Sabtu, 13 Mei 2017

Does Your Business Need A Barcode Warehouse Management System?

By Susan Bailey


Barcodes are widely used in the retail environment to improve the checkout process for customers. That said, most businesses haven't fully embraced the technology. Many potential areas of application remain unexplored in all but the most tech-savvy retail outlets, especially when it comes to the back end of inventory operations. But how could a barcode warehouse management system benefit your own organization?

Currently, nearly every package features barcode labels of some sort. This means businesses can use this technology to control their inventory tightly and precisely. Because the tags are fully auditable and traceable, mistakes, mix-ups and incidences of theft can all be minimized. Companies that link their inventory control systems to online portals could further take advantage of barcoding to improve convenience for their end-users.

Manually keying in numbers, or even writing them down, can be quite the pain. More significantly, manually entered data is highly prone to error. And in the logistics department, where packages can change hands several times, information needs to be highly accurate. Barcoding not only limits the possibility of human error, but the systems are also able to gather and record data much quicker.

Although managing data within a small logistics ecosystem doesn't present many challenges, complications tend to arise when inventory levels swell up. The best way to improve the entire management process is to incorporate barcoding in your warehouse environment. Besides reducing the amount of time it takes to register packages, you could also use the system to ring up several items at once. Depending on how sophisticated your system is, package information could even be fetched while items are travelling down conveyor belts.

Gone are the days when barcode technology carried a steep price tag. Thanks to the availability of affordable equipment and the proliferation of the technology, barcodes can now be used by almost any organization. Your accounting operations will also become much easier, since fetching data and relaying it to your head office will take less time and effort. And this is something most business owners will appreciate, especially during tax season.

Although barcoding can rapidly improve inventory processing, choosing the right system and implementing it properly is crucial in ensuring you reap the benefits. So before you can start comparing your options, first define your company's requirements, and determine the kind of functionality you want your system to have. Figure out which areas will be affected by the new systems, and check whether your existing warehouse management tools can be integrated with the former.

The kind of support you'll be getting from your hardware vendor will determine how well you're able to utilize your newly-acquired system. So make sure you ask about this when interviewing different providers, and whether they'll upgrade your tools to keep abreast with upcoming developments. If you're not sure of how to go about the implementation process, you could hire a consultant to make matters easier.

Inventory management has always been infamous for the logistical nightmare it presents. Because the process previously relied on paperwork and staff to keep an eye on stock levels, keeping track of where any particular item was at a given time was virtually impossible. Barcoding provides an inexpensive, efficient and user-friendly way to improve the logistics process.




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