Global businesses are under increasing pressure to ensure accurate and timely order fulfillment. While many management tools are available to centralize information and procedures, inventory control is sometimes neglected. Spreadsheets and hand-counting are not an accurate means of tracking your critical inventory. This article provides insight into how an Inventory Tagging System (commonly known as an Inventory Management System) can be used to reduce tracking effort while improving inventory accuracy.
Complete counts, irrespective of whether performed quarterly or using a cycle counting system designed specifically for your organization, must be performed precisely to protect your company’s evolving fulfillment demands. To accurately track your inventory, it’s critical to consider an Inventory Tagging System.
By properly tagging assets and inventory, organizations can ensure they have enough raw materials for manufacturing and finished goods available for seasonal demand. Scannable inventory tags used in conjunction with a reliable asset and warehouse management system improves supply chain visibility by allowing all stakeholders to track goods as they move through the warehouse, from manufacturer to consumer.
What are Inventory Tags?
Inventory Tags are a label or plaque that uniquely identifies an item and is applied directly to inventory to simplify the identification and tracking process. The labels often include human-readable part and identification numbers along with any number of descriptive values (manufacturer, weight, product description, serial number, etc.).
The true benefit of inventory tagging is when the tag also includes a machine-readable identifier. This is unique identifier is most often in the form of a barcode, but could also be an RFID tag.
The inventory tags are read to track the movement, use, and age of inventory within the warehouse and throughout the supply chain. The sooner the tag is applied within the supply chain, the more useful it becomes. When choosing the best inventory tag for your business, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. It’s up to individual businesses to decide which option is best for their operations.
Benefits of Using Inventory Tags
This technology benefits an organization irrespective of the inventory tagging system they employ. A few advantages of using inventory tags in a business are as follows.
Enhanced Productivity and Efficiency
Warehouse workers may save time and effort with the use of inventory tags. Since relevant information could be acquired from one location with merely a reader or a smartphone, organizations that adopt this innovation should expect fewer incidents of human mistakes. In addition, it makes keeping track of stock easier.
End-to-end visibility
Many organizations rely heavily on supply chain data in real time. Vendors can adjust to shifts in supply and demand thanks to readily available data. Stock margins may be significantly improved by either ordering extra stock at peak times or identifying which commodities sell the least.
Inventory counting
Doing inventory counts manually wastes time, resources, and talent at a warehouse. Instead, companies may use the technology of inventory tags to get accurate stock counts whenever needed. Reading barcoded inventory tags ensures accuracy and RFID can be used to read multiple items simultaneously without line-of-sight to the tags. Consider the technology that is best for your unique needs.
Asset management
Enterprises can store liquid or fixed assets at the warehouse. You can monitor the use of the assets by running stock counts with modern asset management software. Businesses can make better judgments thanks to the availability of this data without having to worry about losing time chasing for missing stock.
Seamless reporting at the end of the year or quarter might be challenging to compile if a firm is undergoing a period of high activity. Fortunately, inventory tags can be crucial to your overall asset management system. Scannable tags allow information to be quickly collected and reported on a regular basis or when auditing is required.
Types of Inventory Tags to Choose From
Barcode Tags
Barcodes are one-dimensional codes that can be read by a barcode scanner and can include crucial information like inventory identity and price, etc. Better and more precise stock control is one of their many benefits. They improve the supply chain and are quick and effective for overall operations. Using barcodes enhances accountability. Despite their simplicity, barcodes may be used to label various products and assets for a cheap initial cost.
QR Code Tags
A QR code is a two-dimensional barcode that a mobile phone’s camera and a dedicated QR code reader can read. Using a smartphone, you may scan QR Code labels. Their scanning speeds are lightning-fast and may be used in various situations. In addition, these systems store a lot of data and are fault tolerant. Everything from luggage tags to pet IDs may have a QR code attached. As a mobile technology, QR Codes may be scanned by virtually any device.
RFID Tags
RFID tags allow for the identification of multiple nearby items at once by using radio waves. Readers can be set up as portals to automatically track items as they move through doorways or read tunnels. The time spent collecting inventory data is cut down significantly. RFID tags are useful in retail and warehousing contexts because of their efficiency.
Conclusion
It’s well-known that inventory tracking can be a challenging undertaking. The first step in ensuring a well-managed workflow is selecting the proper tags or labels for your organization’s needs. Organizations can benefit from using inventory tags because they assist in cutting expenses, boosting ROI, and lessening risks.
Vertical Systems is a software company with core offerings centered around RFID technologies. VSI’s RAPID RFID product suite offers a wide range of solutions to improve asset visibility and reduce labor costs.
