14
Nov 2024
14

Optimize Warehouse Performance and Accuracy with Epicor Wireless Warehouse

Managing a warehouse isn’t easy. From slow order processing to manual errors and inefficiencies, these common issues can

Optimize Warehouse Performance and Accuracy with Epicor Wireless Warehouse

Blog, Warehouse Management , , , Ashley Limbers

Managing a warehouse isn’t easy. From slow order processing to manual errors and inefficiencies, these common issues can hold everything back, creating bottlenecks and frustrating staff and customers. A smooth-running warehouse is essential for manufacturers dealing with high demand and tight deadlines.

Epicor warehouse software, built on the Epicor Kinetic Design System, speeds up warehouse operations and increases accuracy and automation. Its user-friendly interface makes it easy for teams to adopt and integrate into their workflows. The solution offers real-time tracking, advanced scanning, and optimized delivery routes—all from a mobile device.

Today, we’re diving into how Epicor Wireless Warehouse transforms warehousing and distribution efficiency. You’ll learn how it addresses the biggest challenges in warehouse management, helping you streamline operations, reduce errors, and keep up with market demands. Whether managing high volumes or custom orders, Epicor Wireless Warehouse offers the tools to keep your warehouse running at peak performance.

The Growing Need for Warehouse Optimization in Manufacturing

Today’s manufacturing world is changing fast, with more pressure than ever to deliver quickly, efficiently, and accurately. The rise of e-commerce has raised the bar on customer expectations for speedy, precise shipping, while global supply chain disruptions mean manufacturers need to adapt quickly. Customers now expect real-time updates and fast turnarounds, which stresses traditional, manually managed warehouses significantly.

Optimizing your warehouse is a must to keep up. A streamlined, tech-driven warehouse helps orders move smoothly through the pipeline with fewer touchpoints, reducing delays and mistakes. This efficiency lowers costs and boosts customer satisfaction as businesses can fulfill orders accurately and on time.

Epicor Wireless Warehouse, a comprehensive warehouse management solution for manufacturers, addresses these demands by streamlining workflows, reducing errors, and speeding up order processing. By automating data entry, providing real-time tracking, and reducing manual errors, this tech-driven system enables manufacturers to meet today’s market demands. With the right tools, you can turn your warehouse from a bottleneck into a major advantage, improving your workflow and customer experience.

Overview of Epicor Wireless Warehouse

Epicor Wireless Warehouse is a next-gen mobile warehouse app for manufacturing designed to transform warehouse management. Fully integrated with Epicor ERP and available on Android, it brings advanced functionality to your fingertips, giving warehouse staff the tools they need to work faster and more accurately. Built on Epicor’s Kinetic Design System, the app is powerful and easy to use, making it a practical choice for busy warehouses.

The app offers standout features that streamline tasks across the warehouse floor. Real-time data and tracking keep inventory information current, so employees always have up-to-date details at their disposal. A user-friendly interface means it’s simple for teams to adopt and use immediately, reducing the need for extensive training.

With advanced scan functionality, Epicor Wireless Warehouse enables fast, accurate scanning that helps reduce errors and speed up processes. Material queue management lets users easily sort, filter, and assign tasks, ensuring efficient movement of goods. For businesses handling deliveries, the app’s route optimization feature uses Google Maps for efficient route planning. In contrast, paperless proof of delivery offers digital signatures and photo capture options to keep records clean and organized.

Key Features and Benefits

Epicor Wireless Warehouse offers a range of features designed to optimize warehouse operations and improve efficiency across the board. Here’s a closer look at some of its standout capabilities:

Advanced Scanning Capabilities

  • What It Does: The app enables fast, accurate barcode scanning and can automatically trigger workflows based on scans.
  • Benefit: This reduces the time spent on individual transactions and minimizes errors, confirming that data is entered correctly without manual input.

Material Queue Management

  • What It Does: The material queue management tool allows users to efficiently manage tasks and keep items organized by sorting, filtering, and assigning functions.
  • Benefit: Warehouse staff can quickly locate, pick, and transfer items, enhancing task efficiency and keeping the flow of goods moving smoothly.

