Industry Perspectives

Unreliable data caused by errors in inventory is one of the most common problems in warehousing and manufacturing and can have serious consequences for a business. It is therefore essential that companies identify where these errors are occurring and take steps to remedy them.

Here are some of the areas where inventory mistakes are likely to happen and some tips on how to fix them.

Undertaking expansion in an organisation can be difficult, but it creates an opportunity to plan out not only current needs but future growth as well.

A case study on warehousenews.co.uk looks at how a UK-based company thoroughly assessed their current and future requirements to find an expansion solution that would carry them into the future.

“Piccadilly Greetings Group are one of the UK’s leading greeting card publishers and manufacturers, with a product range of over 5,000 designs as well as own label products and fully bespoke stock control for major UK and international retailers.

In the food and beverage manufacturing industry there is always a risk of contamination and the ability to trace ingredients, parts and lots to the source is essential to food safety. Efficient operations are the key to ensuring that safety regulations are met and that food production stays profitable.

An article on www.reliableplant.com outlines some of the advantages of traceability in avoiding foodborne illness and retaining customers.

A product recall is thought of with dread in the manufacturing industry. Even when following the strictest safety and quality guidelines, with so many factors involved sometimes things can go wrong – and product recalls can and do happen. Something as simple as undeclared allergens on food labels, in fact, continues to be one of the major causes of food recalls today.

Barcode scanners have become an integral part of warehousing and manufacturing. The simplicity of storing information in a barcode and the ability to recall the information automatically with a scanner has revolutionised production processes worldwide.

With this fact in mind, it is surprising that many organisations still aren’t utilising barcode technology to their full advantage. Here are just some of the ways barcodes can improve your production processes.

Food safety is a global issue in the production industry. An article in foodsafetymagazine.com looks at how the language barrier on the production floor may affect food safety compliance, and how to address these issues.

“[Food safety] is a very complex system with many interdependent parts, and the most critical factor is the workforce, because employees monitor, control and correct as well as contribute to many of the food safety issues we face each day.”

Accurate data capture on the warehouse floor is the key to proper tracking and efficiency. Without accurate data, how can you identify problems and improve processing? Manual data capture tends to be is time consuming, inefficient, and inaccurate, and the manual input of this data into your ERP system leaves further room for inefficiency and error.

So what should you be doing to simplify and streamline your data capture?

Barcodes are an essential tool in the production and warehousing industries. If you haven’t already read our Introduction to Barcodes, it’s a very good starting point for everything you need to know about barcodes.

But how do colour and contrast affect the scan-ability of a barcode? It’s important to understand how barcodes and barcode scanners work, in order to ensure that they will scan every time.

Product recalls are a nightmare for those in the food production industry; they can cause long-term damage to a brand so strict safety and compliance regulations become an extremely important fact of business.

Infor has compiled some extensive research and guidance on food safety and compliance that we think might be an interesting read for those in the industry.

TransLution was featured recently in South African Food Review, talking about quality assurance in the factory.

“An essential aspect of every food manufacturer’s operations, quality assurance ensures food safety and guarantees the customer that food meets a clear, consistent set of standards. Quality assurance is a highly demanding task to manage in a quantity-driven production environment. Current practices need to be revisited to keep pace with more complex production processes and ever-more stringent requirements being placed on the food sector.

Choosing the right labels for the production floor is a challenge that many of our clients come up against. There are many variations and ultimately they want to choose something that is going to be suitable for years to come.

Previously, we talked about Choosing Label Adhesives and the best adhesives for different applications. Choosing a material for your barcode labels is equally as important and also depends ultimately on what you intend to use them for and the kinds of environments they will be exposed to.

South Africa is the melting pot for different nationalities and cultures. With eleven official spoken languages, often we find there can be a large communication barrier on the warehouse floor. This makes productivity a challenge, and organisations must find ways to address these issues.