Every company regardless of the kind of product they are producing and selling in the market, at some stage need to get material handling solutions to apply in the overall supply chain process.

Material handling system cannot stand alone until and unless it is facilitated along with material handling solutions too.

As material handling systems analysis and design do require a lot of attention before the final system to have opted, similarly when coming towards the material handling problems and solutions, a company needs to know everything about applying the material handling solution.

When it comes to the industry usually the small to mid-size companies that do not possess a gigantic number of warehouses usually deploy manual functionalities along with few automated material handling solutions, whereas the big giants that cannot even think of manufacturing and shipping a product without even properly adopting the material handling solutions.

Here is the step-by-step guide that will let you know how you can apply the material handling solutions and how this guide enables MWI solutions to be on top of their game.

of the warehouse.After all the assessments relating to the warehouse done, we need to focus on the operational assessments that involved all the actions and physical work taking place during the whole supply chain cycle.Afterward, the solution mainly focuses upon the smooth workflow along with maximum production and high-level efficacy.The next step is minimizing the steps and intervals to complete the whole process from manufacturing to delivering and consuming.After all above the utmost focus is on the reduction of the cost either it is the manufacturing material cost, shipping/handling cost, labor cost, etc.It is very much necessary to track the expenses and the cost to insure the reduction and maintain the record for future forecasting.Automate the maximum tasks possible.

The supply chain for consumer products, which are sold to end customers, is extensive, large, and complex.

The consumer products supply chain faces certain particular issues due to the large range of inventories, various buying channels, and the demand for quality, speed, and reliability.In this article, we’ll look at some of the most prevalent software solution providers in the consumer goods supply chain, as well as some strategies for streamlining the warehouse automation process, increasing visibility, controlling inventory, and increasing income.

Let’s get started!Top Five Warehouse Management Software ProvidersYou’ll also discover get to know how the software improves the efficiency of your retail supply chain for food, beverages, clothes, home care, consumer electronics, and related items.OPEX: Perfect Pick to Solve Your ProblemsOPEX Perfect Pick is a completely self-contained, standalone point solution, unlike more traditional goods-to-person options on the market today.

This direct interaction avoids the need for elaborate conveyor systems or transfer equipment, which would otherwise take up valuable office space.KNAPP: Warehouse Control SoftwareKNAPP covers all software levels with smart software solutions, from warehouse administration to individual optical sensor control, ensuring performance, productivity, and transparency across the supply chain.Immerse in virtual software worlds and develop 2D or 3D models with a detailed depiction of the system, KNAPP uses simulation and emulation models.

Before any installation work begins, the warehouse comes to life, displaying the system’s capacity.

They can keep costs down and pass them on to retailers if they can mass-produce a specific SKU (Stock keeping unit) with just minor variations, making them a more appealing partner and garnering more business.Retailers are looking for a good value proposition as well as eye-catching branding.

Well-versed delivery management software cannot only help business owners to gain a competitive advantage over other businesses but can also enable them to establish a long-term loyal customer base.

It facilitates the company to keep a record of customers and their needs, the database management ability of a WMS assists in forecasting the future market trends according to the customer needs so they can never go anywhere else.

To achieve all the desired goals, it is very much necessary to choose suitable warehouse management software, MWI Solutions do provide quality services in this domain with enabling the customers to customize the warehouse management and control system all in one.What To Look for While Choosing:A good WMS must need to be the pivot between all the supply chain operations and manufacturing/production.

There are varieties of features an organization looks into while choosing a suitable WMS for their users based on their particular requirements.

Some organizations do hire specialized professionals to handle warehouse management software but most of the time normal human resource from the vigilance department is asked to use it.

It should be easy to change its size and utility as per the usage.Efficient FunctionalityA well-versed WMS has to be efficient in its day-to-day work.

OverviewLeading athletic footwear company receives inbound ocean containers from Port of Long Beach and struggles with cost per piece due to limitations in fulfillment capacity, inventory control, and storage capabilities.

With a need to ship 80,000+ lines per day across retail store, wholesale, and direct to consumer, lines per order ranged from 100+ lines down to a single line order- all from the same DC.Challenge200 associates in 500,000 sqft4 to 5 day order turnaroundInventory capacity limited to 2,000,000 unitsHeavily manual pick process with associates pushing cartsManually intensive cartonizing,labeling, and manifesting processes in different areasHighly dynamic and challenging SKU mixHigher cost per piece handled and processed100 associates in 230,000 giftResolutionSame day / next day shippingInventory capacity expanded to 3,000,000 unitsAutomated delivery process of orders to the pickersAutomated carton sizing, labeling, weighing, and manifestingAutomated sortation of parcels and LTL shipmentsLower cost per piece handled, with capital investment ROI of 13 months Source: https://mwi.solutions/shoe-distribution/

The world is changing, whether you’re concerned about the costs or unsure about the benefits that automation might offer to your firm.

