There are a few bread and butter features any good inventory management system should have and two of those are Purchase Orders and Quality Control. The two go hand-in-hand and can save your business from lost time, money, and loyal customers. Quality Control is the final step in the pick, pack, ship process that cannot be forgotten. It’s a feature in SkuVault that’s responsible for catching our client’s human error mistakes.
In this blog you will learn about the functionality and partnership of Purchase Orders and Quality Control and how they work together to eliminate human error in your warehouse.
The Importance of Purchase Orders
Purchase Orders, or as they’re commonly referred to as PO’s, refer to the document your eCommerce business generates and keeps on record every time you need to purchase more inventory from a certain supplier.
When you create a Purchase Order in SkuVault, you input all the information that your company and your supplier requires, such as terms, pricing info, shipping info, products, etc. You can then email the PO to your supplier(s) from directly within SkuVault - the PO will be flagged as sent in the system. Upon receipt, your supplier follows the parameters set down by the purchase order, and ships out your requested product accordingly.
The Receiving Process
The receiving process is quite literal. When receiving, you are receiving the product as specified in the Purchase Order.
Warehouse workers will check the Purchase Order number (aka PO#) from the original purchase order against the shipment, and then scan the new product into SkuVault. SkuVault checks the received items against the Purchase Order - from there you can check discrepancies, move the products to locations, and more.
Utilize Quality Control for Shipment Accuracy
Quality Control, which can also be called Quality Assurance, refers to an order fulfillment process wherein a picked item is checked against the original order for accuracy in terms of SKU and quantity, and also inspected for signs of wear or damage, to ensure the quality of the physical item in question matches the marketplace description.
The item is then marked as ‘Ready-to-Ship,’ and is passed along to shipping to be packaged and sent out. The purpose of Quality Control is to reduce returns and exchanges, and to minimize overall customer service costs.
How Quality Control Works in SkuVault
Pickers drop off orders along with the corresponding picked product where the items are scanned against the order to account for correctness in terms of SKU and quantity. When you scan the order into the Quality Control page, a picture of the product and it’s specifications will show. The Quality Control person also checks for signs of damage / discrepancies with the original listing - anything that could result in an unhappy customer.
The order is then marked as ‘Ready-to-Ship,’ and is sent off to shipping. For our smaller clients unwilling or unable to host a dedicated Quality Control station, we’ve provided QC Express on Pick, a setting that, once activated, prompts the picker to scan the items against the order at pick.
How Purchase Orders and Quality Control Work Together
Using an inventory management system can greatly streamline and automate processes like Purchase Orders and Quality Control for your overall warehouse operations. Each process works with the same goals in mind: to eliminate human error and deliver the right packages to customers, both on your end and the suppliers’ end.
Quality Control is the natural next step after Purchase Orders and receiving, so one cannot be as effective without the other. Not only will steps like these help improve the accuracy of orders before shipment, but they also ensure a higher chance at happy and loyal customers. Happier customers means better marketplace feedback, a more enthusiastic and responsive social following, better search rankings, and therefore visibility, which ultimately leads to more sales.