Warehouse Technology Challenges #3
Warehouse Management Operational Challenges
What’s ‘Top-of-Mind’ for Warehouse Operators?
Stock Visibility
Organisations must have full visibility of the movement of goods, as well as stock outs, stock losses, etc. But for many the level of stock visibility means inventory management is not easy.
Despite the need for visibility many Warehouse Management Software & Supply Chain Solutions…
• Provide organisations with no accurate picture in real-time
• Require too much manual intervention or data capture
• Generate too much paperwork
• Struggle to share information with other systems (e.g. SAP)
• Don’t integrate easily with other supply chain partners
The cost of this deficiency curtails full stock accuracy and traceability.
Principal Logistics Technologies’ solutions provide organisations with real-time and accurate information, regarding:
• Actual quantities and locations
• What’s due in; has been shipped; is currently being picked; has been delivered and signed for, etc.
Key Advantages:
Automate data capture and eliminate paperwork to maximise efficiency. This is achieved by employing a range of data capture technologies – RFID, Voice, Scanning, LPNs, etc.
Validate information and ensure process compliance at key points (e.g. picking).
Our systems instruct operatives (e.g. pick sequence) and introduce check-points and catch points as they are required.
Information can be made available seamlessly to supply chain partners, as necessary, given the ease of integration to 3rd party systems.
Rising Costs
Labour, administration and transport costs are rising.
Increased competition in many sectors means that cost increases cannot be passed on to customers.
To maintain and increase margins organisations must cut costs, maximise stock turn and optimise asset utilisation. This cannot be achieved without effective warehouse management systems, or supply chain solutions.
Our Warehouse Management Systems & Supply Chain Solutions enable organisations to protect and improve margins by:– Improving efficiencies with system-driven put-away, picking and other tasks
– Reducing labour requirements by automating tasks
– De-skilling warehouse and administrative staff
– Eliminating paperwork and other administrative tasks
– Preventing errors before they reach the customer and become costly to fix
Stock Handling Rules
Supply Chain and Warehouse success requires adherence to complex stock handling, storage and delivery rules.
Effective Supply Chain Solutions and Warehouse Management Systems must optimise these business rules and then ensure 100% adherence. Principal Logistics Technologies’ solutions are designed to meet these standards of performance.
Principal Logistics technologies’ solutions to complex handling rules
Give the human nature of most supply chains and warehousing a system driven approach with “Check Points” and “Catch Points” is essential to achieving high levels of stock accuracy.
Our warehouse management systems and supply chain solutions address inventory management considerations such as:
Stock Rotation Rules– FIFO
– LIFO
– Batch Put-away considerations
– Keep like products together
– Keep fast moving products near the door
– XYZ Rack Considerations
– Compatibility Tables
– Temperature Control Considerations – Ambient, Chill, Frozen Picking Considerations
– Pallet Building Logic – Pick heavy Items first
– Walk Sequence Logic
– Full Traceability through the pick-face
– Stock Rotation Considerations
– Variable/Catch Weights
– Pallet Manifesting Traceability
– Batch Management
– Serial Item Number Tracking
– Product Traceability and Recall considerations
– Variable/Catch Weights Value Added Processing
– Stock Labelling Rules
– Dip Testing
– Blast Freezing
– Tempering
– Microwaving
– Sampling
– Kitting and Assembly
A good Warehouse Management System (WMS) in addition to ensuring compliance to the above will provide the following benefits:
– De-skill operatives with system drive instructions– Ensure full traceability, with transactions date and time stamped
– Ensure full audit ability and KPI reporting
Stock Traceability
In many industries, traceability is a must. Even in those sectors where it is not a legal requirement (e.g. Food & Chemicals), organisations are adopting traceability as best practice. Organisations need to know where every unit is and therefore to be in a position to selectively recall any unit(s) if required based on specific lot numbers, or production dates. However without the right Warehouse Management Software or Supply Chain Systems in place, poor traceability can impact on efficiency and dramatically increase data entry and administration costs.
Our Warehouse Management Software & Supply Chain Solutions employ a global patented mechanism that guarantees 100% traceability throughout the life-cycle and through the entire supply chain.
This means that…– Traceability doesn’t end at the warehouse door, but only where POD has been captured.
– Users search by one, or any combination of, user definable track and trace fields, which are dynamically linked to our patented Licence Plate number.
– Most importantly, our systems ensure full traceability through the pick-face (e.g.: ensuring that a depleted pick-face will not be replenished until the entirety of a particular batch number has been picked).
– Our solutions have been designed to meet the legal requirements for traceability in high-volume Food and Chemicals industries.
Accuracy levels
How confident are you in the accuracy of your stock levels? Are your inventory calculations based on notional quantities, or actual values?
Organisations and their customers demand higher stock accuracy levels. However, their systems often struggle to meet these requirements. Our Warehouse Management Software & Supply Chain Solutions enable organisations to attain over 99.8% stock accuracy (with some achieving 100%, depending on their business requirements), while recognising the trade-off that often exists between accuracy levels and costs/efficiency levels. Underpinning accuracy levels is the fact that our solutions are a “closed system” – once goods are confirmed as received they are allocated a unique Licence Plate Number. All subsequent movements are directed by the system and controlled via ‘ Catch points’ and ‘Check Points’
Compliance
A range of national and international regulations govern supply chain and Warehousing, impacting on how goods are handled, stored, traced and labelled.
