Versatility: It’s what your Sustainability Effort is missing

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For quite some time, sustainability has been a goal in countless businesses, yet rising demands and new technologies often pose recurrent challenges in developing eco-friendly operations. More often than not, businesses channel most of their efforts in minimizing fuel waste in transportation and logistics services. However, researchers at the World Green Business Council actually cite warehouses and buildings as the prime energy consumers in the supply chain, releasing as much as 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide global emissions. While the effects of wasteful energy clearly impact the planet, they also affect your workforce and brand.

Warehouse Sustainability Improvements

69% of surveyed respondents prefer environmentally-conscious brands over their competitors

Studies conducted by the National Retail Federation and IBM found that 69% of surveyed respondents prefer environmentally-conscious brands over their competitors, suggesting sustainability has the capability of swaying customer loyalty. Not only does it affect customer experience, but sustainability efforts can also drive down costs as eco-friendly buildings are shows to spend a quarter less energy and 11% less water. While there are several small sustainability efforts to deploy in the warehouse, device versatility stands as one of the key ways to reduce energy consumption and eliminate e-waste.

The power of many streamlined into the flexibility of one

Streamline Warehouse Flexibility

Zebra’s portfolio of mobile computers and rugged tablets can streamline your warehouse

Higher demands put more pressure on your devices, wearing them down faster. Moreover, as more orders come in, workers may be required to perform several tasks (such as picking, printing, scanning, and put-away), sometimes all at once. Consequently, to lower energy consumption and extend device longevity without purchasing more handhelds, Avalon recommends streamlining crucial functions into one durable mobile device. For example, Zebra’s portfolio of mobile computers and rugged tablets channel the power of versatility by:

  • Eliminating paper-based data entry by connecting captured barcodes to your WMS
  • Securing continuous OS updates to keep devices running and secure for at least 5 years to 10 years
  • Equipping mobile devices with long-lasting batteries and battery management tools to monitor battery life
  • Integrating push-to-talk capabilities to erase the need for a secondary communication device

Furthermore, in our commitment to affordable sustainability, we have partnered with Zebra Technologies in driving down upgrade costs with the GO Zebra Trade-In Program.  Upgrade your mobile devices before December 31st, 2020 to switch your legacy devices for up to $650 in cash rebates per device towards your next purchase.

To see how you can streamline efficiency with a modernized versatile device, contact our automation specialists today for a free assessment of your operational needs.

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Identifying the Key Component in your Inventory Management System

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Given the constant waves of changes gripping supply chains across the nation, Avalon Integration has continuously researched and studied inventory management optimization to help clients best prepare for changes. A lot goes into creating a dependable system, yet without it, businesses run the risk of:

  • Out-of-stock fees
  • Overworked employees
  • Higher production fees
  • Increased carrying costs and travel times
  • Negative brand identity 
  • Missed sales

Consequently, we called the experts to help pinpoint some of the crucial components to consider when developing a modernized inventory management system.

What to expect from a modernized inventory management system:

As previously stated, because every business is unique, there is no one-size-fits-all inventory management solution available. However, it’s safe to assume that your system must aim at maximizing visibility, agility, and accuracy to remain competitive in today’s now-economy. While it’s impossible to categorize one component as the most important factor in your inventory management system, we can help you identify your system’s goals to better specify your system’s needs. Below are a few goals modernized inventory management systems should strive to achieve:

