Put your visibility to the test

THEY’VE INVESTED in platforms like ERP and WMS, and shopfloor systems, and all their dashboards are in place. Their reports look clean but when disruption hits, they’re faced with the same questions: ‘Where’s the stock? Why isn’t it where it should be? Which data can we actually trust?’

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most track and trace strategies fail before the data even enters the system.

There’s a disparity between what systems report and what’s actually happening on the ground. A missed scan at goods-in doesn’t stay isolated, it affects inventory accuracy, it flows into picking errors, and it eventually hits fulfilment and customer experience.

If your organisation can’t see its inventory clearly, accurately and in real-time, its ripple effects can be felt way beyond the warehouse. They can affect procurement decisions, planning, productivity, cash flow, financial reporting and customer service.

The average inventory accuracy rates for business is said to be 83%, which means that nearly one in five inventory records contain errors that could trigger unnecessary reorders, cause stockouts and damage customer trust.

Bad data just doesn’t stay local, it spreads. What TSC Auto ID has often seen in practice is that the majority of data inaccuracies start at the first point of capture, not within the system itself.

Try it for yourself

If you want to check if this is happening in your own operation, try this quick test: Pick 2–3 locations, or SKUs, and compare what stock your system says you have versus your actual stock on the floor. If the numbers don’t tally then the issue is rarely going to be your system, it’s more likely to be how and when the data was captured.

The solution for many organisations in the past has been to invest in more visibility platforms but this is where many are going wrong. Adding more dashboards doesn’t fix unreliable inputs, it just makes inaccuracies easier to spot.

Get it right first time

Bringing about real and prolonged change begins at the point where data is created and this is where TSC and its range of automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) products can be found. Its solutions focus on data certainty at the point of action. Capturing data accurately at source ensures every interaction creates a reliable, real-time data point enabling data to flow seamlessly across systems.

If you get your data right at the start, everything downstream works. A recent deployment by TSC to improve scan accuracy at goods-in saw downstream picking errors and stock discrepancies significantly reduced within weeks, without the core system having to be changed.

TSC’s track and trace solutions, powered by RFID, barcode scanning and mobile computing, deliver accuracy and flexibility. They capture and update inventory data in real-time at every touchpoint, minimising the risk of inventory errors multiplying. They enable organisations to act faster and make more informed decisions on things like reallocating stock, changing fulfilment routes or sales strategies.

What’s next?

Track and trace is shifting:

• From visibility to verifiability
• From updates to real-time decisions
• From disconnected systems to aligned ecosystems

The organisations that succeed won’t be the ones with the most dashboards, they’ll be the ones with the most reliable data.

If you have stock accuracy or fulfilment issues, or simply don’t trust your systems then contact TSC to learn how its track and trace solutions can bring real-time insights across inbound shipments, RDCs, shop floors, stockrooms and fulfilment. Or see the technology in action on TSC’s stand at the Retail Technology Show.