Route Optimization and Delivery Management

  • What It Does: The app integrates with Google Maps to provide optimized delivery routes. It also offers paperless proof of delivery through digital signatures and photo capture options.
  • Benefit: This streamlines delivery logistics, ensuring orders reach customers on time and with accurate, accessible delivery records.

Flexible Configuration Options

  • What It Does: Epicor Wireless Warehouse offers customizable configurations, allowing manufacturers to enforce part scans, set default quantities, and automate task flows according to specific needs.
  • Benefit: This flexibility allows manufacturers to tailor the app to their unique workflows. It maximizes productivity and guarantees the system adapts to the operation’s demands. These features combine to create a powerful tool that supports faster, more accurate warehouse operations. They keep teams efficient and reduce errors across the supply chain.

In short, Epicor Wireless Warehouse combines powerful functionality with intuitive design to improve accuracy and efficiency in every part of your warehouse operation.

How Epicor Wireless Warehouse Can Impact Your Bottom Line

Epicor Wireless Warehouse doesn’t just improve daily operations—it also drives real financial impact for manufacturers. Here’s how it can boost your bottom line:

  • Efficiency Gains: By reducing manual tasks and automating workflows, Epicor Wireless Warehouse frees up valuable time for your team, enabling them to complete more work with fewer resources. This efficiency leads to significant cost savings as processes speed up and the need for labor-intensive tasks diminishes.
  • Increased Accuracy: Features like validation scans and real-time data updates help ensure that inventory records are always accurate. With fewer errors, your team can avoid costly mistakes that result in wasted resources, incorrect shipments, or returns. Improved accuracy ultimately saves time and reduces expenses tied to error correction.
  • Enhanced Customer Satisfaction: Faster, error-free fulfillment translates directly to happier customers. Customers are more likely to return When they receive their orders on time and as expected. This consistency builds trust and encourages repeat business, strengthening long-term customer relationships.
  • Scalability for Growth: Epicor Wireless Warehouse scales with you as your business grows. It’s designed to adapt to increasing volumes, making it a future-ready solution that can handle rising demand and greater complexity. This scalability ensures that your warehouse remains efficient and cost-effective, no matter how large your operation becomes.

These benefits make Epicor Wireless Warehouse an intelligent investment, helping manufacturers save money, improve accuracy, and build a solid foundation for future growth.

Why Epicor Wireless Warehouse Is Ideal for Manufacturers in Discrete and Made-to-Order Markets

Epicor Wireless Warehouse is well-suited for manufacturers working in discrete and made-to-order markets, where production often involves complex, high-variety orders. Industries like industrial machinery, fabricated metals, and high-tech manufacturing demand flexibility and precision in every process step, as products are often customized to exact specifications. Epicor Wireless Warehouse meets these needs head-on, providing tools that streamline workflows, improve accuracy, and enhance the overall efficiency of operations that handle varied, custom orders.

In industries where each order can look very different from the last, having a system that supports diverse workflows is crucial. Epicor Wireless Warehouse offers advanced scanning and real-time data tracking, ensuring that every part or component is accounted for accurately throughout production. This is essential for manufacturers in high-mix, low-volume sectors, where a single miscount or misplaced item can lead to costly delays or rework. With Epicor, operators can scan and validate parts instantly, minimizing the risk of mistakes and maintaining a smooth flow of materials, even in complex, multi-stage production environments.

Epicor Wireless Warehouse optimizes material queue management and task assignments in a made-to-order setting. For example, workers can use the app to locate specific parts quickly in a facility producing custom machinery, assign tasks to the right team members, and track items through each production stage. It guarantees that every order moves seamlessly through the warehouse. In addition, features like route optimization help manufacturers who offer direct delivery by ensuring that custom-built products arrive on time with paperless proof of delivery options that keep customer records organized.

Epicor Wireless Warehouse provides the precision, flexibility, and automation needed to easily handle complex workflows for companies in discrete and made-to-order markets. This technology supports efficient operations and helps manufacturers maintain high quality and on-time delivery standards, which are critical in high-stakes, custom production sectors.

