Avoid End-of-the Year Manual Inventory Count Hassles Altogether with WISER’s Autonomous UWB RTLS System
As the end of the year approaches, businesses around the world are gearing up for one of their most dreaded tasks - the annual inventory count. Traditionally, this process involves manual counting, consumes significant resources, and demands a considerable amount of time, taking away from core operations. Moreover, it's a recurring task that needs to be done annually, or even monthly or weekly in some cases. Implementing an autonomous real-time tracking and locating system is a smarter and more efficient way to handle this task.
In this blog post, we'll explore why implementing a tracking and locating system during your yearly inventory count is a cost-effective way to streamline your inventory management processes from now on.
The Traditional Inventory Count Conundrum
For many businesses, the yearly inventory count can be a logistical nightmare. Here are some of the common challenges associated with traditional inventory counts:
Inaccuracies: Manual counting is prone to human error, resulting in inaccurate inventory data. These errors can lead to stockouts, overstocking, and financial discrepancies.
Manual Labor: Counting items one by one is a labor-intensive process. It requires a team of employees to physically go through your inventory, often leading to errors and discrepancies.
Time-Consuming: The process can take days or even weeks, disrupting regular operations and causing inefficiencies in your workflow.
Resource Drain: Allocating resources to the manual count not only diverts manpower away from other essential tasks, it’s also a drain on production and efficiency. The full downs that occur during inventory counts impact productivity, capacity, and on-time delivery, all of which can be costly and frustrating.
The Solution: Implementing a Tracking and Locating System
The key to overcoming these challenges is to implement a tracking and locating system for your assets. Here's why it's the perfect time:
One-Time Effort: Implementing a tracking and locating system is a one-time effort. This year, while assets are being counted, they can also be tagged, significantly reducing the effort required for future inventory counts.
Real-Time Visibility: With a tracking system in place, you gain real-time visibility into the location and status of your assets. This means you can access accurate inventory data at any time, not just during periodic counts.
Reduced Errors: Automation reduces the risk of human error. RTLS, or other tracking technologies provide precise counts, reducing discrepancies, and improving data accuracy.
Cost Efficiency: A tracking system can quickly enhance your business's cost efficiency by optimizing inventory levels and diminishing the necessity for manual labor during counts. This eliminates periodic shutdowns in order to do inventory counts.
Scalability: As your business grows and acquires new assets, a tracking system can easily scale to accommodate new items. Simply tag the new assets, and they will be automatically integrated into your inventory management system.
Implementing the System
Now that you understand the benefits, let's outline the steps to implement a WISER UWB RTLS solution:
Choose the Right Technology: Select the tracking technology that best suits your business needs. Options include UWB RTLS (such as WISER Systems), barcoding, RFID, GPS tracking, or a combination of these. (Go here: (insert link) to learn more about the advantages of UWB RTLS compared to these other tracking technologies).
Tag Your Assets: With the WISER UWB RTLS solution you can apply tracking tags or labels to each asset you want to include in your inventory management system. This can be done manually or through automated processes.
Invest in Software: Acquire inventory management software that can integrate with your tracking system. This software should provide real-time tracking, reporting, and analytics capabilities. WISER’s UWB RTLS solution can seamlessly integrate with any inventory management software system, and the WISER App can validate the accuracy of your existing system. You’ll want to ensure that whatever technology you use integrates with the inventory management software system you’ve chosen.
Train Your Team: While WISER works out-of-the-box with an intuitive, user-friendly mobile app, staff training is important to ensure your staff can deploy the tracking technology and software effectively. This step is crucial for maximizing the benefits of our system.
Monitor and Maintain: Regularly monitor the system's performance and make necessary updates or adjustments (including software updates) as your inventory evolves.
In Summary
The yearly inventory count no longer needs to be the dreaded labor-intensive, error-prone, and disruptive process plaguing your business in years past. By implementing a real-time positioning system, you can transform how you manage your inventory. This one-time investment can provide ongoing benefits including reduced costs, increased accuracy, and real-time visibility into your assets. Make this the year you take the leap towards inventory management automation for a more efficient and effective inventory management process—and leave the manual counts behind for good.