It’s a problem experienced time and time again.
A company has a warehouse where they take in products and then ship them out. The problem is if too much product is being placed in the warehouse, of which the space, (as large as it may be) is limited, the whole logistics scheme falls apart in a hurry.
A big part of the problem is the packaging. Most items in your warehouse, before they are shipped out and put on a truck need to be packaged up. And whether it is cardboard boxes, display packaging for retail, foam products, custom boxes, or more, incoming products are rarely suitable for outbound shipping but have to be massaged, so to speak.
The problem is that all of that packaging material takes up a great deal of space in your warehouse
Have too much packaging and you lose money by being unable to accept additional incoming products.
On the other hand, if you don’t have enough packing material, then an outgoing order may be significantly delayed while you order and then wait for the packing material to arrive.
The solution? Vendor Management inventory systems.
When a company installs a vendor management inventory system, whether electronically, or through the use of bar code readers, as a product is ordered to be shipped out, the vendor automatically sends the required packing materials to your warehouse so the order can be shipped on time.
Another benefit of vendor management inventory systems is to keep track of critical manufacturing changes.
Let’s say you have 10,000 bags of Frito Lay Doritos in your warehouse, and you regularly stock grocery stores or retail stores such as Target.
However, Frito Lay decides to run a special Superbowl promotion, with a nifty photo of Tom Brady throwing a football.
Yes, you have the chips, but do you have the new displays that Frito Lay wants to promote?
With a vendor management program, you will automatically be sent the new and timely displays to go with the product.
Another benefit of vendor management solutions is that the vendors deal with a great many warehouses. They have substantial data to determine where surges in orders are likely, and either by electronic mail or with your permission, just automatically adjust your packaging order to meet the expected demand.
And by working with vendors through a vendor management program, the vendors themselves can stock up, when necessary, so that when demand suddenly peaks, you will not have to wait for them to restock themselves.
Vendor management systems are extremely efficient to make sure that a warehouse owner keeps his warehouse humming along at peak proficiency.
One small barcode scan is all it takes for a vendor management system to jump into action.
And these types of systems do a variety of tasks such as:
- Identify low and out of stock products
- Keep track of inventory (usually by UPC Code)
- Identify needed inventory when it is bundled with another product such as toys and batteries and many more.
Modern, vendor management tracking systems are essential to operating an efficient and profitable warehouse.