Modernized Inventory Management Systems

Goals your modernized inventory management systems should strive to achieve

  1. Expanding the availability of actionable insight – One of the top benefits of a modernized inventory management system is the actionable insight it can provide regarding purchase patterns and areas of optimization. Actionable insight can help you reduce costs, provide customer-centered service, and mitigate product loss/theft. Avalon can help expand insight availability with Zebra’s mobile computers, built to secure maximum connectivity, so your workforce can stay up to date on any supply chain changes when and where they occur.
  2. Optimizing storage for lower costs – If left unchecked, deadstock can begin to drain your budget in increased carrying costs and depreciated values. When seeking to lower storage costs, Avalon recommends boosting end-to-end visibility with real-time locationing services such as Zebra MotionWorks. Adaptable to change, real-time visibility allows you to monitor moving inventory, giving you an overview of hidden opportunities in the warehouse, in the yard, and anywhere else you need it.
  3. Accelerating order fulfillment without promoting inaccuracies – Late and inaccurate orders affect customer loyalty. With average order fulfillment times getting shorter, it’s no surprise more warehouses have made speed their goal. To reduce data entry time and shorten travel paths, RFID-powered solutions and tracking can save time by capturing multiple codes without a line of sight. By implementing readers at the loading dock, you can accelerate order verification before shipment, eliminating wasted time and labor.
  4. Facilitating customer tracking and order changes – According to Zebra’s 2020 Shopper Study, over 80% of retailers either provide or plan to provide mobile ordering by 2021. Because customers expect to be able to track their online orders, the visibility that connects to your customers becomes a vital necessity. To preserve identification, we recommend investing in durable labels and accurate scanners that work both in the warehouse and on the field. Zebra’s Certified Consumables still stand as your best option in protecting inventory identification due to their strong adhesives and surface coating.
  5. Maximizing worker performance without increasing training times – As more orders come in, your workforce must find a way to continue meeting deadlines while increasing pick rates. High labor turnover rates make this difficult as companies can spend as much as $7,000 in merely training expenses alone. If your goal is to simplify onboarding while increasing performance, simplicity becomes your crucial component since user-friendly systems can diminish the likelihood of human errors. Equipping your workforce with easy-to-learn technologies such as Android’s familiar OS can help lower training times by as much as 90% to make sure employees can access and navigate inventory management systems as early as possible.

Didn’t see your goal listed? Contact our specialists for a free evaluation of your enterprise objectives and see how you can tailor your inventory management system to meet goals and exceed expectations.

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3 Zebra Products Designed for Augmented Visibility

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It’s not news to anyone at this point that visibility has become an indispensable necessity in today’s complicated supply chains. Although new demands and changing guidelines seem to affect every industry across the globe, not every visibility solution is fit to address your needs. Moreover, as demands grow, businesses are faced with multiple factors to track, from delivery times to storage status, to worker safety. Therefore, to better serve our wide variety of customers, Avalon Integration has taken the time to unfold the unique benefits and features of three of Zebra’s most popular tracking solutions, crafted for dependable visibility in today’s unprecedented changes.

Start small with durable identification

Durable Identification with Zebra Labels

Zebra Certified Consumables as a cost-effective and simple way to ensure accurate identification

When increasing operational visibility, we’ve found that even the smallest changes can yield big results. With that in mind, we turn to your labeling and identification system. Recent surveys have found that over half of “lost orders” are misplaced due to faulty labels that carry vital delivery and storage information. To prevent your stock’s information from getting lost (and eventually jeopardizing your product), we recommend evaluating the following label criteria:

  • Adhesive strength
  • Surface coating
  • Resistance to temperatures, moisture, dust exposure
  • Reel orientation and perforations

Not only can cheap labels harm your printer, but they can peel off or fade away over time, resulting in misplaced and inaccurate orders that hinder the customer experience. To amplify labeling efficiency, Avalon has continuously recommended Zebra Certified Consumables as a cost-effective and simple way to ensure accurate identification no matter the size of your operations. 

Take it up a notch with intelligent applications

RFID Solutions with Intelligent Applications

While RFID solutions serve as a modernized option to track assets and inventory simultaneously

As your business grows, so does the need for flawless technology, which is why when even one device goes missing, your whole team may suffer. As a matter of fact, 80% of costs attributed to lost devices come from data breaches, meaning that one lost tablet could very well impact your whole operation depending on what sort of data it holds.

While RFID solutions serve as a modernized option to track assets and inventory simultaneously, there are other cost-effective tools you can use to track your devices. For example, all of Zebra’s Android-powered mobile computers provide you with access to Mobility DNA applications that expand insight into your devices’ performance.

  • Device Tracker – Ensure continuous uptime with an application that helps you locate your misplaced device anywhere in the workplace.
  • PowerPrecision – Manage battery lifecycles across your entire digital fleet and pinpoint when a mobile device is underperforming to prevent surprise downtime.
  • LifeGuard – Extend security measures with recurrent 90-day patches that keep your devices updated automatically and silently. 
  • Device Diagnostics – Test major systems and deploy simple diagnostics to keep devices running and available without overburdening your IT department.

Expand visibility across the supply chain with RFID-powered MotionWorks

RFID Powered MotionWorks Warehouse

Zebra MotionWorks provide the greatest ease of use, flexibility, and versatility

Last, but certainly not least, when tracking multiple assets, products, and workers throughout the supply chain, visibility solutions like Zebra MotionWorks provide the greatest ease of use, flexibility, and versatility. Customize and grow your system to incorporate new goals by tracking:

  • Crucial assets – Manage all your deployed tools to verify location, condition, performance, and need all in real-time.
  • Material flow – Track and automate the flow of material while updating your WMS and ERP systems with actionable data that can be used to adjust to changes in demand.
  • Yard systems – Increase gate transaction speed to make sure inventory is transported to the correct dock in a timely fashion.

