Warehouse and Inventory Management Systems Key to Logistics: Gartner Report

 If you feel like you could be more organized in your supply chain, you are definitely not alone; leading IT research and advisory company Gartner, Inc. says that “more than 60% of surveyed companies view logistics as non-strategic – despite the fact that near-perfect performance places increasing stress” on companies.

Gartner’s recently released report, called Predicts 2012: Global Logistics, notes that by 2016 manufacturers and distributors will be reorganizing their logistics “to gain economies of scale, visibility and manage risks associated with volatility in currency exchange rates, taxes and margins.” Although the report focuses on multinational companies, Gartner's recommendation that information technology (IT) be used to "improve efficiencies and lower costs" applies to a manufacturing or distribution business even if it’s inter-state or contained to North America. Gartner notes that companies will focus attention on the execution elements of the supply chain by implementing:

• Network and inventory optimization
• Warehouse and inventory management systems
• Transport management systems

JustFoodERP’s foundation product includes an Inventory Management / Warehouse module, which addresses the following business processes:

• Inventory Management
  • Inventory Expiry Analysis to show items that are expired or nearing expiration to help enforce shelf life rules from customers.
• Receiving
• Shipment Planning Logistics
• Pick/Pack/Ship
  • Inventory picking based on ‘first expiry first out” principals, enforcing inventory picking through directed or suggested methods.
  • Handheld integration – through the JF Floor mobile web interface for wireless devices –for receiving, quality, putaway, pick, and ship.
• Warehouse Movements
  • Bin level management
• Cycle/Physical Inventory Counts
• Inventory Costing
• Pallet Exchange Tracking (e.g. CHEP)
• Item Master Maintenance

How are you using inventory management to optimize your supply chain? What do you think are the big issues facing logistics in the food industry today, and in the near future? 

Heather Angus-Lee

With a background in trade journalism, including a long stint as editor of a national manufacturing magazine, Heather Angus-Lee is the marketing writer for IndustryBuilt Software. When she isn’t turning our customer implementations into delightful stories, she can be found hiking with her three large dogs or reading. Heather can be reached at heather.angus-lee@industrybuilt.com.