Peak Season is just around the corner and there’s no better time than the present to invest in a warehouse management system to get your business in order. Especially if you’re growing out of your current methods of organization without realizing. Running a warehouse can be expensive, but it’s not a reason to cut corners on a system that could save you tons of money down the line. Here are five signs you’re ready for a WMS and why you should make the switch.
1. You’re Still Manually Updating Your Inventory
Small businesses can get away with manually updating their inventory on a spreadsheet for awhile, but if you find yourself spending too much time updating spreadsheets every day, it’s time for an upgrade. Spreadsheets lack the capability to automate quantity updates and reflect them in real-time. Manually updating inventory is not only time consuming, but much more prone to human error. Without a tracking system it’s hard to know how much inventory you have on hand, where it is, and where it’s going. Not to mention the threat of stolen or lost inventory unbeknownst to you.
SkuVault WMS reduces 87.5% of fulfillment time with automated processes
2. The Warehouse is a Disorganized Mess
If the term ‘organized chaos’ is something you find yourself saying often when you look at your warehouse, it’s time to find a new phrase. Cluttered aisles and incorrectly named shelving locations make your warehouse a mess and cause your pickers to pick less efficiently. A disorganized warehouse will lose your company money and run the risk of major OSHA violations, which if found, could potentially shut your operation down.
3. Out of Stocks are Bleeding Your Money Dry
Out of stocks are caused by a number of factors, including poorly planned forecasting and lack of a channel listing integration. If you find your inventory constantly lacking adequate amounts of inventory and frustrated customers as a result, it’s time to implement an automated WMS.
A WMS will set up reports to better forecast inventory purchases so you have enough inventory to prevent out of stocks. A good WMS will also have the option to integrate with a channel management software so your quantities are listed correctly across marketplaces, and your customers are delivered the correct amount of items on time.
4. Orders are Shipped Incorrectly
If you’re orders are going out the door without a check point for accuracy, stop what you’re doing. This is a huge red flag. Quality control should be a given in your pick, pack, and ship process, and without it, you run a high risk of mis-shipments. Mis-shipments not only lose your business money, but it also makes your customers angry and makes your brand look unreliable. In an age where customer reviews are king, you need to do everything you can to prevent this.
A WMS will run inventory through quality control and check the picked item against the original order for accuracy and quality of product in terms of damage. With this backup process for accuracy and quality, your products run less of a risk for mis-ship and disappointed customers.
SkuVault WMS reduces up to 90% of mis-ships caused by human error
5. Picking Methods Aren’t Fast Enough
As mentioned before, messy aisles and incorrectly named shelves can cause your pickers to get lost, pick slower, or pick items incorrectly. Paper picklists can also cause your pickers to pick slowly, especially if multiple picklists need to be printed throughout the day. A WMS comes with automated and digital picking methods designed to make your warehouse more efficient.
Utilize digital wave picking to create more efficient pick routes adapted to change in real-time if item quantities change. Or try SkuVault’s exclusive feature Hyper Picking and save filters to make your pick route easier and faster.
