Workflow In Shipping
How Quality Control Can Help You Improve Workflows In Shipping
Quality control is an absolutely essential step in the shipping process that often gets overlooked, leading to shipping and fulfillment errors, increased occurrences of returns, financial loss, and general customer dissatisfaction.
The process of quality control includes different activities and techniques to assess the quality of products at different stages of the shipping process and determine that they are up to the required standard. If a certain product doesn’t meet those standards at any stage of the shipping process, it is either disposed of or sent back for corrections.
By introducing strong quality control processes in your shipping warehouse, you can ensure that the fulfillment process is smoother and that workflows are improved. Here are some ways to do this:
1. Establish Processes to Understand and Prevent Errors
First, you need to set up a few basic quality control processes that can help you understand how errors occur and which are the most common. This can then help you prevent these errors from occurring and improve workflows. For example, you can use cause and effect diagrams, check sheets, flowcharts, control charts, and other quality control tools. These tools are effective and easy to implement in day- to-day workings at warehouses.
2. Always Inspect Every Order
While inspecting every individual order can sound tedious, it is the only foolproof way to ensure that every order is up to quality standards and error free. Having a large quality control department in accordance with the volume of orders your warehouse handles can be a huge help in this. The quality control inspectors should also be well-trained in the different problems and errors that occur most commonly.
3. Make Use of Warehouse Technology
Investing in warehouse technology allows you to automate certain quality control processes, thereby saving you time, reducing human errors, and improving overall workflows. Mobile workstations are a technological advancement that all warehouses in 2023 should keep up with.
There are also other technologies like warehouse management systems (WMSs) and RFID tags that can reduce shipping errors and make the shipping process easier for warehouse workers. Mobile workstations, RFID tags, and WMSs can also be used in combination with voice technology like wireless headsets in order to make the quality control process entirely hands-free. Warehouse technology also makes it easy to track the different stages of product shipping, allowing for quality control at every stage.
With these 3 ways of introducing quality control processes in your warehouse, you can ensure improved shipping workflows and other benefits.
MIDCOM has been helping companies with warehouse solutions since 1982. Talk to one of our Specialists about thermal barcode label printers, mobile barcode scanning devices or mobile workstations today. Call now (800) 643-2664.