Quick order fulfilment is one of the most important goals for ensuring a profitable warehouse, and you need data to get there. As shipping patterns and demands constantly change due to trends, differently shipping technologies, and consumer behaviour, traditional methods, and time-tested fulfilment practices won’t be enough.
How should technology be helping your order fulfilment?
1. Automate data collection for your inventory
Keep your bins tagged with product-specific barcodes or RFID chips so data collection is automatic. Any time employees have to handwrite numbers increases the odds of an error that can leave you short on high-demand items. If you want to automate your data collection but don’t want to do it all at once, start by tagging high-frequency stock items so you can order more with the click of a button. Not only will this improve stock maintenance on your most essential items, it can help employees quickly adapt to the system before you make warehouse-wide changes.
2. Track where your assets are being moved in-warehouse
If your company handles storage, order fulfilment, and shipping, it can be hard to keep track of where inventory is moving to at any given time. Create an electronic workflow that not only documents where stock is at any given time but which documents where in the process different goods are at. This helps ensure you have an adequate inventory count even while items are moving internally through the warehouse. It also means you can track how long inventory stays at each stage.
3. Use RFIDs and tracking to monitor how often a product is being purchased
A lot of warehouse planning is dependent on demand. Not only do you want to group frequently paired items together, you want frequently purchase items near the shipping area and high-demand products to have a larger bin for less frequent replacement. Technology gives you more specific insight into all of your products and helps you filter and analyse.
Incorporating technology for automatic data collection is essential. Whether you incorporate it little by little or in a single sweep, it gives you more insight and control into how your warehouse fulfils orders, and that can mean the difference between meeting your profit goals and having expensive inefficiencies. Contact us for tips on how you can get started with automation.
