in: Company News
The marketplace has become more global in recent years, and – as a result – many manufacturers and distributors are struggling to keep pace with industry trends. As customer demand increases and competition rises, effective inventory and warehouse management has become more important than ever. In fact, manufacturers and distributors have listed inventory management as their top priority and concern for the past two years. In an effort to gain more control over their inventory and improve their warehouse management, many companies are implementing barcoding solutions.
Because inventory makes up a huge portion of a company’s total product costs (about 90%), extra care should be taken in the management process. Poor inventory management can directly impact your company’s bottom-line, lead to expensive overstocks and understocks, result in shipment delays, and – ultimately – affect your customer relationships. With barcoding technology, you gain full control over your inventory and can more effectively forecast how much product you will need to have on hand to fulfill future orders. Managers will have instant visibility, allowing them to make more informed decisions about inventory needs. The benefits of barcoding, however, are not only felt on the warehouse floor. With the right solution and a sufficient enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, your entire business will be transformed.
Take a look at some of the top business benefits of pairing your ERP software with barcoding technology:
- Improved Data Accuracy. Barcoding automates the data entry process and virtually eliminates human errors in the data entry process. When you integrate barcode technology with your ERP software (whether that be Sage 100 ERP, Sage 300 ERP or Acumatica Cloud ERP), you can be certain that your data is always accurate. This can help you create more effective reports and give your executives confidence in the area of decision-making.
- Reduced Training Time. Barcode scanners are not complicated to use and can be integrated fairly quickly. In fact, many of today’s scanners have similar features as smartphones to make it easy for users to master the technology. Your employees are already aware of your company’s inventory processes and procedures, so implementing barcoding technology will only require training on the scanners. This will lead to a reduction in employee training time and costs, allowing you to focus on improving your inventory processes rather than wasting valuable time (and dollars) in the training process.
- Improved Efficiency. Considering the fact that barcoding provides a faster and more accurate way for capturing data, companies who implement barcode scanners see a reduction in the time spent on the data entry process and follow-up error resolution. Barcoding streamlines inventory management tasks, helping you to improve your overall efficiency in the warehouse. This allows your staff to focus on more critical tasks while continuing to respond to the needs of your customers.
- Improved Decision-Making. Having access to real-time information is life-altering for any business. Barcoding allows companies to capture information effortlessly and pass it on to their ERP system where the data can be viewed in real-time through a variety of reports and graphs. This allows managers and executives to obtain the information they need to make quick and effective decisions for the business.
- Improved Visibility. When used correctly, barcoding can help you track the progression of inventory throughout your warehouse from the moment it hits the receiving floor. When integrated with your company’s ERP software, your managers have instant visibility into your warehouse. Improved visibility has the potential to impact many areas of your business, including customer service. When you know exactly where your products are located in the inventory process, you can relay the correct information to your customers and keep them happy.
- Reduced Costs. The ultimate benefit of barcoding technology is the cost savings it provides businesses. Barcoding has helped many manufacturers and distributors save hundreds upon thousands of dollars in terms of inventory and equipment costs. While there will certainly be an initial investment for barcoding hardware and software, the return on investment will be capitalized upon very quickly.
We could go on and on about the benefits of barcoding. If you are interested in learning more about how barcoding can improve your company’s productivity and profitability, contact us today. We can help guide you to the right barcoding solution for your business and help you integrate it with your current ERP software solution so you can begin experiencing the benefits of barcoding instantly.
