5 Automated Supply Chain Management Benefits to Take Advantage of Now

April 6th 2021 23:00:00 PM

We know what you’re thinking. (We’re kinda special that way.) If you are a manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor, you are thinking that COVID-19 was responsible for changing the face of how business was conducted in 2020. The start of the pandemic was the latest challenge your business had to face. It was layered on top of the ongoing challenges you may have been facing trying to attract (and keep) talent.

Your warehouse employees don’t have the option of working from home until the pandemic ends. Neither do workers on the manufacturing floor. At the same time, customers have increased their expectations around how quickly they will receive their orders. In many cases, they want next-day (or even same-day) delivery. These expectations put extra pressure on businesses that are already feeling the strain from the effects of the pandemic, staffing level concerns, etc. Automating your supply chain management practices is a solution that business owners and managers can use as a way to stay competitive.

Are you ready to move forward with automated supply chain management solutions for your business now? Great! Simply contact us online or call (330) 645-9959 to make an appointment with a Scanco Solutions Expert.

5 Benefits of Automated Supply Chain Management

There are several benefits to automating your supply chain management. The following are some examples.

1. Lowers Operating Costs

Automating your supply chain helps to keep several costs down, including:

• Inventory
• Labor
• Overhead (rent, labor, utility costs)
• Warehouse space

2. Boosts Productivity

When businesses optimize the resources they currently have available (such as running three, eight-hour shifts each day to meet customer demands), they can increase productivity significantly in areas where automation has been implemented.

3. Increased Accuracy

Manual processes have a certain error rate associated with them, simply because humans are fallible. Automating business processes, when practical, helps to increase accuracy and control costs with real-time inventory levels.

4. Data is available to help owners and managers make more informed decisions.

Without reliable data analytics, it would be very challenging to make decisions that would have the best result for the business. Even an experienced owner or manager would be at a distinct disadvantage if they could not access accurate data when trying to make a business decision.

5. Ability to Integrate with Large Suppliers

For a business that is working closely with one (or more) large suppliers, transparency in operations is always a desired characteristic. An automated supply chain management system allows a manufacturer, wholesaler, or distributor to work closely with suppliers and it gives both sides more visibility in their transactions.

Automate your Supply Chain With Inventory Management Software

Inventory management software helps your supply chain manager become more effective in several ways. Consider the following:

• It automates functions like inventory forecasting.

Trying to predict consumer demand for certain products should not be a matter of guesswork or ordering a series of products to stock and hoping that one or two of them will take off and become popular for a season. That type of strategy will only lead to the wrong types of products taking up space on warehouse shelves and bins for far too long.

Instead, supply chain managers can use the inventory management software to consider historical trends and knowledge about the market to make more accurate forecasts about demand going forward.

• It tracks inventory supply and demand.

Inventory management software tracks inventory levels constantly. When a particular item reaches a low enough level that it is likely to run out, the software notifies users immediately. The software also lets users know when an item performs differently than originally projected (significantly higher or lower sales or use patterns). Managers can then decide whether to change the ordering pattern for that item.

• Supplier lead times are tracked, and the software makes adjustments to manage them.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to many suppliers needing longer lead times to fill orders for certain items. Keeping all of this information straight, especially when situations are subject to change, would be difficult on one’s own.

The software tracks supplier lead times and makes adjustments when suppliers need more time for restocks. Once the lead time is restored to normal time frames, the software makes the necessary updates in the system so that a business is not stuck with inventory overstocks.

Scanco Sage 100 Warehouse and Manufacturing Automation Products

The idea behind automation is to take tedious or repetitive tasks and find a better way to perform them to save time, money, and improve accuracy. While your business is saving time and money, your team members are not spending a majority of their time on tasks that don’t require their full skill set. Ideally, automation will free up your team members for more interesting, fulfilling work. Your business expands and grows as a result.

Sage 100 Warehouse Automation allows your team to move from using pen and paper counting and data entry to a modern system that includes barcode scanning, automated cycle counting, wave batch picking, directed put-away, and more.

Sage 100 Manufacturing Automation includes Manufacturing 100, a barcode tracking system for the manufacturing floor, Sage Shop Floor for Production Management, which eliminates repetitive tasks (and the human error factor that goes along with them), and Manufacturing 100 Professional, a comprehensive solution for Sage 100 that automates job functions for manufacturing facilities.

Scanco offers solutions for businesses of all sizes, from small to medium-sized to enterprise-level companies. All of our manufacturing automation options integrate easily with Sage 100.

The question we have for you now is do you have questions about how automated supply chain management can benefit your business? Are you sitting on the fence due to concerns about moving forward? We’d be happy to answer any questions you have or clear up any concerns you may have for you. Just contact us online or call (330) 645-9959 to arrange an appointment with a Scanco Solutions Expert.