Getting Started with Epicor Wireless Warehouse

Getting started with Epicor Wireless Warehouse is simple, allowing you to experience the full potential of streamlined warehouse operations firsthand. An on-demand demo provides a firsthand look at its powerful features and user-friendly interface for those curious about how this solution can transform their warehouse. The demo offers a valuable glimpse into the speed, accuracy, and automation that Epicor Wireless Warehouse brings to daily operations.

Optimize warehouse operations with Epicor. It seamlessly integrates with existing Epicor ERP systems, making setup quick and straightforward. With a user-friendly design built on the Epicor Kinetic Design System, the application is easy for teams to adopt, reducing the time needed for training. Epicor offers extensive resources to support this process, including training modules and customization options to ensure the system fits your specific needs.

Ready to see how Epicor Wireless Warehouse can transform your operations? Contact us today at Encompass Solutions to schedule a demo or speak with our experts to learn more. Access the fact sheet to explore how Epicor Wireless Warehouse can elevate your warehouse efficiency and provide a scalable solution that grows with your business.

22
Jun 2020
6
an example of storage in inventory managmeent and warehouse management

Storage: What, Why, And How | Warehouse & Inventory Management

Storage, as it relates to inventory management is exactly what the name suggests—the way goods, components, and materials

Storage: What, Why, And How | Warehouse & Inventory Management

Warehouse Management , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Sean Balogh

Storage, as it relates to inventory management is exactly what the name suggests—the way goods, components, and materials are stored in a warehouse before moving to the next step in a manufacturing process or awaiting purchase.

How your inventory is stored will depend on several factors, such as budget, risk of spoilage, toxicity, weight, and dimensions. Not only this, but your method of inventory management will no doubt influence how your goods are stored in the warehouse.

Why Your Storage Method Is Important

It may go without saying that if you are a distributor of dairy products, it would be a good idea to store your inventory in a consistently cold environment. This will ensure your goods won’t spoil overnight.

Chemicals and other hazardous materials have their own set of storage requirements according to safety standards. Those might require the materials to be held in a specific container type, humidity level, behind locked entry or exit points, and various other safeguards.

These are examples you might consider to be generally obvious. However, how you store your inventory can impact your operations significantly.

Don’t want to tuck away completed orders in a far corner of your facility if they’re to be shipped out the next day. Don’t mix unlike items in racks or bins. And don’t store items in out-of-reach places if you don’t have the means to retrieve them later easily. There’s a reason most goods are kept at a height that staff can reach with both feet on the ground–Safety. For everything else, there’s a forklift.

What I’m getting at is the idea that there is good reasoning for storing items one way or another depending on size, frequency of access, and other unique factors.

Sound storage methodology also makes it easier on your staff when the annual full physical inventory needs to be carried out or more frequent cycle counting. You can save yourself a lot of hassle by considering these activities when planning your inventory storage system.

How Warehouse Layout And Design Impact Storage

Initially, a business interested in better storage techniques for inventory management needs to complete a few crucial processes to maximize efficiency. Namely, how the facility housing the inventory will be arranged and navigated.

First, it is important to have concrete objectives for your organization’s goals for warehousing. This will govern your overall design strategy and serve as the foundation for how efficient your organization’s warehouse management is or is not. For example, for a new facility design process, an organization may:

  • Consult your local building codes to coincide with your design plans.
  • Consult department heads, managers, and staff who will conduct activities in the facility.
  • Consider investing in a Warehouse Management System (WMS)
  • Build a blueprint or schematic of the physical layout
  • Build a process map for day-to-day operations
  • Use the two items above to determine potential bottlenecks or production impediments
  • Consider additional schematics for future buildouts and expansions to accommodate future growth.

This, of course, is a rudimentary set of initial steps in the design process. There will be many more factors to consider and the steps will change from organization to organization as well as from new design to redesign of existing facilities. These steps serve to give a simple idea of where to begin.

