After 37 Years, Exchange Pulls the Plug on Legacy Warehouse Management System

It looked like something out of a science-fiction or spy movie as Bobby Rushing did his work in the data center at Exchanges headquarters. But this was nonfiction, and Rushing, the Exchange’s IT Infrastructure System Administrator, was closing a chapter of Exchange history.

Rushing was decommissioning the Legacy Warehouse Management System (WMS), which had served Exchange distribution centers for 37 years. He methodically made his way through a series of metal boxes that stored hard drives, pulling plugs and cutting power cords.

“We had power lines put in there in a way that you couldn’t easily pull them out, so nobody would accidentally unplug them,” Rushing said. “So I had to cut them. Basically, the decommissioning of a server is removing all the data cables and the power cables and removing all the hard drives.”

The boxes that stored the hard drives will be auctioned off, Rushing said. The hard drives will be shredded.

Legacy Warehouse Management System, also known as DEC WMS, was implemented in 1986. Since its inception, it was used by eight distribution centers worldwide. Many of the distribution centers that utilized Legacy WMS have been closed through the years as larger, more state-of-the-art DCs opened or operations were consolidated.

IT upgraded the Legacy WMS hardware three times—in 2012, 2016 and 2019.

“We had been running on Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) hardware and Compaq servers until 2012,” said Kimberly C. Jones, IT’s System Administrator Lead. “The name DEC WMS came from the hardware it was running on. In fact, prior to the hardware upgrade, we had to buy parts from eBay to keep the system running.”

Blue Yonder JDA Warehouse Management System (WMS) has replaced the Legacy WMS. After the Gruenstadt DC upgraded to a new WMS in May 2023, logistics and IT were able to decommission the hardware that supported Legacy WMS.

“Legacy WMS has served us well for the last 37 years,”  said Linh Ngo, IT’s Director of Supply Chain & LED Programs.. “When Gruenstadt upgraded to JDA WMS in 2023, that concluded the journey for Legacy WMS.”

The decommissioning is expected to result in an annual savings of $516,000 in hardware and software licensing and support.