This post entails two of the most efficient conveyors that will allow you to experiment with basic sortation automation without incurring excessive fees.Let’s get started.Things to Consider When Choosing Sortation Automation OptionsAutomation allows you to keep up with or even outperform the competition.

There are many ways to include entry-level sortation automation into your packaging strategy regardless of the size of your firm.

As a result, your product’s size, shape, and weight, as well as its fragility and rigidity, will all play a role in limiting down your sortation alternatives.Throughput RequirementsRegardless of your throughput requirements, there is virtually likely a sorter that can help you get there.

How many different places do you need to go to?Though some outbound shipping applications only require a few locations, store distributions may require hundreds of chutes to branch out of a single sorter.

This dimension will influence your ultimate choices because certain sorters require more room than others.Consider the following questions: What is the overall square footage of your operation?What is the size of the available floor space?Are you making the best use of your facility’s vertical space?Is the system going to be looped or linear?The flexibility of The SystemHow certain are you that the products and packages handled by your organization today will be the same products and packages handled five, ten, or fifteen years from now?

We often think of how these warehouses and factories have well-organized product management systems?The diverse process of transportation, controlling, storing, loading, and unloading smallest to most complex products fall under the general structure of a ‘material handling systems.’ This manifolds equipment, tools, vehicles, storage units, and appliances to run the entire system.Use of Material Handling Equipment :Material handling equipment has a broad usage scope in production houses like industries and warehouses.

These play a vital role in the crucial tasks of lifting and transporting heavy materials.

Apprehension of all the complex techniques is difficult, but the four broad equipment types areBulk product handling equipmentStorage and handling equipmentEngineered systemsIndustrial material trucksApplication of Material Handling Equipment :Each category has a diverse range of equipment with helpful functionality.

These are long buildings that carry and elevate out of the container when sent for processing.Stackers piles up stock, moving between two points or aisles.

These also includeStacking frames in the warehouse helps safely crush products such as liquid containers to be secured without damage.Bins are used to stock material when not in use.

It is adjusted according to the material dimension.Mezzanines help create more elevated floors in a warehouse to provide additional storage for a brief time.Pallet racks help explicitly to store product vertically which consume less space.

Material handling automation referrers to the phenomena of moving heavy products into and out to the different domains in a supply chain management workflow atmosphere.

In other words, we can say that reducing the requirement of manpower and human workers in the manufacturing and moving of the products is termed as material handling automation.Various types of material handling methods and techniques have been used worldwide by different companies and organizations to fulfill their supply chain needs.

Most of the large-scale businesses and companies have switched to the material handling automation system in the recent past and many more are shifting every passing day.This dramatic shift in the material handling approach is due to the benefits of material handling automation and various advantages of material handling automation over the regular orthodox approaches used in the past.

The three common types of material handling system approach used all around the globe include the following:Manual Material HandlingThe manual material handling approach includes all the heavy working and lifting either it is in the manufacturing department or shipment phase, everything is done and controlled by the human laborers working in shifts.

Still, most of the small-scale industries completely rely on manual material handling systems as in such industries there is no heavy product lifting and movement is involved and everything can be easily catered by the human workers on their own.

Many companies and industry does not want to leave the material handling just due to lack of establishment of the trust factor on the machines developed for such purpose and moreover being old school.

An Inventory Management Software refers to the system that enables a company to meet its supply chain management process goals assisting in tracking the orders, sales, managing deliveries, tracking inventories, etc.Every business involved in the supply chain process usually has to go for inventory management software to maximize their productivity and maximize efficiency.

There are basically two types of Inventory management software to choose from other than few customized solutions being provided by some material handling solutions providers like MWI.Salient Features:Some prominent and common features that are a must in every kind of inventory management software system are listed down below:Asset TrackingProducts stored in the warehouse as inventories or on their way to the shipping destinations can be classified and tracked via their barcodes or special serial number assigned to them after being manufactured.Product IdentificationRadio frequency identification tags are used for identifying a product and sorting out a particular product from the whole inventory.

Various other wireless identification methods are also used for this purpose by inventory management software.Service ManagementApart from being useful in terms of physical goods and products, an inventory management system can also be used by firms that are providing services as their products.

There is a whole separate module for catering to such needs of a particular firm.Inventory OptimizationIt helps in optimizing the whole inventory managing process by automated forecasting algorithms to gain the maximum quality metrics.Reorder PointA company cannot run out of products with the ability of inventory management software to keep a record of products so that they can be immediately prepared to meet the selling curve.Types of Inventory Management Software:ERP Inventory Management SoftwareCloud Inventory Management SoftwareAdvantages of ERP Inventory Management System:Enhanced EfficacyIt automates most of the tasks and jobs inside a warehouse that maximize the productivity of the whole supply chain process.Cost-effectiveIt helps in cutting costs from extra deployed workforce labor and even machinery that is of no use despite its presence and cost.Data HandlingEnable a firm to deal with real-time data and manipulate it according to usage.