Second, you need to know what moves. That is, your business needs to know exactly what inventory in your facility is utilized in production or sold most often. Using sales data, you can rank inventory based on volume and how often it is utilized. Use this information to work from the back to the front, with your most mobile inventory remaining at the forefront of your facility. Maintaining your most popular inventory in a position close to shipping and receiving minimizes time in retrieval.

Third, you should map your facility. By ensuring your staff knows where items reside and their current quantity at any given time, you minimize time wasted looking for lost, misplaced, or miscategorized inventory. This brings up another important topic, labeling. However, that inventory management concept is covered in-depth in our article on scanning, barcoding, lot tracking, and serial numbering.

How Businesses Use Storage To Manage Warehouse Inventory

We touched on a few obvious use cases for specific storage methods in the sections above, but there are many ways to control inventory so that it is neat, known, and nearby. Some of these concepts include:

Block Stacking – Block Stacking can be something as basic as pallets of inventory resting directly on the floor of your warehouse or other facilities. It’s a cheap method of storage as it doesn’t require any additional equipment to organize material, beyond perhaps a forklift. If you are stacking pallets on top of one another, you must be certain the items serving as the foundation can handle the weight of the goods to be placed above them.

One drawback of Block Stacking is that these pallets can expand into a sprawling maze of obstacles. If a forklift needs to retrieve or access a pallet at the center of the arrangement or bottom of a stack for one reason or another, it may take a significant amount of time to complete the task. The issues could be compounded if pallets contain mixed arrangements of goods or components. Your staff may have to sift through potentially hundreds of boxes to locate the correct parts for an assembly or customer order. This method of storage works best for any inventory that moves quickly, either through use or sales.

Racks – Racks serve as a storage method that delivers the support and convenience that Block Stacking lacks. You can arrange aisles in your warehouse that can be easily navigated by foot or forklift to retrieve items that are conveniently separated on rack shelves. Racks are part of complex and dynamic warehouse management methodologies like Last-In, First-Out, and First-In, First-Out.

Shelves and Bins – as their name implies, shelves and bins serve to be filled. They can be stationary, mobile, and modular depending on the use case. These inventory storage units can be placed on track systems that slide or act as carousels for easy access and eliminate the need to retrieve goods from multiple areas of a warehouse facility. That said, Shelf and Bin storage generally offers limited space to house items and works best with small quantities.

Central Storage – Central Storage refers to a fixed location for any inventory that operators and users can reliably reference and interact with when retrieving or storing inventory. It is a dedicated space, like a warehouse or facility partition reserved exclusively for inventory.

Point-of-Use Storage – Point-Of-Use Storage refers to storage practices utilized during repetitive production processes. Namely, those associated with Just-In-Time manufacturing. In this case, each operator’s or user’s station retains the inventory necessary to complete their specific operation or production activities. This storage method emerges when there is no need for dedicated, central storage.

Dry Storage – Dry Storage is a storage method used to maintain the environment around perishable or dry goods that would otherwise spoil when exposed to elevated temperatures, humidity, light, and generally unsanitary conditions. Beyond maintaining tight control on these environmental factors, it is important to label and secure goods in Dry Storage to prevent the effect of spoilage from spreading to other inventory or inviting rodents and other pests into the facility.

Cold Storage – Cold Storage, like dry storage, is generally reserved for inventory whose environment needs to be heavily controlled. These controls are in place both for safety and to preserve inventory quality. Examples include freezers, refrigerators, and coolers that house produce, dairy products, beverages, and dough products.

Hazardous Materials Storage – Hazardous materials storage is a unique storage category with multiple levels of requirements that go well beyond what the standard facility may be expected to meet. Such items need to be labeled and handled appropriately or the facility will face steep fines and potential legal recourse. This includes conforming to the appropriate initial containment, secondary containment, and defined exposure safeguards. Some storage requirements you may encounter when working with hazardous chemicals include:

  • Storing like chemicals together and away from chemicals that might cause a reaction if mixed
  • All chemicals should be labeled and dated.
  • Flammable materials should be stored in an approved, dedicated, flammable materials storage cabinet.
  • Liquids should be stored in unbreakable or double-contained packaging or a storage cabinet should have the capacity to hold the contents if the container breaks.
  • No flames or hot work in or around inflammable/combustible storage area.
  • Respirator and skin covering requirements.

