Optimizing Inventory Management with GS1 QR Codes
Are you facing challenges with ordering, storing, and selling raw materials? Well, there is a solution to all of these issues: the GS1 QR code for multi-location inventory management.
Using QR codes for inventory can not only enhance relationships with brands and product suppliers but also help you better manage items. Businesses can track everything with just a simple scan.
This article will cover in detail how complete inventory management works and how using QR codes can benefit you in the process.
Table of Contents
Why inventory management matters?
Inventory management matters because merchandise is the heart of every supply chain management (SCM) or logistics business. Without these physical products, whole industries will collapse.
Yet, despite this crucial role, companies often never dedicate substantial resources to inventory management. Let’s see how using GS1 2D barcodes is important in inventory management:
Extends beyond tracking products
Tracking and tracing products is necessary. However, inventory management goes beyond improving tracking and tracing products in transit.
Inventory management, particularly systems supported by an inventory QR code, can improve productivity and competitiveness while enhancing the use of available resources.
Improves cash flow
Another key benefit is the improvement in cash flow. With more data, you can be precise with how you spend your cash, increasing cash flow for unpredictable scenarios. Besides, the increase in cash flow far outweighs the cost of using a GS1 QR code generator to create the 2D barcodes.
When too much money is locked in unsold inventory, it can strain cash flow and limit a company’s ability to invest in other areas, such as marketing. Effective inventory management ensures that the right amount of stock is held at any given time.
This improved liquidity enhances financial flexibility, allowing companies to seize new opportunities and negotiate better terms with suppliers.
Enhances communication within the supply chain
Communication is crucial. You can share end-to-end information with all those involved in the SCM process and collaborate to improve existing systems. Communication also enhances relationships with partners, suppliers, brands, and manufacturers within the supply chain.
You're fostering goodwill with your GS1 data because you can provide them greater insight into their products, what's selling, when, where, how, and for how much.
Reduces financial wastefulness
Managing inventory helps businesses deal with perishable goods or products with limited shelf lives. This ensures that resources are utilized efficiently, leading to less waste and greater profitability. According to pundits, wasteful expenditure can reduce your company's revenue by 20 to 30 percent.
Inefficient practices and processes can cost your business multi-million dollars in lost revenue. You can recoup this revenue by implementing GS1 retail barcodes into inventory management systems.
This GS1 QR code for multi-location inventory management will help you identify inefficient systems, enabling you to overhaul those processes with actionable insights.
How to use GS1 QR code for multi-location inventory management
Regardless of which inventory management strategies you prefer, there is a way to adopt GS1 QR barcodes into those strategies with tremendous results. See below how the GS1 QR code generator can transform your existing systems.
Just-in-time inventory
Although SCM businesses typically aren't on the hook for dead stock, like retailers are, a just-in-time (JIT) strategy can help reduce the cost of warehouse space and help keep operations lean and more profitable.
Firstly, an inventory QR code could help logistics companies and those within the supply chain better forecast product needs and plan accordingly. It also means even logistics businesses can benefit from a JIT inventory strategy.
Economic order quantity
The economic order quantity (EOQ) formula helps your organization minimize costs by calculating production costs and demand rates, ensuring you keep ideal inventory levels. The inventory management QR code gives access to data that help ascertain demand and other variables.
By accessing GS1 barcode data through the inventory management QR code, you can determine when to reorder products or anticipate when retailers will reorder products. This will help better manage services and track changes over time.
LIFO/FIFO inventory with GS1 QR code
Whether your business implements the last-in-first-out (LIFO) or the first-in-first-out (FIFO) inventory management model, you can still benefit from the GS1 QR code for multi-location inventory management.
You can use the GS1 data to track whether your strategy is working, what products require more frequent shipping, and how to configure your warehouse space, transit routes, and labor to maximize resources.
Demand forecasting
Accurately forecasting demand is a skill most businesses have yet to perfect. GS1 data changes that by giving quantifiable data with which your business can analyze extensive historical data to establish trends and better predict the future.
3 Steps to optimize processes with GS1 QR code for inventory management
Many businesses are reluctant to switch to a GS1 QR code for multi-location inventory management. These businesses often cannot identify any tangible benefits that justify overhauling systems. However, switching to a GS1 QR code for logistics and supply chain does not require an overhaul.
Instead, the barcodes are easy to implement and will slot into your existing processes. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to implement these GS1 QR code for multi-location inventory management in your inventory business:
Step 1: Analyze product data
To maximize your digital link QR code, you need to prioritize data analysis. Your organization needs sufficient expertise to examine the data and draw actionable insights. When analyzing the GS1 data, focus on the shipment frequency.
Assessing shipment frequency will help you determine when to schedule shipments to reduce transportation costs without negatively impacting your -- or your partners' -- businesses.
- Quantity of shipments: The shipment quantities will help you organize the logistics shipments
- Analyze your shipping: Analyze how often you're shipping products to gain insights into your retail partners' inventory management.
- Retail delivery frequency: Assess when you're making deliveries to retailers or retail warehouses to improve scheduling. Doing this can help you reduce wasteful trips.
Step 2: use the data to create an inventory strategy
The data from Step 1 will help you assemble your inventory strategy. Using this data, you should:
- Know what items to prioritize: Determine which products you should prioritize by assessing the frequency of retail deliveries and the frequency of the type of products you're shipping.
- Schedule shipments: Using the data you gathered in Step 1, you'll accurately ascertain the frequency of shipments based on the frequency of stockouts and low stock. You can use your data to predict months in advance when you should increase or decrease shipments.
- Plan high-season and low-season deliveries: Know when to ramp up your logistics efforts, warehouse space, and labor needs. You can use your GS1 data to plan your routes and logistics months ahead of schedule.
Step 3: Reduce costs with GS1 QR code
Data has the power to help you reduce your expenses, as you can identify where and when your wasteful expenditures are occurring. Then, using that data, you can minimize costs and streamline processes.
Ideally, you want to start by determining where your company wastes resources. Combining GS1 data with other key performance indicators can reveal where you're wasting your resources, including space, labor, and fuel.
Note: Because your GS1 2D barcode can gather data about where individual components of the products you're shipping originate, you can use that data to plan routes and reduce thousands in wasted fuel.
Manage inventory using the QR TIGER GS1 QR code generator
Besides ensuring you're compliant with global standards and the world's leading brands, GS1 QR code for multi-location inventory management means you can access data in one place, making it easy to track and analyze.
Accessing standardized data also means that you can track your company's performance across multiple locations. Even if you have operations on several continents or regions, using GS1 data means you can optimize your processes and processes.
Essentially, the GS1 QR code for inventory management ensures all your branches overcome inventory management hurdles. To create your digital link, use the QR TIGER GS1 QR code generator. Manage your inventory business with just a single scan with this digital link generator.