Posted by Will Daniel on Thu, Apr 15, 2010 @ 09:21 AM
Monthly inventory advice from the leaders in Inventory Solutions for small to medium businesses, IntelliTrack Inc. Find out how you can get a handle on, track and control your Inventory and Assets at www.intellitrack.net.
April 2010 Inventory Tip: What are the benefits of real-time information in small inventory environments?
We operate in a real-time world. For example, my home office is a virtual location over 3000 miles from IntelliTrack Headquarters. My phone is an IP (Internet Protocol) connection that allows instant global communication. My Blue Ray player and television are wirelessly connected to the network. Forbid we should even discuss the communications capabilities of our cellular devices. In short, like me and you, more and more of us are living in a world of real-time access to information where human intervention has been removed. So why as our personal lives become ever more assisted and dependent upon instant access to information, do we continue to shortcut our business needs and processes with antiquated batch data collection programs and processes?
The old argument was “COST”. That is simply not true anymore. Wireless and wireless-enabled devices are a commodity. The price differential between a wireless portable data collector and a batch data collection device can be measured in less than a couple hundred dollars. Wireless access points and infrastructure particularly for smaller environments are similarly priced and ever more affordable.
Did you know that unlike our direct competition 90% of IntelliTrack DMS and WMS products are Wireless ready right Out-Of-the-Box (OOB)? We are the only company at our price point to offer you the choice between batch processing and wireless real-time processing with advanced features to support your small inventory management needs. What do our wireless applications provide?
- Instant Report Updates
- Live to-the-minute updates of Inventory and Assets
- User Accountability in Real Time
- Reduced time on the floor
- Freedom to do a day’s work without the worry of data collision with other employees or the need to wait for BOB to plug in the hardware, update the database, then you having to update your handheld so you can do your task management.
- Improved efficiency
- Improved ROI
- Reduced labor cost
Let IntelliTrack reduce your operations cost as we continue to celebrate Version 8.0’s release! You get additional licenses along with the improvements that come with Version 8. And, due to the success of March 5,5,5, for 3,3,3 promotion we’re continuing our very special promotion for a very short time!
To summarize, these barcode based software systems allow customers to see available on-hand inventory, compare minimum and maximum levels of inventory, control inventory levels, establish reorder points and produce reports using real- time data. They reduce loss and limit human error. Small or large, any business can reduce operating costs by using this technology over paper and now batch portable devices.
That! Is the way to get inventory and asset management right!
-Will Daniel, COO IntelliTrack, Inc.
Questions? Ask IntelliTrack.
Photo by a_whisper_of_unrem itting_demand
Posted by Will Daniel on Fri, Sep 11, 2009 @ 09:08 AM
This is a true story. My wife and I remodeled our kitchen last year and we did a lot of the work ourselves. One of the tasks we took on was putting new hardwood into the kitchen and dining room. We ordered 500 square feet of Bamboo Flooring from a local distributor and set up a pick up date.
We arrived at the floor distributor, wrote out a check and took the truck around back. The picker had the order ready and wrapped and dropped the load neatly in the back of the truck. It was a big pallet load! We quickly got back to the house and started unloading the truck and I was thinking it looked like we had too many boxes of flooring. It just did not look right.
I checked my invoice and the order was for 56 cases with each case containing about 9 square feet. I counted the cases and we had 86 cases. The picker had loaded 30 extra cases of flooring at a value of a little over $800.00. The picker's mistake was transposing the 5 into an 8 and the picker didn't double check. In this warehouse, all of the picking transactions are done using paper invoice copies printed on a dot matrix printer and trusting the picker to do the job right!
Immediately the little devil on my left shoulder started whispering in my ear to keep it. After all no one reports when we ship out too much. My ethics finally got the best of me and I pulled off the 56 cases, left the 30 cases on the truck and went back to the distributor. They were stunned of course that we returned the over pick and when I asked them about their shrinkage and unaccountable lost inventory they estimated a little over $200,000.00 a year. This is not a large company but they were producing a large loss.
To summarize, anytime you use paper-based systems you open yourself to "human errors" and "human decisions". A barcode inventory system is smart technology. These systems direct users in their activities and ask for validation. They have fundamentally altered the way knowledgeable companies operate by reducing loss, customer service errors and management frustration. Every company should investigate how barcode technology interfaced to smart inventory software can help you curb and stop your losses.
That! Is the way to get picking right!
-Will Daniel, COO IntelliTrack, Inc.