The Full Guide to Warehouse Management Automation with a CRM

The benefits of automating your warehouse workflows

Here is a breakdown of the perks provided by automated warehouses.

Higher productivity

Warehouse automation solutions allow you to get more done in less time, while also minimising room for errors. This results in higher productivity in areas where such technologies are applied.

More efficient workflows

Incorporating warehouse automation technology allows you to create innovative processes to complete tasks. Employees can devise new ways to get things done and focus on complex tasks by leveraging features like automated reporting.

Increased worker satisfaction

Automating worker collaboration, e.g. through advanced communication channels, reduces the strain on your employees. An amiable working environment results in better worker satisfaction. This benefits the business as happy workers are known to be more productive.

Reduced workplace accidents

Warehouse workers experience a higher level of injuries than other departments. Relying on warehouse management systems to reduce activity in dangerous areas helps minimise the number of incidents. For example, relying on automated reports to verify inventory levels in vertical storage spaces.

Improved accuracy

When performing repetitive and boring tasks, it’s easy to make mistakes. However, leveraging technology solutions that can accurately keep track of inventory and identify mistakes made makes the job easier. If you rely on technology for accountability, you will likely have fewer incidents where inventory is stored in the wrong section.

Fewer shipping mistakes

There is a lot of pressure during warehouse picking. Workers must pick the right products for an order in the right amounts and ensure the task is completed quickly. Amid all this activity, the wrong order might be packed and shipped. Relying on technology to match the products to the order can significantly reduce the probability of this happening.

Lower costs

Running a warehouse can be expensive. It’s a large space, and you need lots of people to ensure everything is where it should be and can be found when needed. With warehouse automation, the number of people needed to maintain order is reduced significantly. You also reduce the expensive mistakes you are prone to making in addition to labour-related risks.

Space optimisation

With software helping you optimise processes, you can also better manage your storage space. You can rely on order/procurement forecasting to plan inventory storage, optimising the available space.

Picking the right CRM for warehouse workflow automation

Strategic investment in the right solutions is necessary for a business to enjoy the full benefits of employing a warehouse management system. To do this, you must go through three stages: planning, design, and implementation.

As you devise the criteria for evaluating automation solutions, it is important to prioritise opportunities and use cases relevant to your own business. Most businesses that handle inventory work use omnichannel networks. Business leaders need to understand which systems will improve efficiency and reliability and reduce risk across their network.

A good CRM for the warehouse should enable you to:

Monitor material handling

Your warehouse staff can rapidly take over inventory received by the business if the workflows are already in place. They can easily check the items received against invoices from procurement. The same can be done for orders leaving the warehouse. Within the building, the CRM’s capabilities help you prevent issues such as misplacement, redundancy and obsolescence of stock.

Audit inventory

The continuous monitoring of inventory levels allows the warehouse staff to do stock-taking without halting normal operations. Your CRM enables you to accurately check inventory received, sent out and that which is in storage.

Direct storage and picking of materials

Efficient and effective storage and order picking enhance warehouse operations. Your CRM can help you keep track of which goods are in stock and the conditions necessary for preserving their quality. Order picking, which also makes up the bulk of warehouse operations, can be done productively with a CRM to help minimise cycle and lead times and increase accuracy. You can assign jobs, monitor progress and evaluate the outcomes from the CRM dashboard.

Access warehouse analytics

Reporting is one of the most important uses of CRM solutions. Decision-making relies on warehouse analytics and metrics, from procurement to optimising storage conditions. Your CRM should allow you to generate accurate reports that give you an overview of your operations, trends and efficiencies.

Automated warehouse system design and implementation

You will need to pick out solutions that address your needs. This differs according to the approach to automated warehouse systems and the business use case you decide on. In your design process, you will need to consider:

• Areas you are looking to achieve cost savings
• Processes you can augment to save time
• Existing physical automation can be optimised with automated workflows.

When automating an integrated omnichannel warehouse, a hybrid selection of solutions is the best approach. All inventory goes through similar processes, for example, a common stock pool where items have the same picking locations. You must enable convergence in upstream warehouse processes such as inbound and storage. But also offer support for picking processes to meet the needs of individual order profiles and channels.

The automation systems must support each channel’s specific flows, handling requirements, and order profiles. The future warehouse is automated and allows you to use economies of scale. For example, CRM reports can help you determine which items are in storage, allowing you to change aisle width and optimise the available space.

It’s impossible to carry out the design process on your own. To make informed decisions, you must engage automated warehouse management system suppliers. This will help you ensure your design will work. That means ensuring you get the right warehouse analytics and a strategic network. Sharing this burden with a consultant will make things easier and ensure you have an optimised design.

In addition, since there are so many elements to the warehouse automation system, you will probably have to rely on a multi-partner strategy. You must integrate various warehouse automation project components into a single, efficient system. An experienced automation consultant will recommend the best software and automation setup options for your unique case.

Remember, the scale of your business will also impact your choices. For example, what warehouse picking automation solution will be best? By taking this comprehensive approach, you are sure to end with optimal automation.

How much does it cost to automate a warehouse?

The cost of warehouse automation is different according to your chosen method. The traditional approach has been to engage a provider to fit your warehouse with their solutions to improve your internal processes. You can turn to a turnkey provider who will help you build a portfolio of automation solutions from the product offerings that you will need.

Alternatively, you can leverage several solutions from different providers. Building a portfolio of best-fit products through an automation consultant will help you use integrations for cost savings.

Such a multi-partner strategy allows you to leverage the latest technologies available. Consider the incoming wave of robotics as a service (RaaS) and fulfilment as a service (FaaS). These are approaches to warehouse automation that require minimal investment. It becomes easier to try out different solutions before committing to one that suits your needs.

But before picking AMR brands, you must commit to a workflow automation solution. This software allows you to automate repetitive tasks like basic communication about picking waves or schedules. Your warehouse design and choice of automation machinery are influenced by which jobs you can automate in the workflow.

How Automaly’s Workflow Automation Consultants Can Help

A CRM workflow automation consultancy like Automaly already has a hand on the pulse. As a Pipedrive Premier Partner, we have ample experience designing and implementing automated workflows for different use cases. Our team of experts will guide your workflow automation journey with one of the top CRM solutions today.

Automaly can help you design an automated warehouse workflow for optimal productivity and storage use. Let us know what you are looking for. Are you a growing business that needs to build a warehouse with future-proof automation solutions? Or maybe you are looking to fit your existing warehouse with scalable solutions for managing your inventory. We can help you achieve your desired automated warehouse.

Get started with your automated warehouse

Warehouse management automation aims to improve productivity and reduce labour-related risk. It simplifies warehouse processes and improves accuracy in many tasks where manual execution is prone to expensive errors. Getting started with automated storage systems in warehouses isn’t hard at all. You just need to plan ahead of implementation. Make considerations based on what type of warehouse you want automated, what type of products you handle, and how many channels your business serves.

With the right warehouse consultant in your ear, you can be on the road to optimised warehouse management automation. So why not start now? Contact Automaly today for modern automated warehousing management.