It enables monitoring and accessing data graphs from multiple devices at the same time.Trends insightFuture forecasting and trend analysis are made so easy with an attractive graphical representation of data and are optimized too accordingly.Data SecurityA good inventory management system helps in securing important data from leaking out and even prevents various kinds of data loss.Warehouse OrganizationIt is responsible for all the tasks carried out inside a warehouse directly or indirectly related to the inventory, workforce, and others.Disadvantages of ERP Inventory Management System:ComplexityERP systems are complex in nature and are hard to handle sometimes.

One needs to efficient and professional to deal with them.Hard to debugERP systems are hard to debug due to their complex coding and interlinked algorithms coordinating together at the same time.Hardware IssuesOften has to face hardware breakdown and failures that cause the whole system to halt and working is affected for some time.Benefits of Cloud Inventory Management System:Live Tracking InventoryNo Hardware ExpenseNo Hardware FailureEasy MaintenanceEnhanced EfficacyEnhanced Control and CoordinationThe downside of Cloud Inventory Management System:Difficulty in IntegrationLess FlexibilitySecurity and Privacy IssueDependencyHow MWI resolve it for you?MWI Solutions got your back when it comes to choosing a suitable inventory management system for your business.

In this competitive environment, starting a company is stressful, time-consuming, and difficult.

Several factors combine to aid in the selection of the right inventory management tools.This guide will assist you in determining your business needs and selecting the appropriate software for the success of your business.What Factors to Consider When Selecting A Warehouse Management SoftwareYou must choose the right warehouse management software to get the best out of it.

A successful warehouse management software allows you to keep track of all of your inventory, including raw materials and finished goods.

It also includes functions for forecasting inventory levels in order to best support customers.Barcode scanning capabilities are included in successful inventory applications to eliminate data entry errors and provide automation.

The most critical consideration is whether the program is flexible and integrates seamlessly with other systems, such as accounting software.Is Inventory & Warehouse Control System Important to A Business’s Success?Inventory is classified as an asset and is reported on a company’s balance sheet as such.

As part of their enforcement activities, companies must demonstrate well-documented, well-understood, and well-controlled supply chain processes.

The process of supply chain management (SCM) is an essential aspect of business management.

Inefficiencies in supply chain processes cause problems in the supply chain network (SCN), which can influence profits at a variety of key points in supply chain operations.

Supply chain administrators are in charge of ensuring that it gets to the end user as easily and effectively as possible.In this article, we’ll look at supply chain processes that can be significantly enhanced and accelerated with the right tech tools to improve distribution.

WCS also helps to drive an array of automated fulfillment technologies such as Goods to Person (GTP), autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), and paperless picking technologies (Pick to Light).Set A StandardAny supply chain strategy’s effectiveness hinges on process standardization.

This will help ensure orders are consistently prioritized and delivered on time, to the right place, and to the right customer.Cost AwarenessWith supply chain management, there are several uncontrollable factors and variables.

This would promote cost-related collaboration as well as cost-cutting and process-streamlining initiatives.Obtain Data IntelligenceYour supply chain plan relies on reliable and timely data and knowledge to make decisions.

A Warehouse Management System is a software solution that is used by companies and businesses dealing with logistics and supply chain operations.

A good WMS with professional-level functionality enables the warehouse managers and other authoritative persons to optimize all the processes in and out of the warehouse to enhance the efficacy and maximize the productivity of the company.The warehouse management Software has numerous benefits and a gigantically influential impact that helps in speeding up all the processes and making the workflow totally unstoppable and hurdle-free.Top 8 benefits of Warehouse Management System· Enhancing Asset UtilizationEnhancing asset utilization refers to the optimization of resources like machines and software used in all the phases of the product development life cycle.

All the progress and success of a product or service is directly proportional to the working of human resources including both white and blue-collar officials.

WMS enables the higher cadre to monitor the performance of the labor deployed inside the warehouse and in other domains as well so that they can take effective measures to improve their performances.· Maximization of ProductivityWMS helps in locating and removing all the hurdles in the supply chain management process and enables the higher management to make full use of optimized solutions to make the workflow more smooth and productive.

Productivity is enhanced by concentrating on small attributes of all the systems and process interlinked, and that’s what WMS do manages and optimizes all of them collectively.· Increased SecurityWith the ability in-depth monitoring and evaluation a WMS does not only provide the warehouse managers with extra eyes to be aware of the happenings in the warehouse and its surroundings but also enhances the overall security system of a warehouse.

