The issue of technology frequently becomes a gut-level computation with the small and medium business owner; is the agony of the existing system more than the apparent cost and anarchy of transition? In terms of inventory tracking, still, most of them are using manual counts and spreadsheets- a free system which comes at a huge cost of untidy accounts and sales.
Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) has been regarded as an enterprise domain. However, the scenery has changed. When then does an SMB reach the point of RFID not being a luxury, but a rational, cost-effective, step in the right direction? Always prefer talking to experts to learn more about RFID warehouse management.
What are Some Hidden Costs of Manual Tracking?
First, let’s quantify the pain. It is not only tedious, but manual tracking is also costly. It seals your team behind closed doors in the back room, adding numbers rather than selling the sales floor. It causes long-term errors that result in stockouts (losing sales) and overstocking (tying up cash). When you have the following, then your free system is making you pay a lot:
- You are performing disruptive and frequent full-store inventory counts.
- Your out-of-stock efficiency is never above 95.
- You and your employees are always on the hide and seek of products.
- The inventory management time is a suffocation of growth or customer service.
Three Major Reasons Behind Choosing RFID Operations
The opportune moment of upgrading is not necessarily related to the size of the company, but the attainment of certain operational breaking points where the efficiency of RFID makes it cost-effective.
a) Scalability
You are at the point where the volume of manual processes is getting out of hand. This may be a set quantity of stock-keeping units (SKU) (e.g., maintain a constant number of more than 2,000-3,000 distinct items) or a physical scale enlargement (a second physical location or a bigger warehouse). RFID is easy to scale; it does not need any extra labor to add 100 more tagged items.
b) Labor Benchmark
You are now going to recruit–or would like to stop recruiting–inventory. Suppose you are thinking of hiring another part-time worker to do the counting and receiving, and divide that figure by the yearly income.
An initial RFID solution (reader, printer, tags, software) can be similar in terms of initial cost (one-time or yearly) but operates 24/7 and redeploys your most valuable resource, your people, to revenue-generating activities.
c) Opportunity Cost
You are suffocating your development with insight. You are losing wholesale opportunities in that you cannot be sure when giving exact quantities. You are losing e-commerce sales because you are selling things that you do not even possess. The real-time and 99+ percent accurate information of RFID is not only a tool in operations but also a strategic asset for making smarter decisions to make in buying and selling.
Tips and Tricks for Business People New to RFID Operations
Convinced it might be time? The following is the way forward without being overwhelmed:
1) Start Small
You do not have to label everything at once. Implement Pilot RFID on your most valuable line or most troublesome line of stock. First, prove the ROI in one controlled zone. The RFID personnel tracking softwarehas already made its name in the market. You can check some other ones as well.
2) Always Choose Updated Solutions
Ditch the big systems of yesterday. Search for contemporary, pay-as-you-go, subscription-based RFID solutions that provide handheld readers, user-friendly software, and minimal initial investment in IT.
3) Learn about the True Cost
Over one month, record the number of hours spent on stock, the lost sales during stockouts, and the cost of clearance of overstocked products. This is your base justification figure.
An upgrade is never appropriate at the time when you could afford it, but when you no longer can afford not to.
As soon as the latent expenses of manual tracking start holding you down, throttling your expansion, and draining the talent out of your employees, RFID turns an extravagant piece of technology into a mandatory business expense. It is the utility that will allow you to cease operating reactively in the management of inventory and initiate the operation of your business in a strategic manner.
