How to Optimize Supply Chain During Quarantine?

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The importance of logistics is especially pronounced at critical moments of the company’s activities, which surely include the pandemic of the coronavirus declared by the World Health Organization and the set of restrictive and regime anti-epidemic quarantine measures introduced by the governments of most countries. In such conditions, the optimization of logistics processes becomes a priority, on which the survival of the business as a whole depends. We present various solutions, among them - warehouse management system.

What are the Ways to Optimize Logistics in the Current Difficult Times?

We give the most obvious 5 ways to optimize logistics processes:

1. The Introduction of Timing of the Execution of Warehouse Technological Operations

A clear understanding of the time of unloading, acceptance, storage, replenishment of the picking area, and shipment allows for less resources to effectively plan and manage the warehouse.

For example: unloading railroad carriage is carried out at night and order picking is carried out in the morning – due to the large number of shipping places and a large shipping zone, orders for centralized delivery are shipped, in the afternoon – shipment of self-pickup customers and wholesalers with long-distance delivery, in the evening – reception and unloading trucks.

The introduction of cloud solutions, such as, for example, the Time Slot management system, will allow to implement this timing scheme quickly and without the use of capital financial and human resources

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2. Rationing of Stocks. Determination of Stock Standards

The introduction of a maximum and minimum threshold for the availability of goods in a warehouse, taking into account sales volumes, the possibility of growth or fall in demand, delays in transit, and a real technological request from production. The person responsible for inventory management, for the correct formation of the order and compliance with the standards for the maximum and minimum quantities of goods in stock, daily monitors:

• stock balance,
• current dynamics of shipments (in the period of the last two to three weeks to date),
• availability of goods in transit,
• goods already ordered.

In this case, the optimal use of analytical solutions related to accounting programs and Warehouse management softwares.

3. Implementation of the Bar Coding System

An economical solution that allows you to solve many urgent problems in stock. Namely:

• Reducing time and errors in processing documents.
• Reducing time and errors at the stages of receiving goods, placing goods, collecting and picking orders, checking completed orders, shipping completed orders.
• Improving the control of weight and overall dimensions of the goods at the stage of its receipt.

The use of bar codes on the sheets for the selection of goods (picking invoice).

4. Combining All Logistics Functions in One Software Product

The presence of a single solution such as Dock management system allows you to summarize and process a large amount of data and have an integrated picture of the ongoing logistics processes, which allows you to make balanced and precise decisions that allow you to effectively optimize and manage your business.

5. Use for the Control of Logistic Processes in the Warehouse Performance Parameters

The introduction of KPI (Key Performance Indicator) both for the enterprise as a whole and for each individual employee, allows you to track the weaknesses of the warehouse and quickly eliminate them. The main indicators can be used to assess work efficiency:

- Turnover (ratio of average stock for the period to turnover for the period). The higher the better.

- The relative cost of the warehouse operation (all warehouse costs + losses from the shortage of products divided by the unit of goods, or the unit cost of the goods – one piece, the euro value of the goods). The lower the better.

- Characteristics of the shortage of products (percentage of default on incoming applications).

More than ever, business optimization and efficiency gains are crucial to keeping the business afloat and creating momentum for further growth. There are more thing to consider when it comes to improvement of the warehouse processes. In our blog "Checklist: are You Planning Your Docks Smartly" you can find more about ways to improve your daily logistics processes.

Innovative GoRamp solutions are always at your service and can be the decisive factor that will help your business become stronger. Contact us and we will find a solution that will help you.