Consult the OSHA guidelines for hazardous chemicals storage to ensure compliance.

This covers some of the more prevalent storage methods relating to inventory management. For more information on Warehouse Management and Inventory Management relating to storage concepts, contact us using the link below.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.

15
Jun 2020
0
an image of a woman in a warehouse as part of inventory management

Inventory Management: What, Why, And How

Businesses of every size contend with keeping the availability of materials, components, products in sync with their rate

Inventory Management: What, Why, And How

Warehouse Management , , , , , Sean Balogh

Businesses of every size contend with keeping the availability of materials, components, products in sync with their rate of production and customer demand. Finding the balance between these factors is, at a high level, the core concept of inventory management.

Why Inventory Management Important

As a business digs deeper into the specifics of inventory management, it will refine its goals. This includes all the additional details that make the process more efficient. Suffice it to say, good inventory management goes beyond the weight, dimensions, quantity, and location of items.

At a foundational level, your business will need a system of categorization to manage inventory. This also requires a means of interacting with this system when adding, removing, and identifying items.

Your system may require software and interactive technologies. These technologies can include computers, barcoding hardware, and scanners.

Knowing what you have in inventory and where is only one part of the equation. Forecasting demand to inform a business of when to replenish stock or when to buy more materials to manufacture those products is just as essential.

By ensuring that warehouse space is used efficiently and in sync with the rate of sales and replenishment, the cost associated with goods held in inventory is kept to a minimum.

In a broader sense, Inventory management is the component of your business’ supply chain that keeps material flowing into and out of your facility.

This is kept by production processes and customer demand.

Inventory Management Principles

Suppliers may experience fluctuations in the ability to fulfill POs and global events may shake up availabilities across the board. However, you can keep your own house in order with inventory management best practices.

For example, keeping a detailed record of products as they enter and leave your warehouse provides visibility to your business needs. This ensures you can deliver on customers’ and supply chain partners’ requirements at any given time.

Businesses of every size use inventory management principles to manage their flow of goods. However, there is no defined set of guidelines that all businesses can look to for the answers.

The best inventory management strategies will change from business to business, but generally accepted best practices can be applied in almost every case.

Identifying the right set of guidelines for your mode of operation will ensure you can deliver the right goods in the right quantities to your customers at the right place and time.

The Difference Between Inventory Management And Inventory Control

While these terms may seem the same at face value, they are generally not considered interchangeable.

A strong inventory management system ensures a business can source, store, and sell materials or finished goods in such a way that yields a consistent and dependable profit for the business overall. Good inventory management is a sustainable practice.

Inventory management follows a structure of thought as a business principle. It is an overarching set of concepts that address a larger business model.

Inventory Control is housed, pun-intended, within the larger concept of inventory management. Inventory control is focused on maintaining visibility and understanding of the materials and their flow. Namely, where and how much inventory can be found on-hand and readily accessed in a retail location, stockroom, or warehouse.

Why Inventory Management Is Important

Global supply chains are complex and in a state of constant ebb and flow.

Manufacturing processes that utilize raw materials and components are also changing continually according to customer demand, specification, and regulatory requirements.

In short, what is available today may not be available tomorrow. However, there are usually indicators of when a supply shortage may be looming or new regulations will be coming into effect.

Keeping up with these constant changes is more than simply difficult, it’s outright unnerving and even chaotic at times. Being stuck with an abundance of stock that can’t be used, spoils, or becomes obsolete can cost a considerable amount of capital, running a business well into the red. This is where the balancing act of inventory management becomes so critical.

The costs of carrying goods can be considerable. For this reason, many organizations seek to refine and optimize their methods for ensuring they have just enough material on hand to deliver on anticipated production levels or sales.

