Case Study: Save Money with Barcode Confirmations

Running a small or medium-sized business is all about finding ways to do things better, faster, and more accurately, especially when it comes to managing inventory. That’s where a targeted approach to inventory accuracy, with the help of barcode confirmations, is a game-changer.

The following case study highlights a current Connected customer success story in which they successfully implemented the Connected barcode scanning confirmation process.  Not only did the inventory start seeing almost 100% accuracy, but customer satisfaction was also way up, ultimately contributing to their bottom line.

Acme Inc (name hidden for privacy concerns) is a national distributor of medical supplies to clinics and pharmacies. Before Acme Inc started using barcode scanning, all inventory was being managed with Connected. However, there were often costly mistakes made in the accuracy of inbound and outbound products.  For example, when picking/packing, the wrong items were being shipped to customers. A similar, but not exact, product or product ID was picked and overlooked during the packing/verification process. These errors led to costly returns, product replacements, and unhappy customers.

Acme's switch to barcode scanning focused on two key areas:

1) Scanning items received on Purchase Order to verify the correct products, quantities, and SKUs were received.  A way was needed to verify that what was being received was confirmed to be correct.

2) Scan verification on all SKUs picked for customer orders while packing. This process would ensure the correct products were sent and would not allow the order to ship until scans confirmed the order was correct.

After switching to scanning verification, there was an immediate difference. Inbound Purchase Orders were always recorded correctly ensuring the correct items and quantities were always received into Connected.  This saved a great amount of time by avoiding inventory adjustments when the wrong products were being received.

The biggest benefit was recognized on the outbound shipment of customer orders.  The old way, which included many picking errors, was gone almost overnight.  Orders were being picked with accuracy and speed.  Customers were receiving the correct products, the first time, virtually eliminating all customer returns related to picking/packing errors.  Shipping costs went down with fewer returns and orders were filled more quickly with greater accuracy, essentially expanding capacity with the same labor costs.  Customers noticed which further fueled expansion as order sizes and the number of products per order increased.

Connected's scanning solution is flexible and designed to target the area of need.  For example, the inbound inventory being received on Purchase Orders may be the only issue. Connected can help by enabling scanning for just inbound inventory versus both inbound and outbound.  

Connected also accommodates the following scenarios that are quite common:

1)  UPC codes need to be added/edited on the fly. Connected supports two UPC codes for each product and allows the addition or editing on the fly so that things keep moving without time-wasting interruptions.

2) Scanning 300 units of a single product is not needed.  Although this may be most accurate, scanning 300 units of a single product may not be practical.  Connected includes a "Manager Confirm" option for this type of scenario, to keep things moving quickly.

About Connected

The Connected Accounting and ERP platform, by Accountek Solutions Inc. has been helping SMBs manage their businesses for over 30 years.  With our best-in-class Connected on Demand cloud (subscription) and our award-winning Desktop application for macOS and PC (perpetual license), Connected offers the choices businesses demand. The Connected platform is offered in both Connected Enterprise and a scaled down Connected Core Financials configuration.  

To learn which Connected product and platform is best for your business, complete our software Needs Analysis or Download a Free Trial today.  If you have questions, just call us @ (888) 678-5856, anytime.