 daily lorry deliveries, with the WMS intended to lift stock visibility and reduce the friction between receipt, storage, picking, and shipping. In a sector where product mix is broad and order profiles vary sharply by venue type, the operational aim is to make availability and speed less dependent on local knowledge and manual workarounds.
At the core of the implementation is real-time inventory accuracy, with Easy WMS managing stock location and movement, and providing live status across inbound and outbound activity. WARE UK said the system will also support cross-docking, allowing goods to be redirected from goods-in straight to despatch lanes when time sensitivity or demand requires it, rather than forcing every unit through storage.
The warehouse build is also leaning on tighter execution around shipping. Easy WMS is due to integrate directly with WARE UK’s transport management system, supporting faster carrier assignment and despatch sequencing, and reducing the lag between pick completion and vehicle loading. In practical terms, that means shipping teams can work from system-driven priorities and confirmed order readiness, rather than chasing updates across multiple screens, spreadsheets, or handheld exceptions.
Jon Crossfield, Operations Manager at WARE UK, said: “This digitalisation will make our work much easier, as we’ll have full control over the warehouse’s operations. Our entire inventory will be monitored in real time, and we’ll only have to consult Easy WMS for any information, saving us time and making decision-making easier.”
The company is also implementing Mecalux’s labour management module to measure and manage performance by task type and time window, an approach increasingly used to stabilise productivity when volumes swing and staffing pools tighten. For multi-SKU hospitality orders — often built around short lead times, substitutions, and strict delivery windows — the ability to prioritise work in-system can matter as much as raw pick rate.
With the Knowsley facility coming online as a new hub, the WMS rollout is positioned as a foundation layer — first to lock down inventory truth, then to accelerate execution across despatch, replenishment, and daily vehicle flow.
