Business Automation and Software Blog

Back in the late 1960s, the phrase, “It’s 10 o’clock, do you know where your children are” emerged as a popular opening line to nightly news broadcasts. While technology now makes it easier to know where your children are at any given time, it’s also technology that results in the new version of that question.

At any given time, do you know where your data are?

Successful supply chain cannot exist without warehouses and inventory. For a warehouse to be an equally successful part of the supply chain, it needs to run efficiently. That’s where warehouse inventory management comes into play. Without it, you risk inaccurate quantities, disconnected databases, and poor product identification.

If these roadblocks sound all too familiar, we’ve assembled five tips that can help you improve your inventory management and be on your way to your most successful supply chain management yet.

A good warehouse management system can help you improve fulfillment accuracy, timeliness, and productivity. Some days it can feel like you never have what you need when you need it in your warehouse. You need products today, not tomorrow, but you can’t find them anywhere in the warehouse. Such situations can make items late to ship, cause customer dissatisfaction, and canceled orders.

Distribution automation has many benefits that help you reduce costs and errors in your warehouse. One of those benefits is helping you to control and even eliminate shrinkage.

Inventory shrinkage hurts your profitability. Eliminating the mistakes and theft that causes shrinkage is one step toward improving your bottom line. Using barcoding and warehouse management systems, you can get rid of mistakes and reduce shrinkage.

Does your warehouse management system (WMS) meet your needs or are you manipulating your processes to fit your software? In order to run your warehouse effectively and – in turn – carry out your business vision, you need to have a warehouse management system that fits your business like a glove. When it comes to the technology you use to manage your warehouse, it needs to be as unique as your warehouse’s processes. And when your business vision changes, you want your WMS to change with you.

When you select a new warehouse management system (WMS), you want to optimize your distribution automation processes. The key is to find a system that will maximize the work it does for you and minimize the work you have to do. You need a solution that will ensure your operations run as smoothly as possible while reducing costs, increasing customer satisfaction and improving revenue.

Choosing the right value-added reseller is an important aspect of a successful WMS selection and implementation. Even though it may be tempting to eliminate the “middle man” in your system purchase, there are numerous reasons why you should work with a local reseller to optimize your distribution automation.

When you have decided to switch or upgrade to a new warehouse management system (WMS) to improve your distribution automation, it is important to follow detailed steps in order to achieve your goals. A WMS has a long expected life span and switching costs can be high, so making the best decision the first time is vital. Even so, there will be a time when the benefits of switching outweigh those costs. We discussed indicators that it is time to switch or upgrade in last week’s blog “Knowing When to Implement a New Warehouse Management System”; now let’s look at the steps you should take to select a new WMS.

How do you know when it is time to upgrade your current warehouse management system (WMS)? Your distribution automation strategy should include a WMS integrated with your enterprise resource planning system (ERP). If you have implemented a WMS like Sage 300 inventory modules in your facilities, you have already attained tremendous benefits. You have realized cost savings, improved customer satisfaction and achieved higher sales. But a time will come when you should upgrade your current system or implement new software.

A mobile ERP is one of the most valuable technology tools for warehouse management to enable distribution automation. As the need for speed increases, mobility provides the person-to-person communications and collaboration required to increase productivity through more efficient processes and better data. Mobile technology is especially effective where business models rely on rapid inventory turns, tight schedules and thin margins.