Warehouse Management That Brings Order to Every Order

Agentic AI in a WMS is software that observes operational state, reasons about what action is needed, and takes that action through the WMS itself — within bounds the platform enforces. A product that only surfaces recommendations for a human to enact is AI-assisted, not agentic. ActiveWarehouse is built so AI agents live inside the WMS itself rather than as an overlay platform sitting on top of it. The agents read the same real-time operational data your operators read, act through the same APIs that run the warehouse, and are governed by the same audit logging as the rest of the platform.

Several agents are already running in production in ActiveWarehouse™ customer environments. The Wave Coordinator Agent keeps outbound work moving by finding the root cause of wave shortages and deselections, then guiding the fastest corrective action so orders stay on track and cut-offs are protected. The Labor Agent keeps the workforce aligned to changing demand by spotting imbalances in real time and recommending or initiating the right labor moves before bottlenecks build. And the Warehouse Associate Agent supports frontline execution by giving associates step-by-step, in-workflow guidance and answers on their device, helping them work more accurately, ramp faster, and escalate less often.

What ties them together is the architecture. They live inside the WMS, governed by the same execution model as the rest of ActiveWarehouse, traceable through the same audit logs, acting on the same operational data the operator sees. And through Agent Foundry, customer teams and partners can build their own agents on the same foundation, extending the WMS itself with capabilities that handle the rules and exception types specific to their operation.

Manhattan’s agents operate within a deterministic action vocabulary and at an autonomy level your team configures — fully autonomous for routine, reversible decisions the platform is set up to handle, and human-reviewed for higher-stakes actions where your supervisors approve or modify the agent's recommendation before it executes. Every action, whether autonomous or supervised, is traced through the same logs as the rest of the WMS and is auditable in plain language from day one. Because the agents live inside ActiveWarehouse, governance is a property of the platform rather than a separate layer reconciled across two products. When your internal audit, controllers, or SOX testers need to trace what happened and why, they find it in one system, in one query.

A warehouse management system (WMS) is software to help organize warehouse operations. 

A WMS is designed to control movement and storage of materials, track inventory, manage stock, and optimize picking and packing of orders. A WMS can also be integrated with other software—such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and transportation management systems (TMS)—to offer an end-to-end view of the supply chain. Learn more in our article, What is a Warehouse Management System (WMS).

Because a cloud-native warehouse management system (WMS) is designed to run on cloud infrastructure—rather than on-premises servers—it offers:

• Scalability—reducing costs and improving efficiency by scaling up or down to meet changing needs.
• Flexibility—accessible anyplace with an internet connection, to manage distribution from unlimited locations.
• Cost savings—eliminating expensive hardware, IT infrastructure, and downtime for system upgrades
• Automatic updates—ensuring access to security updates and the latest version of software.
• Data security—protecting sensitive  data with features such as data encryption and multi-factor authentication.
• Collaboration—enabling multiple users to work simultaneously to improve productivity.
• Integration—syncing with systems such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) and transportation management systems (TMS) to provide a  comprehensive view of the entire supply chain.

Unlike most cloud solutions, Warehouse Management is engineered to be extensible—allowing users to add their own logic, integrations, and customizations without negatively affecting updates. 

Both are software solutions to manage warehouse operations. Each has a different focus. 

A WMS manages inventory by tracking inventory, stock locations, and stock movements, and can also be used to optimize picking and packing, while  providing real-time visibility of warehouse operations.

A WES optimizes warehouse processes such as receiving, picking, packing, and shipping, often via advanced automation or robotics. It increases efficiency by automating repetitive tasks and reducing manual labor, while providing features such as real-time task tracking, work optimization, and automated replenishment.

WMS and WES can be used together to improve visibility and efficiency.

AI and machine learning are increasingly the difference between a WMS that records what happened and a WMS that helps the operation respond in real time. In ActiveWarehouse, AI takes the form of agentic capabilities — software that observes operational state, reasons about what action is needed, and takes that action through the WMS itself. The Wave Coordinator Agent rebalances waves as conditions change, the Labor Agent reallocates people before bottlenecks form, and the Warehouse Associate Agent works alongside operators at the floor edge. The result is a platform where AI is doing operational work today, governed by the same execution model and audit logging as the rest of the WMS, rather than producing recommendations that arrive after the moment has passed.