How Top Performing Warehouses Are Tracking Inventory

Want to reduce waste, eliminate lost inventory and provide stock oversight to customers with ease? Today we're looking at how top-performing warehouses are tracking inventory to allow them to make data-driven decisions and optimize efficiency in the warehouse. 

Inventory management systems and WMS software with inventory tracking and reporting are the secret weapons behind some of Australia’s top-performing warehouses — allowing them to perform better, make data-driven decisions, provide important information to customers, and reduce the likelihood of mistakes. 

Why? Put simply, it gives you the accuracy you need to run your operations. Inventory management systems and software allow you to maintain real-time oversight of stock levels and movement, keep customers and stockists informed, ensure timely restocking, and minimize lost or damaged inventory. So, how does it work? 

What is an inventory management system? 

The simple thing is, top performing warehouses are using cloud inventory management systems to optimize their processes, make smarter decisions and minimize lost revenue.

A cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS) provides accurate cloud inventory management to track and manage your stock with ease. The benefit of a cloud-based system is that each touch point, each stock movement, order updates, returns, and other data points can be entered in real-time, allowing you to track and manage stock at all times. 

Removing the need for time-consuming manual data entry, paperless WMS software like CartonCloud allows you to capture stock data from ordering integrations, track stock location and movement throughout the warehouse, optimize storage management, increase picking efficiency and provide electronic proof of delivery (e-POD) — giving you inventory oversight to better manage your warehouse operations.  

Make inventory decisions in real-time 

With a cloud-based inventory management system, you can use real-time data for decision-making. Efficient warehouse inventory management relies on maximizing your capacity for product intake while optimizing storage space, and increasing on-the-ground efficiencies to fulfill orders.

You need eyes on inventory from all angles — which is why top-performing warehouses are using inventory management software to up their game. Using a cloud-based WMS for warehouse inventory management allows you to; 

• Locate inventory for packing and orders
• Track stock movement throughout the warehouse
• Ensure sufficient supply and timely restocking
• Monitor stock expiry or best before dates 
• Avoid wastage or overstocking
• Track inventory packaging and assembly from various distributors.

Save time and improve accuracy with inventory location management

Top-performing warehouses across the globe are using cloud-based inventory management software to provide access to the data they need, to optimize warehouse operations. 

CartonCloud’s WMS gives you oversight of your inventory items, and allows you to configure custom fields on stocked items to ensure you have the right data for each customer and their stock. This may be batch number, expiry dates, lot, serial, supplier, or any other stamp or date you might wish to assign for stock management. 

With the ability to select stock for order picking based on custom fields, you can ensure the correct items are picked, based on the exact data in their custom fields. With barcode scanning, this information can be retrieved and checked off instantly, as your pickers select each item.  

What's more, you can select the level of detail required across every step, and who sees it, assign warehouse storage or manage large orders with ease (such as an entire pallet or storage rack), or differentiate per individual item within the pallet in order to pick and pack for specific orders.  

Track specific inventory at any point, with a stock movement report 

Your warehouse inventory management software should allow you to track inventory throughout the warehouse process, giving you up-to-date data at any point. 

Picture this; earlier in the week you had a full pallet, this afternoon it’s half empty, your staff have just changed shifts and you have a customer on the phone asking for a report on which orders have been filled and where the stock has gone… and they want it now. No problems. 

Top warehouses are using their WMS inventory management to track stock and orders at every point, and provide real time data to customers with ease, and you should be too. 

WMS inventory management lets you know the location and status of your inventory at all times. CartonClouds cloud-based WMS software allows you to track inventory data in real-time, and provide up-to-date stock balance and stock movement reports to your customers without hassle.  

You can track the full life cycle of a product through your warehouse storage, picking and throughout production— so you know exactly what has been used, from where, and where it has gone. Tracking your stock movement also enables you to have in-depth oversight of product assembly, and inventory restocking requirements.

Plan ahead for high demand 

Keep your stock coming at the right time. Real-time inventory management means you have eyes on inventory at all times, so you can identify replenishment requirements early and easily communicate stock levels with customers.

Warehouse inventory system software like CartonCloud’s WMS allows you to pull real-time stock reports to determine the exact balance of a product at any point in time. Avoid costly downtime between replenishment with easy-to-access, up-to-date stock reports you can share directly with your customers.  

Manage stock by expiry or best-before dates with batch control 

Avoid stock spoilage and increase packing efficiency by storing based on it's expiration date. CartonCloud’s WMS allows you to control stock based on selected identifiers, including batch numbers, lot numbers, serial numbers, production dates or expiry dates. This gives you the data required to make decisions around how you will manage storage and location ordering (first in, first out, or ensuring easy access to stock that is first to expire). 

Your stock movement report also allows you to track individual items within an order, understanding what inventory was delivered where, and when— and viewing important information such as expiry dates or best before of the particular order. 

Avoid wastage or overstocking with inventory tracking 

Inventory management can help you reduce costly overheads due to stock wastage. Through tracking expiry or best before dates on inventory, you and your customers can use this information to select stock for shipping, and plan timing for replenishments based on order frequency. 

Warehouses providing assembly services require inventory management on inventory throughout the production journey. Utilising your inventory management system software to track batch and specific items provides you with full oversight of inventory stock levels, assembly status and order information throughout assembly and production. 

CartonCloud’s WMS offers mobile barcode scanning, allowing you to increase picking efficiency for each item, and instantly update the item’s location and status in your inventory management. 

Track raw materials and components from the warehouse floor, through picking and assembly, to order shipment. 

Want to know more about using your WMS for inventory management? 

Contact the CartonCloud team today to find out more, or to request a free demo. We're logistics people too, which means our team can understand your business needs and ensure your set up is correct to streamline your operations, and scale up your business.