As all the data and every minute detail are being stored and managed inside a WMS so there is no need to worry about the security of the stock and inventory present inside the warehouse.· Reduction in the CostAnother vital benefit of having a quality WMS deployed in the warehouse is its immense ability in cost reduction.

Storage Assist Tools for Material Handling for Warehouse Management SystemStorage Cabinets have a certain appeal to one and all, for good reason.

In a better warehouse management system, you can outfit an ERP solutions system with your warehousing necessities.

But in an office setting, you can outfit a storage closet with your ERP needs.

A company’s ERP must be stored somewhere in order for the system to function.

Those companies that use legacy systems and have outsourced storage to an outside vendor will need a solution for electronic storage solutions.Automation and Integration of Businesses with Best ERP SolutionsThe problems that plague best ERP systems that are stored on tape or physical media are numerous and include issues such as re-formatting all your files.

This occurs when you move offices or losing files if the system loses power or electrical connection.

Latest technology trends tend to change so rapidly that when one starts to adapt to the change that occurred by the recent technology, that particular thing is no longer desirable and is replaced by something new that is more efficient and productive.

Similarly, the material handling system and the whole supply chain workflow system are being introduced with the latest technologies on and off.

These technologies help in increasing productivity and enhance the potential of logistics to reach the next level of excellence.Below we will see some of the latest trends and material handling technologies and will get to know how they are making an impact on the modern logistics and supply chain management system.Advanced RoboticsThe coolest thing ever imagined was living with robots and making them work for us.

It seemed to be unrealistic at the beginning but slowly the concept was normalized but still considered to ...... take a lot of time to achieve something worth mentioning.

As in manufacturing, the use of robots in material handling will free humans from performing routine tasks and bring greater speed and accuracy to repetitive tasks, supporting the ultimate goal of reducing material handling costs.IoT (Internet of Things)Internet of things is one of the most sorts after technology trends from the past couple of years and has become a game-changer already when it comes to sensor technology, connectivity, and communication.

No matter if there are more than one warehouse or production plants, no matter wherever they are located on the map, IoT helps to link up all the segments so that they can be monitor and operated from one place that might be head office or headquarters.Artificial IntelligenceArtificial intelligence is that particular technology that helped to bridge the gap between semi-automated material handling systems and fully automated material handling solutions.

What is Material Handling?Material handling is a series of operations that help in the movement, protection, repository, and control of products.

Keeping in mind, it suffices to say that material handling holds tremendous influence in logistics and productive supply chain management.Over time, material handling technology has advanced, and now industries have loads of options to choose from to store, process, and deliver products.This advancement has resulted in improved productivity in warehouses, distribution centers, and manufacturing plants.Various types of material handling equipment include:Storage handling equipment.Engineered systems.Industrial trucks.Bulk Material Handling Equipment.Above mentioned equipment work by storing, moving, and handling goods.

Some of these systems use material handling software that uses technology such as robotic delivery systems and conveyor belts that are programmed to work without human intervention, thus reducing the workload on staff.Reduced need for human involvement means a lower risk of theft, damage, and spoilage of material that the workers may do.

Also, it saves the company cost of human labor.

Human labor in few companies is still used for the packaging process, though.It also means that more goods are stored in a more standardized manner, meaning it’s more convenient to select and pack inventory for shipments.An organized and competent Material handling System requires efficiently designed software paired with appropriate machinery to handle, pack and organize goods when a shipment arrives.Automated tools work better as they improve material handling and efficiency brought by the computer-controlled system.A Warehouse Management System is also essential as it gives insight into the entire Warehouse operations.While setting an effective Material Handling system, some of the things that are considered over the planning, space, work, environmental, and other such principlesThe food and beverage chain differs significantly from other chains of supply such as pharmaceutical and automotive.Handling food items is more complicated and demands more time since food items require extra care, making sure they’re being stored at the right temperature and adequately sealed.

Thus, food items call for special facilities and tools for handling and transportation.Typically racks or shelves are used to store products in times of downtime or material when not in use.

You need to keep up with it because it will help you maintain your warehouse as a well-organized business asset.

Material handling automation has made it easier for manufacturers to manage and use the desired level of right material or raw goods at the right time.Conventional Vs. Modern Material Handling Systems:Materials handling can be simply defined as the movement and stocking of raw goods from storage locations to the point of use – manufacturing process.

Now, this all depends on the nature and scale of your business.In previously used, material handling systems raw goods were usually managed as single units and that also in a discontinuous manner and without proper tracking.

This often led to inefficiencies and inaccuracies both in warehouse management and thereby in production planning and execution.

The early material handling methods involved three stages including, material collection, manufacturing process and product delivery.

Raw and finished goods are usually moved from their native sites to the shop floor and logistics unit through the cranes, conveyor belts and other equipment.