4 Disadvantages of Paper-Based Warehouse Management

Paper-based warehouse management systems have long outlived their usefulness for many companies. Even small companies today can take advantage of the tools and data that are part of a software-based system. Not only do these systems provide a greater level of warehouse efficiency, but they also have a large impact on your organization's scalability and profitability. Here are a few of the ways that paper-based warehousing may be holding you back.

Slow

If your warehouse has always used a paper based system, you may not realize how inefficient it actually is. It takes way more time to fill out forms over and over than it does to simply enter the same information into the computer by scanning a barcode. The faster you try to write, the more mistakes you are prone to make. Barcode scanners all but eliminate this problem.

Real Estate

Many companies seem to get caught up in so much paperwork that they don't know when enough is enough. Creating new forms to track every detail and then creating forms to track other forms. It gets out of control quickly. Plus, nobody can seem to agree on how long each form needs to be kept before it can be thrown away. Suddenly you have offices and hallways filled with filing cabinets with records from five years ago just waiting to be needed.

All of that space is costing you something, and those papers are probably just gathering dust. Digital records eliminate all of the clutter.

Limited Growth

It goes without saying that more paper almost always means more people. In order to process all of the additional paperwork and make sense of the details, many companies bring an extra admin or analyst on board to sort it all out. Unfortunately, this process doesn't scale very well even if you are willing to continue hiring people just to handle more paperwork as volume grows. Using software to track inventory and crunch numbers will boost your warehouse efficiency immediately.

Hidden Costs

Paper-based warehouse management is oftentimes a bigger burden than you might expect it to be. Companies fear making the large, up-front investment to switch to a Warehouse Management System (WMS), but they fail to see that they are consuming large amounts of time, not to mention paper, toner, and other office supplies. You need paper and ink cartridges anyway, so you don't necessarily know how much you are spending on these supplies for the warehouse.

Continuing to run your warehouse with a paper-based system may be the path of least resistance, but today's Warehouse Management Systems can provide far greater value than paper systems. By simplifying your processes and analyzing dozens of metrics, you will be able to run your warehouse more effectively in every way.