5 Steps to Flawless Warehouse Fulfillment 

If inaccurate inventory, stock-outs, slow workflows, or excessive paperwork are making it hard for your warehouse to keep up with customer demands, here’s the simple roadmap to flawless fulfillment.

Go mobile and go wireless.

If you’re still relying on paper-based processes and traditional wired workstations in your warehouse, it’s time to make a change. Every piece of paper, manual process, and wired workflow can be converted into a paperless, electronic, and vastly more efficient processes.

For example, Zebra mobile computers equipped with integrated industrial barcode scanners allow you to mobilize your workforce. You can give employees the ability to access and pick orders, print labels, scan and verify items, and ship orders from virtually anywhere in your warehouse. This also allows you to replace paper-based, processes with a complete warehouse management system (WMS) that eliminates paperwork and streamlines every process using intuitive, software-based automation.

Streamline your order picking processes.

By adding mobility and automation technologies to your operations, you can also streamline picking and fulfillment processes. You can give workers real-time, mobile access to inventory, product locations, and pick lists, plus automated instructions on the fastest route to each item.

You can even leverage voice-directed, hands-free picking systems to give your workers audible and visual cues to direct their picking, help them scan and verify each item, and make sure orders are picked and filled with 100 percent accuracy. It’s as easy as equipping them with a headset, a hands-free and lightweight wearable computer, and a wireless Bluetooth ring scanner.

Enable real-time inventory visibility.

Flawless fulfillment starts with having complete inventory visibility and control. You need an accurate and real-time view into the products you have in stock, how many you need to keep on hand, and where and when you need to replenish them. Real-time visibility helps you avoid the inventory errors and blindness that often leads to stock-out situations.

The only way to do this reliably is to replace pen-and-paper inventory processes and manual cycle counts with automated data capture and inventory systems. Using mobile computers, data capture, and the right WMS, you can reduce cycle counts from weeks to days.

You can also get a complete, real-time view into your current inventory levels, the latest order and shipment trends, and all the data and insights you need to manage your inventory accurately and seamlessly.

Upgrade your receiving and put-away.

Optimizing your receiving and put-away is fundamental to making sure you have the right products coming in, accurate inventory, and that you can sort and put products in the right places to maximize order fulfillment efficiency.

At the loading dock, mobile technologies and data capture allow your workers to scan a barcode, RFID tag, or RMA label to identify and verify incoming shipments in real time. You can also use the same technologies to deliver routing and staging information to ensure proper put-away and reduce handling time and inefficiency.

Optimize your outbound packing, staging and loading.

Mobility and automated data capture help maximize shipping performance by automatically scanning and verifying items for packing, staging, and loading. With mobile access to data capture, real-time information, and verification, your workers can ensure the right order contains the right products, and it’s shipped to the right customer, via the right method, at the right time.

Want to Learn More?   Barcom’s expertise is in mobile warehousing technologies and automation. To get  recommendations and help achieving flawless fulfillment, call us at 423-855-1822 or email us for a free consultation.

4136B Jersey Pike, Chattanooga, TN 37421

Phone (423) 855-1822 | Fax (423) 499-6317

sales@barcominc.com