Warehouse Management (including bar codes, RFID and mobile solutions)
ITPS implements automated material identification systems to simplify and automate warehouse logistics based on SAP.
Benefits of automated materials identification:
- Increased share of information, entered in real time.
- Decrease in inventory auditing time.
- Decrease in data entry costs.
- Fewer errors relating to order selection and shipping of materials.
- Increased material processing productivity.
Using barcodes/supplier tags can significantly reduce time spent labelling goods.
ITPS uses 2 solutions for automatic identification:
- Bar-coding
Bar-coding is used for labelling fast-moving materials/stock units. Bar codes are applied to paper, synthetic, thermo-transfer or thermo labels.
- RFID tags
RFID tags are used for labelling long-term storage materials or other special types of materials.
Advantages of RFID tags as compared to bar codes:
- One can add data to an identification tag.
- A tag can contain much more data.
- Data is added to a tag much faster.
- Tag data can be made confidential.
- Radio-frequency tags are more durable.
- Location of tags does not matter for a reader.
- A tag is better protected against environmental factors.
One of the components of the automated materials identification system is a mobile application developed by ITPS based on SAP Syclo.
Described below is the process of reading bar codes or RFID tags:
- User logs into a mobile data collection terminal (if the system is protected with a password).
- User enters his/her credentials for SAP ERP production system into the SAP Syclo mobile application.
- Agentry server creates a unique session for each user and sends the data (login/password) to SAP ERP, which validates the credentials.
- Once a user is successfully authorized, he/she can start working via the application within the created session.
Automation of warehouse logistics solves the following problems:
- Delays in products being delivered from suppliers and shipment of products to customers, a high level of errors when it comes to order selection, including material mis-categorization, shortages or surpluses.
- Lack of accurate information on the status of stocks, including available stocks, expiry dates, lot nos., etc. This results in the inability to take correct and well-reasoned management decisions.
- Heavy reliance on personnel. Only experienced stock keepers are sufficiently knowledgeable about goods and their location at a warehouse, therefore when they leave the company, this can cause a disruption to the normal workflow.
- Costly and inefficient processes for stock status monitoring. To check the current status of stock, assess losses and mis-categorization, a cumbersome total inventory audit must be performed, which requires suspension of current operations.
- Very long stock list. Difficult to identify each material at warehouse facility.
- Paper warehouse accounting. First, information on material flows at a warehouse is written down on paper and then transferred manually to the accounting system (i.e. duplicate accounting processes).
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