Manufacturing material handling systems have historically used simplified data collection methods. It wasn’t until traceability became a customer requirement in recent years that the need grew for more effective integrated material handling systems. It was then that many companies began their digital journey looking for systems that improved traceability and material handling efficiency. 

Adopting New Material Handling Systems

In a recent article in Material Handling 24/7, QAD Product Manager Brent Shooltz discusses the digitization of the warehouse with four examples of how improved material handling systems can reduce labor, increase productivity, lower costs and increase inventory accuracy.

Systems Patchwork

When an expensive third-party barcoding solution doesn’t integrate with their ERP system, a manufacturer can lose transactions, resulting in incorrect shipping documents, unpaid supplier invoices and inaccurate inventory totals. By integrating barcoding data collection with the ERP system, the manufacturer gains true data integrity.

Materials Replenishment on the Shop Floor

Finding the right balance of timely and efficient material replenishment to production requires the best mix of technology and methodology. An integrated planning, scheduling, production execution and materials replenishment solution, with all system components “talking to each other” in real-time, gives manufacturers the efficiencies they need.

The Next Level of Traceability

Manufacturers need a solution that traces materials from the moment the inbound receipts container is unloaded from the truck, tracking the duration spent outside climate-controlled locations, identifying who removed or added material to the container and quantifying the test results of recorded attributes, such as grade and country of origin. Next, the solution must record WIP serial items where they are consumed and validate purchased components in the outbound shipping process. Customer satisfaction depends on having the right system in place for proper materials tracing.

Automating the Warehouse

Warehouses have limited space, staff and equipment. Replacing paper pick lists, verbal instructions, and visual cues with an automated materials handling system that is event- and data-driven streamlines operations. It gives real-time updates and prioritizes balancing for materials handlers. A customer might successfully reduce its material handling headcount using automated material replenishment instruction technology embedded in the ERP system.

What’s Next? 

Warehouses are evolving. With the availability of real-time data, manufacturers can increase productivity, gaining effectiveness and traceability compliance. Technologies are available today that offer process automation, such as ASRS (Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems), AGV (Autonomous Guided Vehicles), Augmented Reality and Machine Learning, all of which analyze inventory movements and further optimize storage. QAD Adaptive ERP eliminates manual material handling processes to align with shop floor requirements and customer needs. By automating material movements, QAD Automation Solutions delivers real-time transparency to improve material handling efficiency. 

Check out Brent’s full article, “Moving Parts: Material Handling Systems for Manufacturers have Evolved” in Material Handling 24/7.