Warehouse Management

Directions is a completely integrated inventory system. It uses real-time inventory allocation during order entry and displays the availability to the order taker. Picking and shipping documents are printed for only those items which are available to ship. It automatically back orders those items out of stock and ships them when inventory is replenished. Orders can be defaulted to "ship complete" or to "ship what is available." Individual order status can also be overridden.

Directions Fulfillment system supports multiple companies and multiple warehouses. Any number of locations is supported within each warehouse.

An item can have a primary picking location and several bulk stocking locations. Inventory quantities are maintained in each location with daily/batch restocking reports to insure that primary picking locations have sufficient quantities.

One of the keys to accurate inventory is easy and accurate movement tracking. Directions supports wireless handheld devices that guide restocking. Warehouse users are sent a list of items that need to be moved to picking locations. They scan the item or location barcode or click on the displayed item to indicate that it has been moved. If the item is not found in the location, the user can correct the inventory locations and quantity real-time. Cycle counting uses the same devices to count sections of the warehouse each morning before fulfillment begins. Warehouse operations are another area where Directions can have an immediate impact on your direct marketing business. Picking ticket sequences can be tailored to meet many special situations. For example, if your operation has a number of bulky prepackaged items that are always shipped separately; Directions produces single line picking tickets/labels for these items in pallet size batches. This facilitates shipping by labeling a pallet at a time. Shipment verification for manifesting is done by the pallet control number and not individual shipment number.

In picking and packing operations, it is common that most of your orders contain only twenty to thirty percent of your items. Your warehouse can be organized with high volume "packing rings" to fill them. Picking tickets can be produced to accommodate this.

For gift food marketers Directions allows a requested shipping date to be entered for each line of an order. The system works backward from that date, using the shipping zone file, to determine the date that the product should be shipped. Future shipment reports give the schedule of shipments to be made in the future. Before the peak shipment time arrives, Directions can generate picking tickets for future dates. These orders are then assembled, labeled, and stored in designated areas in the warehouse. When the actual ship date arrives, it is simply a matter of loading the truck with the predated packages.

For pick and pack operations shipments are separated into several groups. Single line shipments for pre-weighed items are grouped and shipping labels can be printed with messages indicating the items to be shipped. These labels can be put directly on the shipping cartons and the ''singles'' can be verified by batch.

Multi-item shipments can be further grouped into ''high volume'' only shipments. You can flag the most ordered items as ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' items and picking tickets will be grouped accordingly.

The shipping manifest streamlines the time consuming process of weighing and taping each package. For this, separate ship items have shipping weights in the item database which are used to calculate actual shipping charges. When several items are packed together with shipping materials, the shipping weight will not be available until after the package has been sealed. A scale and a bar code scanner are then used to weigh and scan the package for final verification.

Directions uses web services from UPS, Federal Express and USPS to calculate, quote, and optionally invoice shipping charges based on your item weights and cubes.

Functions

Scheduled Pick Ticket/Invoice Printing -- per order, every 15 minutes, or multiple times a day
Print on demand -- select by carrier, scheduled ship date, single/multi line
Customized pick ticket sequences
Warehouse location analysis
Multiple warehouse locations per item
Receive inventory real-time with hand-held scanners
Cycle count with scanners
Serial number and lot number capture at receipt or pick
Integration with carousel picking system
Scan items or picking ticket to box (Checking Station)
UPS
FED EX
USPS
Kit assembly -- Inventory Production Transactions
Kit assembly -- explode components on Pick Ticket
Pallet/LTL shipping
Personalization -- route item with work order
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