Technology advancement has had a great impact on the efficiency and accuracy of products distribution. Listed below are technologies your distribution business need.
Information flows
The communication enhancements offered by technology have had an incredible impact on the flow of information. From the moment an order is received and throughout the process of delivering the product for shipment, the information can be integrated seamlessly across departments.
Good team communication software like skype, gmail, slack can offer the possibility of quick contact anywhere you find yourself in the world (using internet connection) , there are programs that can automatically make your orders become real time orders and take them directly to the supply chain.
Using modern technologies and equipment, the process of product distribution , now becomes an essential ever evolving mechanism of a full automated operation with the support of human effort and management.
Product Demand Management
Technology now turns sales into orders and giving a good system for order fulfillment processes, orders can easily enter the supply chain with minimal human activities been involved.
Information geared towards inventory levels and product demand enables partners offers to be provided as needed and this helps to facilitate more efficient inventory management.
Ability to have this immediate notification gives room for much more correct projections of the volume of orders and efficient inventory management in order to reduce cost, errors and delays in product distribution.
Adding to the above said, partners in supply chain and also product distributors, can have the ability to access real-time transmission of the volume of orders in the distribution network in order to facilitate good planning of production quantity and delivery time.
Technical systems and technology improve flexibility and speed, and also helps to reduce time wasted in product distribution process.
Warehouse Management
Before automated systems and modern equipment progressed, warehouse employees were wasting a lot of time moving around the warehouse to move products.
The movement of products in our present day product distribution business are done by warehouse management machines and software in order to reduce waste of time and also help to improve the level of accuracy and the ability to optimize warehouse floor space.
Our modern day warehouse are not as big as the kind of warehouse we do have in the past. Present day warehouse can be smaller with more efficient inventory management and movement, since warehouse are no longer restricted by aisle widths that must contain two forklifts operating simultaneously.
Pallet can be placed randomly and therefore called when needed without encountering the risk of lost. This is because the centralized network tends to be more efficient in recordings unlike humans.
Effectiveness of the distribution process
Since it is much faster and more accurate than human analysis, technology makes it possible to reach the most cost-effective and fastest product distribution process.
Our present day product distribution traffic managers can hasten distribution by using software that can analyze the route that will be the best for faster execution or lower cost.
With a good workflow for warehouse that are improved for better use of warehouse space and the ability to move goods from warehouse to trucks for shipping, the product delivery process can be made much more efficient.
The technological advantage continues from the warehouse to the loading docks. Making use of professional shipping analysis software Trucks can be loaded according to the route that is most efficient if they make multiple deliveries.
The goods scheduled for the last delivery will be loaded first, so that the goods must not be unloaded and reloaded several times along the way to their destination. This will not only improve the speed of delivery, but also reduces the risk of damage during shipping.
When you plan to upgrade, migrate, or add to your supply chain technology, you should consider a few important points. This includes the learning curve, first and foremost – training your staff on new technologies will take time, and you will need to schedule turnaround times or downtime in some cases.
Then do a full (and unbiased) review of new technologies before you buy them and implement them in the product distribution process, because you will want to go beyond the representative to determine if the technology is having a positive impact on your distribution business the ways you want it.
Finally, be sure to measure the performance of a new system once you have given it time to do its work. There should be tangible value and reports to prove its effectiveness.
Technology continues to evolve with improvements in accuracy, detail, capacity, speed and more. As software as well as logistic technologies improves, product distributors can continue to implement systems that are effective to further reduce inventory management and associated cost.
Traffic Management, packing and delivery
Traffic managers mostly make use of software to improve equipment and time in order to achieve an efficient distribution. All orders are analyzed for least-cost route before loading. Trucks are loaded most times based on most efficient route and the drivers of the trucks are being guided by GPS software to minimize cost.
Move to mobile
Distribution employees are constantly on the move, making the transition to mobile very advantageous. Allowing warehouse managers to check order status, pickup rates, inventory levels, machine availability and much more, all in their palm.
This means that problems can be solved in real time, as well as the premeditation of interruptions and increased productivity.
Software Automation: Increases revenue, visibility and control
Business automation software is popular in the field of distribution services to reduce paperwork and store files digitally rather than keeping files in cabinets.
By automating repetitive tasks, companies have time for larger jobs and can hire fewer administrative staff. Research showed that wholesale distributors mainly automate computer data entry, followed by payroll, order management and integration.
68% of automating distributors earn more revenue and reduce their business costs. For example, workers can accidentally delete records.
An employee can retrieve this record by simply looking in the user’s action log. This technique also helps the managers to evaluate employee performance.