In particular, Food and Chemicals place particular demands, with traceability emerging as one of the main regulatory challenges. Principal Logistics Technologies Warehouse Management Systems and Supply Chain Solutions automate compliance reducing the dependence on manual intervention and eliminating the element of human variability.Operational Efficiencies
How and where do you find operational efficiencies in your supply chain, or warehouse? Central to driving warehouse efficiency is the tracking of key performance indicators (KPIs), like; cases picked, overtime, percentage of orders despatched same day, picking errors, etc.
Principal Logistics Technologies Warehouse Management (WMS) and Supply Chain solutions are key to unlocking efficiencies, such as:
File integrations– Integrate electronically with clients to reduce back-office admin.
– Seamlessly email documents, invoices etc. from the PC
– Eliminate time-consuming fax machines and printers
– Online web-based POD Enquiries
– Enable customers dial-in access to make their own enquiries
– Radio & Voice Control Operatives
– Empower operatives with system-driven instructions to reduce required back-office dependence Auto Reporting
System generated reporting and auto circulation by Fax/Email as scheduled.
Warehouse Floor:
Deskill Operatives– System-driven put-away and picking logic
– Walk Sequence and Pallet Building Logic
– Optimised Walk Sequence, picking non-crushable then crushable items Dual Cycling
– Pre-emptive extraction of required pallets by put-away driver Auto Replenishments
– Auto-replenishment of pick faces based on optimised logic
Error Reduction
Live information enabling 100% accuracy as potential errors are caught and rectified in real-time
The above are just some of the ways that our Warehouse Management Systems & Supply Chain Solutions can improve operational efficiencies across your business.Management Information
Do you have all the information you need and is it accurate and up-to-date?
Information for Warehouse & Supply Chain Managers:Many warehouse and supply channel organisations don’t have the information they need while others are suffering from information overload. Principal Logistics Technologies’ Warehouse Management Software solutions provide Management, Operatives and Back-office staff with the information they need. Information is available in a wide range of formats addressing user requirements at different levels, as well as other supply chain partners. SMS or email alerts:
– Timed (e.g. notify when stock approaches 3 months of its BBD date)
– Event based (e.g. notify when product’s minimum stock level is reached)
Auto reporting – reports can be formatted and scheduled for automatic delivery
Audit trail maintained of all transactions – information is captured at the lowest level (e.g. who has scanned what, where and when)
Different partners in the supply chain require different levels of information – as information is captured at the lowest level, it is based on user defined rules, summarised and presented to meet the needs of individual users.Reduce Manual Process
With rising labour costs, organisations are looking to eliminate manual processes, including physical counts and administrative paperwork. They are also looking to achieve higher accuracy levels by reducing the element of human variability and ensuring real-time information capture. Our Warehouse Management Software & Supply Chain Solutions directs put-away and picking operations, reducing staff skills and experience levels. As a closed system all processes are automated and linked in real-time to a single warehouse management application.
Typically, manual processes to be automated, include:
The elimination of paper-based & repetitive back-office administration– Automate all processes for dynamic real-time information
– Taking orders in and re-keying data from printouts, faxes, etc.
– Implement file integrations where possible
– Printing out of dockets for faxing/posting
– Send copies directly from the WMS
– Driver signature captured on 3-part paper and stored
– Electronic signature capture Reporting – Manual Process
– Auto-report scheduler automatically generates and sends reports
– Web-based stock enquiries Stock Takes/Returns Process
– All processes need to be system driven & real-time Traceability/Batch Cards, etc.
-Traceability should be a seamless systems process Reduced Stock Handling
-Dual cycling and real-time replenishments are classic examples. While an operator is putting stock away, they’re also guided to pull stock needed for dispatch, or replenishment.
– Walk sequences are directed to maximise efficiency
WMS, ERP Warehouse & Supply Chain Software
WMS Warehouse Management Software
Flexible Warehouse Management Software for SME to large single & multi-site Warehouse, Supply Chain & Distribution businesses.
ERP Enterprise Resource Planning Software
Modular, flexible ERP software for businesses with complex business rules around purchasing, sales & stock handling functionality.
Voice Middleware
Seamlessly integrates with existing client ERP software delivering voice picking technology without expensive Warehouse Management system costs.
Document Imaging & Scanning
Document & Workflow Management seamlessly managing interfaces between, WMS, ERP & any external 3rd-party system.
Integration Gateway
Robust EDI framework module seamlessly managing interfaces between WMS & any existing or external third-party ERP systems including SAP, MS Dynamics, Oracle & more.
Business Intelligence & Analytics
Business Intelligence & Analytics uses existing business data to provide live information enabling fast, actionable ‘on-the-fly’ business insights.
Registered office address: 3 Ongar Square, Ongar Village, Dublin 15 D15 H34C.