Trucks arrive at the receiving dock every day, loaded with products that need to go into stock. The items are taken off the truck, tracked in the order system, and counted to ensure the order is complete. Many of these items are ready to go directly from the receiving dock to the bins and into stock. However, sometimes items have to be repacked before they can be brought into stock.
Errors in repacking are all too common. They can create accuracy problems in inventory, picking, and order fulfillment. Here are four potential errors and how you can avoid them in the first place.
- Not getting the right quantity in the repack.
Some repacks involve packaging a fixed quantity of product into a single package. An example of this is packaging 100 items into a single repack. Getting the count correct is critical for inventory accuracy and customer satisfaction. A capable warehouse management software package paired with a barcode scanner can trigger counts and recounts for accuracy.
- Not getting all the parts into a repack.
Some repacks involve packaging more than one SKU into a single package. A common error is to miss a part going into a repack. Missing a part can cause problems with inventory as well as decrease customer satisfaction. One way to avoid this problem is to require a barcode scan of each item going into a repack. If an item is missing, the WMS can alert you and refuse to accept the repack into stock until the item is added.
- Putting the wrong parts into a repack.
There can be multiple configurations of repacks, with different quantities of different parts going into each configuration. This makes it very easy to put the wrong part into a repack. By requiring a barcode scan of each part going into a repack, the WMS can alert you if the wrong item is scanned.
- Not tracking the parts going into a repack.
You bring in 100 pieces of item X. Each of those items is to be repacked into a new item Y. Because item X is not going to be put into stock, you don't enter it into inventory. No one has an accurate count of item X. This causes problems with inventory and ordering. Every item that enters your warehouse needs to be tracked in your WMS, whether it is going straight to stock or being repacked into a new item.
If your warehouse operation includes repacking, you need to take steps to keep your inventory and repacks accurate. Modern warehouse management software makes repacking much easier to manage. Is your WMS capable?