4 Steps to streamline goods receipt and other warehouse activities
If you run a business in sectors such as industrial manufacturing, services or transport, you know how important stock management and goods distribution optimization are. And if you manage one or more warehouses, you face daily problems in coordinating logistics operations related to the goods receipt and storage. And it’s only natural that you want the quantitative and qualitative receipt of products to be carried out correctly and quickly, in line with current workflows. Here are some steps you can take to streamline your goods receipt and other warehouse activities.
What are these steps?
1. Establish the warehouse workflows in detail.
The first step in organizing a smart warehouse is to establish clear workflows. This allows inbound and outbound logistics activities to be coordinated and monitored, and each process operations to be carefully synchronized to achieve a steady pace of product deliveries. With a warehouse management system, such as xTrack WMS, you can automate, if necessary, some or all of the following processes:
- receiving of products from suppliers;
- putaway of received goods;
- stock replenishment based on the automatic determination of necessary quantities according to priorities established, for example, by stock rotation (rotation classes) or expiry dates of items in stock;
- picking according to criteria specific to each warehouse or storage area;
- verification and splitting – allocating products to orders and dispatch batches, with real-time checking and updating of changes that may occur in orders;
- intelligent packing and labelling;
- VAS (value-added services) – additional services whereby items that are usually sold separately are bundled together and packaged in kits in warehouses;
- grouping of products on transport orders according to delivery addresses or operators delivering goods to beneficiaries;
- loading according to transport orders.
2. Draw up user guidance documents on workflows.
For each step of the WMS solution that you want to implement in your company, you need specific documentation to guide users through the workflow. This way, you will establish work procedures and responsibilities for each user, so that one knows where and what needs to be received and subsequently placed in the warehouse.
For example, for the inbound flow you need to document the incoming goods before and during receiving by doing the following:
- entering or importing details from accompanying documents (invoices, notices, packing list);
- filling in data (unloading dock, time of arrival, warehouse receiver’s name, etc.);
- generating work tasks in the application for physical receipt on the ground.
A pre-receiving stage (optional stage) can be scheduled as part of the actual receiving process when goods are unloaded from trucks. The two key moments follow: quantitative, followed by qualitative goods inspection at receiving (quantitative goods receipt, qualitative goods receipt).
The automation of the quantitative goods receiving process involves the use of portable data collection terminals (also called intelligent terminals), such as barcode scanners and RFID (radio-frequency identification) readers. At this stage, the goods are physically received. It is also possible to sort the goods so that some may be sent directly, without unnecessary intermediate storage that consumes time and resources, to other warehouses or to fulfil orders already placed by customers.
The qualitative goods receipt refers to the collection of master data for incoming items and the processing of information to check the quantitative discrepancies between the actual stocks and those specified in documents.
After the completion of these two receiving stages, it is possible to move on to the post-receiving stage (the putaway), which is of critical importance for the organization of warehouse operations.
The post-receiving stage includes the generation of confirmation documents (internal goods receipt notes (GRNs) or receipt minutes. For greater efficiency, these need to be generated automatically, using WMS software applications that allow the documents signed by the responsible employees (manager, driver, etc.) to be saved as PDF attachments and the receipt details to be sent to ERP financial-accounting applications or to various e-mail addresses.
3. Correlate warehousing and delivery processes.
Once you have organized your workflows and established the necessary documentation, it’s time to move on to optimizing your warehousing and delivery processes. To do this, you need to connect the receiving, putaway, picking and delivery processes to each other.
Here’s a situation that often occurs when goods are received in company warehouses and logistics centers: a large number of pallets are piled up in the dock area, waiting to be received and then stored. At the same time, in the actual receiving area, where the pallets have to be checked, labelled and manually recorded as received, there are already many other goods, to which those from the unloading area are gradually being added. This leads to increasing delays and numerous errors that cause difficulties.
In order to avoid bottlenecks, an efficient management of the specific inbound processes (dock management, receiving and putaway) can be achieved through the automation of data flows, carried out as part of the digitalization of SCM (Supply Chain Management) processes. The implementation of a WMS solution helps warehouse workers reduce the time needed for receiving because it allows both automatic data collection by scanning barcodes with mobile computers as well as fast data verification and processing. In addition, the automatic determination of putaway locations streamlines putaway and subsequent picking activities, reducing the time needed to complete them.
An efficient allocation of warehouse space (warehouse slotting) through the implementation of WMS modules that ensure the dynamic relocation of products according to the frequency of deliveries and the volume of available stocks is extremely important, as it facilitates at the same time the fluidity of work in warehouses and accelerates the pace of order deliveries.
Synchronizing picking and delivery activities with regard to ordered items, delivery times and customer addresses also plays a major role. Through dedicated WMS functionalities, which act as “virtual dispatchers” providing real-time information and instructions via tasks sent to workers and tracking the order delivery processes in the system, work processes are coordinated and optimized as to prevent any disruptions.
4. Manage your warehouse workforce effectively.
People are your company’s most important resource, and this is also true when you are in charge of streamlining receiving and other warehouse processes. In addition to the reduction of the time it takes to collect and process data on the items to be stored and the elimination of possible picking or delivery errors, you also need to consider increasing labour productivity.
Labour costs account for between 40 and 45% of the operating costs in a warehouse. That is why a WMS software application that has modules allowing the evaluation of individual activities and the creation of an efficient incentive and reward/penalty system for warehouse employees can be extremely useful.
In order to increase employee productivity and motivation, the internal work procedures must include clear rules that lead to an automatic allocation of tasks according to the operational areas and the workload of each warehouse operator, using the implemented software solutions.
Follow the steps presented above to streamline receiving and other warehouse activities and, why not, even delivery processes. Integrate the xTrack LMS (Logistics Management Suite) software solutions you need so as to streamline your company’s operational processes. You can also use Axes Software cloud applications or even the xTrack WMS web-based version to take advantage of the benefits of new technologies and the flexibility they offer. By automating the data flows related to your business you will be able to optimize operations, reduce costs, ensure business scalability, stability and unlimited access to the information resources needed to run your business.
If you would like to streamline the goods receipt (receiving process) and other warehouse activities, you can send us a message by filling in the form below and our consultants will contact you as soon as possible.
