According to Fraunhofer IML institute* in Germany an Inventory Management System is primarily a system for managing quantities and locations (bins) and their relationships to each other.
In general terms, warehouse management refers to the monitoring, control, and optimization of complex warehouse and distribution systems. In addition to the basic functions of warehouse management, such as quantity and bin management and transport management and scheduling, Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) also include numerous methods and means for controlling the system states and a selection of operating and optimization strategies. The main tasks of a WMS are to manage and optimize the internal warehouse systems.