December 4, 2016, Phoenix, Ariz. — For today’s warehouse operation, spending less time in an office and more time on the warehouse floor, with the inventory and trailers being received and shipped, means improved data accuracy and labor efficiencies.
Before mobile devices existed, critical data was written down on paper, then keyed in later at a desktop computer back in an office. This workflow can create problems, 1. The “doctor prescription” effect, where the first person writing down the data does not write clearly, resulting in incorrect data being entered in or having to track it down again to verify the information. 2. The “telephone game,” where the next person typing in the data enters the data incorrectly. Warehouse staff end up wasting time validating information or risk having incorrect data.
AFS recognizes that being mobile is a critical advantage to your business. With WMS on Android or iOS Tablets, like an iPad or Windows Tablet, operators will be able to view real-time information to make decisions faster and enter key data into their system while standing directly in front of the trailer or inventory on the warehouse floor. Viewing and capturing data with a tablet saves time going from the Warehouse dock to a Workstation in an office or another fixed location. It significantly reduces errors by entering data directly on the Tablet and updating the WMS system.
The WMS Tablet application will be available for standard Tablet devices using an internet web browser.
In the first release, the WMS Tablet will be used by Management to view incoming receipts into the warehouse. With colorful dashboards, Managers will be able to track expected inbound and progress for trucks being received.
The inbound functionality will allow Receivers to manage dock doors and assign doors to new trucks arriving at the warehouse. Receivers will also be able to update order status to active and enter initial data required when the truck first arrives, such as, the truck’s SEAL NUMBER and TEMPERATURE.
By viewing and entering data at the dock door with AFS’s WMS Tablet application, Receivers can check-in the truck from the mobile device allowing operators to start checking the new inventory immediately. Not only will the mobile device allow operators to start receiving sooner by shortening the time it took, before going back to the office, but it also means Receivers could be entering Quality Control (QC) information directly on the mobile device rather than writing it down. Receivers can be prompted to capture temperatures for certain products or categories and take samples.
Having WMS on the Tablet translates to less errors and more efficiencies. It also means the less time temperature controlled inventory could be sitting on a warmer dock waiting to be put away in the warehouse.
With the WMS’s configurable route and order fields plus QC questions, Receivers can enter information data from the mobile device at any point in the receiving process, from when the trailer arrives, as inventory is checked in, the WMS Tablet application will allow for capturing inbound weights from the mobile device, and prior to closing out the truck.
The AFS WMS Tablet application will allow Managers to do a final review and close out the inbound from the mobile device. With the Tablet and RF devices, every step of receiving could be handled on the warehouse floor without requiring the desktop PC.
Finally, Tablets provide a significant cost saving since the cost of purchasing Tablets is less than the cost for additional desktop workstations or notebooks.
With the AFS WMS Tablet application coming out by mid-2016, it is only the beginning of a more mobile future.
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