Streamlining inventory management will keep inventory levels low, which keeps costs sunk into stock on hand to a minimum. Furthermore, lower stock levels will ensure less space is required to match material requirements to production levels. With less space required, facilities can be kept to a more manageable size and minimize warehouse leasing costs.

How You Can Implement Best Practices

Fortunately, for many decades, businesses have been refining how they bring stability to the unpredictable world of global supply chains, manufacturing processes, and inventory management.

As part of those efforts, two major philosophies of inventory management have emerged as the most widely accepted and utilized: Just-In-Time (JIT) and Material Requirements Planning (MRP). Both instances have their benefits and drawbacks. We go into more detail in dedicated articles on JIT and MRP inventory management strategies.

Technology And Software

Beyond JIT and MRP inventory management, there are several technologies and software that make the process of managing inventory easier for businesses, staff, supply chains, and customers.

ERP software is one such technology that delivers all the critical data needed to inform demand forecasting and purchasing, whether a business is based in manufacturing or wholesale and distribution.

Inventory management data housed within the ERP system is accessed and reported digitally, while also easily sharable for key stakeholders and managers to use in their decision-making processes.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.

02
Jun 2020
0
an image of cycle counting as an inventory management concept

Cycle Counting: What, Why, And How

Cycle Counting is an inventory management concept that focuses on auditing a warehouse’s inventory. Cycle counting Objectives The

Cycle Counting: What, Why, And How

Warehouse Management , , , , , Sean Balogh

Cycle Counting is an inventory management concept that focuses on auditing a warehouse’s inventory.

Cycle counting Objectives

The objective of a cycle count is to track and document inventory levels. While most warehouses will carry out a cycle count at least once a year, it is recommended to complete one more often. This process and its associated procedures ensure warehouse and production teams are working with accurate inventory data. Performing accurate cycle counts often will help maintain the accuracy of your data and the efficiency of your inventory management.

Cycle Counting Versus Full Physical Inventory

Cycle counting is a manual process and can be carried out at any time on specific groups of items and helps refine procedures for tracking and inventory management. The process is designed to be carried out without interrupting a facility’s operation.

Cycle counting benefits include:

  • Provides high levels of inventory accuracy
  • More accurate financial reporting
  • Considered less disruptive to operations when compared to a full physical inventory
  • Can focus on subsets of inventory and items based on specific criteria
  • A reduction in errors associated with bad data
  • Higher levels of customer satisfaction
  • Fewer inventory write-offs
  • Reduced losses due to inventory shrinkage

Cycle counting disadvantages:

  • Highly dependent on buy-in from company leadership down to warehouse staff
  • The process needs to be carried out at regular intervals

A full physical inventory is a complete physical count of a business’s entire inventory, most often carried out on an annual basis. The process is generally manual, time-intensive, and requires shipping and receiving operations to be shut down for the duration of the process. As a result, the full physical inventory process can be disruptive.

To minimize the disruption, businesses often attempt to schedule these procedures during a slow period, when inventory levels are low.

Full physical inventory benefits include:

  • Improved inventory accuracy
  • More accurate accounting records
  • Tax burden relief attributed to the record of losses
  • Control over inventory shrinkage

Full physical inventory disadvantages:

  • Shipping and receiving operations are ceased during the process
  • Time-consuming
  • Inconvenient for customers and supply chain partners
  • An expensive, non-revenue-generating activity
  • A high tendency for human error, resulting in bad data

Many companies complete annual physical inventories as a way of controlling their understanding of what’s in stock at any given time. However, performing a once-a-year activity to give that visibility leaves gaps.

For this reason, cycle counting is a preferred method of inventory management for businesses of every size. It is not uncommon for businesses to employ both a full physical inventory annually alongside incremental cycle counting throughout the year.

How To Complete A Cycle Count

Cycle counting garners appeal by offering an ongoing and easily achieved approach to inventory management. It is in maintaining the discipline of cycle counting that many organizations find issues.