Bring the dependability of accurate tracking to where it matters most with the new MotionWorks Proximity for seamless worker safety, deployed directly on your Zebra mobile device. Reduce touchpoints to prevent germ spread and count on a user-friendly interface that accelerates safe and efficient contact tracing. 

In response to the health-crisis,  Zebra and Avalon have leveraged MotionWorks for efficient Worker Safety. Tune in to our newest podcast to learn more:

Of course, the above three suggestions fail to encompass the multitude of ways you can efficiently grow operational visibility without increasing costs. To learn how you can integrate a modernized visibility solution in your business, contact our automation specialists for a comprehensive assessment of your workflows.

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How to Handle Increasing SKU Proliferation

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Compared to ten years ago, today’s warehouse operations are starkly different. Not only did 5,000 new warehouses appear in a span of 5 years, but e-commerce sales have skyrocketed over 300% way before the global health crisis. Thanks to globalization and the internet, the high demand for specific products and fast order fulfillment has revolutionized operations, leading to one of the biggest business trends helping and hindering operations: SKU proliferation. 

As companies adapt to cater to customer preferences, they create new product varieties, giving way to new SKU numbers to identify different types of the same kind of product. This is a natural progression for any growing business, yet without crucial visibility, SKU proliferation can lead to:

  • Increased carrying costs as you’ll need more shelf space and labor to accommodate more products
  • Increased manufacturing/production costs for slow-moving inventory
  • Added order cycle times since workers take more time to compile orders
  • Missed predictive analytics since collected data does not apply to larger segments of your operations

However, when done correctly, SKU proliferation sharpens your competitive advantage by allowing your business to fulfill a customer’s immediate and secondary needs. Therefore, Avalon Integration outlines three ways your distribution plan can leverage intelligent visibility solutions to best manage varying SKUs.

Bringing Insight to Where it’s Needed Most

When modernizing inventory management, Avalon suggests the following areas to start:

Analyze purchase patterns in conjunction with customer interactions

Zebra L10 Tablet to Analyze Purchase Patterns

Zebra’s L10 tablets provide ample screen space, processing power, and integrated scanning capabilities

Obviously, one of the most common causes of SKU proliferation is customer demand. For example, a shoe company selling back shoes may notice the sudden popularity of red shoes and decide to sell them as well. While this may be competitively smart, one must not forget to continue monitoring current stock performance. In our shoe example, that would mean managers would still need to accurately track the number of black shoes in stock, how often they sell, and where they’re located in addition to trends in demand.

To properly analyze stock performance without increasing cycle count times, Avalon recommends streamlining data capture and mobile computing to eliminate data entry. Mobile devices such as Zebra’s L10 tablets provide ample screen space, processing power, and integrated scanning capabilities to empower workers to manage data on the go, creating an undisrupted inventory management system.

Connect workers to real-time stock updates

MC3390R RFID Real-Time Stock Updates

Integrate real-time visibility with RFID tracking solutions

Customer preferences can change within a day, sometimes in a matter of minutes. Moreover, research shows that customers are more likely to abandon carts if they’re unable to fulfill 100% of their needs in one place. That means every decision your workforce takes matters.  To avoid wasting labor efforts, integrate real-time visibility with RFID tracking solutions, such as Zebra MotionWorks, to manage multiple inventory identifiers all once. Inventory counts and location can then be shared with your workforce via their mobile device to accelerate picking by guiding them to the correct location faster.

Protect communication channels across the whole supply chain

Zebra TC77 Touch Computer Communication

Zebra’s TC77 touch-computer for high-speed and long-range connectivity

Disruptive communication channels such as Blockchain Technology are already redefining the way supply chains communicate by allowing enterprises to monitor inventory before it reaches the receiving dock. That means connectivity has now become a driving factor in enhancing competitiveness since it also allows customers to track their orders, a benefit sought by 97% of online shoppers. While there are many ways to establish communication channels between teams, Avalon continues to prioritize streamlined productivity and flexibility by recommending Zebra’s TC77 touch-computer for high-speed and long-range connectivity that keeps field teams and warehouses connected while also providing mobile computing and data capture capabilities.

As a Zebra Premier Solutions’ Partner, Avalon Integration makes sure to connect you with durable enterprise-ready solutions. Contact us today to discover new ways you can get a better handle on SKU proliferation with solutions tailored to your workflow.

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