As we continue with the End-to-End series we move on to the topic of transportation. In this series, we will take you step by step through the supply chain. You will learn how inventory management software can help improve performance across the supply chain.
The series will cover manufacturing, storage, distribution, transportation, retail and reverse logistics practices. Having an inventory system that integrates across your supply chain can greatly improve performance and boost efficiency.
After the product has moved through manufacturing, storage, and distribution, it enters the transportation phase of the supply chain. At this point, you can send the item to a final retail location or directly to the customer. In this phase of the supply chain, visibility is especially important and highly valued by customers. Through the use of an inventory management system and scanning capabilities you can easily track and manage orders as they move from point A to point B.
Real Time Information
At each milestone between points A and B, items can be scanned to produce real-time location info. This gives you and your customers peace of mind knowing the items are on track to be delivered on time. By using one centralized location on the cloud to store inventory information, you provide your organization and customers with more visibility. Give customized access to customers so they can track their orders in real-time. By giving this access to your customers you give them confidence that you will deliver on time.
Mobile Access
Inventory systems that are cloud-based give you access to your data wherever and whenever. You can track orders from the warehouse, storage locations, the office or on the go. You can connect to your inventory system from any device with Internet. Even on mobile, you can see order location, what items are in the shipment, and expected arrival. Hence, cloud-based inventory management can keep everybody in-the-know.
Special Shipments
Whether you are dealing with drop shipping or partial fulfillment, implementing an inventory system can help you efficiently track these shipments. Simplify the process when you are shipping products directly from your supplier to your customers. Be able to see where your drop shipment orders are every step of the way and provide this visibility to both the supplier and your customers. For partial fulfillment, you can mark when you receive individual items and track where the rest of the order is along the supply chain. Your customers will have peace of mind knowing that everything is on its way.
In addition, you can improve transportation tracking with inventory management and scanning capabilities. This will provide real-time information across your organization. Furthermore, you can access transportation data from anywhere at any time and easily manage even the most complicated orders.
Going through the supply chain you can already see how implementing an inventory system can help in manufacturing, storage, distribution, and now transportation. As we continue with this series you will see how implementing a system can help with retail and reverse logistics.
