The benefits of a paperless warehouse

In warehouse management the more you digitize the more you can scale.

No company in the last two decades (or really since Ford & the Model T) has made a transformation in the industrial world as big as Amazon. Bezos took his skills from Wall Street to Washington and flipped the world of retailing on its head.

Amazon wasn’t the first to sell online and certainly wasn’t the only player in the space. Big players like eBay and Walmart saw Amazon coming over a decade ago but couldn’t do anything about it - why? Amazon’s biggest advantage was never technology or online - it was their operations. Amazon’s warehousing and processes were so ruthlessly efficient they are still over a decade ahead of their nearest competitor.

To stay ahead of the competition modern warehouses need to go for the holy grail of a 100% paperless warehouse management system (WMS) . This isn’t a new idea and industry leaders have been chasing this for over a decade. To date nearly 95% of warehouses are still struggling with offline paper systems and the opportunity to get ahead of the pack remains.

To go truly paperless a company needs to invest in a paperless warehouse management system. The shift from paper based warehouse system to paperless warehouse systems transforms warehouse operations by increasing efficiency, reducing errors and optimising warehouse space. Warehouse automation plays a big part in this transformation and takes the paperless warehouse to the next level.

Despite the advantages many warehouses are still using paper based processes which are slow and error prone. Going paperless not only updates operations but also boosts productivity. Going paperless warehouse management is a must for any company to stay ahead in today’s industrial world.

The Benefits of Paperless Warehouse Management

Let's make one thing clear right off the bat: all-digital isn't necessarily always the best choice. There are several industries/workflows/scenarios where paper based systems is still the ideal choice - particularly in financial or legal scenarios where a trail is necessary, and to hedge against security issues. In warehouse management, however, this isn't the case - the more you digitize your processes, the more your processes can scale. And in an industry where ruthless efficiency is the bottom line, the warehouse that scales is the warehouse that wins.

There are a whole host of reasons why paperless is important in warehouse management, but chief among them is simple: efficiency.

Increased efficiency and productivity compared to paper based system

In a warehouse supply chain, every single action contributes to the unit economics of whatever product is being processed. Every wasted motion, every 10 minutes here and 5 minutes there spent searching for documents, every misplaced sheet adds supply chain debt that directly impacts your bottom line.

Some studies have suggested that mobile warehouse management for data organization can double organizational accuracy - and higher accuracy, means less mistakes, which means less leakage.

Better Customer Service

The second major benefit of the paperless approach to warehouses is simple: customer service.

Three factors shape a customer's opinion of a shipping process: how quickly they receive their product, the visibility they have into the tracking process, and how easily they can resolve issues.

A paperless system improves all three factors. It increases efficiency on the warehouse floor, leading to faster deliveries. Additionally, a paperless WMS provides real-time updates, allowing customers to track orders accurately and receive timely notifications at each stage of the process.

For businesses with multiple warehouse locations, a good warehouse management system ensures seamless coordination and highly accurate data entry, reducing errors common in paper-based management. This integration helps maintain consistency and reliability across different sites, enhancing overall customer satisfaction.

Despite the initial cost, the long-term benefits of a paperless warehouse system in terms of customer satisfaction and operational efficiency make it a valuable investment. By eliminating manual logs and reducing errors, companies can resolve issues swiftly and effectively, significantly improving the customer experience.

Ridiculously Efficient Barcoding

The old system of barcoding is clunky - large, non-standardized paper labels with a hundred different details crammed into ugly packaging. Service agents end up wasting non-trivial amounts of time per package finding the label, navigating clumsy barcoding machines, translating and tracking receipts, etc.

Modern, state-of-the-art WMS systems like Pulpo WMS come native to Android devices, are extremely lite touch and essentially just require a simple, hyper-streamlined barcoding process. The app keeps track of virtually every detail about the package, including warehouse position, expiration dates and any other variables, which means labeling just needs a simple barcode employees can scan via Pulpo's app.

Digitizing the barcoding process offers tremendous advantages by itself. The lack of hefty labeling and a standard, streamlined process tremendously improves organizational efficiency - not to mention digitizing the mapping and labeling of warehouse positions means warehouse employees can swiftly move from package to package without any latency because of physical organization.

Data-driven Decisions & Just-In-Time (JIT)

JIT thinking has been the global standard in supply chain, but it continues to be a difficult goal to achieve end to end - especially for complicated products. A digitized warehouse management process allows for actual data-driven decision making;

A system that runs in the cloud can immediately identify bottlenecks and eventually even allow for real-time resource allocation, process optimization and granular forecasting. Rather than running processes and reviewing on a quarterly basis (after all the paperwork is accounted for and I's dotted), a modern WMS can enable an organization to adjust on the fly and streamline operations on an extremely granular level.

In 2019, it's a no brainer - the smartest warehouses are entirely paperless. Real-time process management, significantly higher efficiency, integrations and a “continuous improvement” philosophy make the modern WMS significantly more efficient than its predecessor. It's a wonder after all the walls that companies like Amazon have broken down, so many organizations continue to rely on legacy systems, underestimating the enormous throughput improvements of a paperless system.

In short, there is no other way for modern fulfillment: go paperless. Your bottom line will thank you.

References:
http://www.scdigest.com/assets/Reps/SCDigest_Top_10_Strategies_2007.pdf
https://blog.brightpearl.com/cloud-vs-legacy-wms-infographic
https://www.scanco.com/should-your-warehouse-go-paperless/