It should be noted that every organization is different and a cycle count will be adjusted to fit each business’ method of operation. If your organization is interested in implementing a cycle counting program, it would be a good idea to consult a warehouse and inventory management professional. This way, you can avoid costly mistakes associated with trial and error.

Cycle counting involves a physical count of some sub-section of inventory located in a warehouse or other storage facility. It is recommended to complete a cycle count at least once a quarter.

These small cycle counts reveal discrepancies in data that can be logged and rectified within enterprise systems for accurate inventory management.

Here’s a general outline of what’s involved in a cycle count:

  1. Update your inventory records before carrying out a cycle count. You need a baseline from which to work.
  2. Determine the scope of your count. For example, a small cycle count will cover X amount of SKUs, while a larger count will cover XXX amount of SKUs. You could also choose to count items over a designated period, such as the fiscal year.
  3. Decide which inventory to count first and item subsets to follow. Most businesses generally count their “A”-list products first. That is, the 20% of your inventory that makes up 80% of your inventory value.
  4. Determine the tools and equipment required to perform the cycle count. For example, if your inventory is barcoded, do you have handheld scanners available? If goods can’t be physically counted or handled, do you have a scale to weigh them?
  5. Decide who will perform the cycle count.
  6. Carry out the cycle count based on the details outlined in preparation.
  7. Review discrepancies between the cycle count results and warehouse records.
  8. Make the appropriate adjustments for incorrect data based on your baseline inventory record.

Cycle Counting Workshops

Encompass Solutions can train your staff to carry out Cycle Counts that Count through an educational workshop series led by our experienced inventory and warehouse management consultants.

Learn more about our Cycle Counting workshops HERE or contact us using the link below to speak with a representative.

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of the Industry.

18
Nov 2019
0
an image of a warehouse working using barcode scanners in an industrial hardware application

How To Evaluate Barcode Scanners For Warehouse And Industrial Applications

What follows is part one of a multi-part blog post on selecting handheld mobile barcode scanners. Many questions,

How To Evaluate Barcode Scanners For Warehouse And Industrial Applications

Warehouse Management , , , , Jason Claggett

What follows is part one of a multi-part blog post on selecting handheld mobile barcode scanners. Many questions, thoughts, and general discussions take place during the selection process. I will attempt to give you some overall guidance, but ultimately your decision should be based on your internal operations and preferences.

There are several key components to any mobile handheld scanner:

  • Imager Type
  • WiFi/Cellular Connection
  • Operating System (Windows Mobile or Android)
  • Working Conditions
  • Integrated Camera

Where To Begin Evaluating Barcode Scanners

Arguably the single most important component of barcode scanners (and why it’s listed first) is the imager type. You will need to know what the average scan range will be in order to determine a suitable scanner. For instance, if your operators will do close-up scanning (i.e. 1-5 feet) a standard range scanner will work fine in most cases. However, if you intend to have operators scanning from floor-level up to products on a higher shelf, consider an extended range imager. An extended range imager will be more expensive but able to perform both standard and extended range scans.

A close second criterion to evaluate is the ability for your imager to read 1D and 2D (QR codes) barcodes. If you decide (or your supplier decides) to start using QR codes, you will need to make sure to have 2D scanning capabilities. Most modern imagers accommodate 2D scanning, but it is something to note when shopping around. While we’re talking about 1D and 2D barcodes, it’s worth mentioning to always make sure your mobile handheld device supports a wide range of barcode symbologies. Symbologies are the different style of barcodes and are very important, but extremely technical and not suitable for discussion here. You can read more about the history of the barcode and symbologies here.

I’ll cover more aspects of the handheld in part two of this series….

About Encompass Solutions

Encompass Solutions is a business and software consulting firm that specializes in ERP systems, EDI, and Managed Services support for Manufacturers and Distributors. Serving small and medium-sized businesses since 2001, Encompass modernizes operations and automates processes for hundreds of customers across the globe. Whether undertaking full-scale implementation, integration, and renovation of existing systems, Encompass provides a specialized approach to every client’s needs. By identifying customer requirements and addressing them with the right solutions, we ensure our clients are equipped to match the pace of Industry.