Although mostly everyone knows paper-based systems are unfit for today’s demands, at least half of modern supply chains still rely on manual data entry in some shape or form, leaving room for costly errors in their operations. Even error rates as small as 1% can harm profitability and over time, damage customer loyalty. In our commitment to sustainable efficiency, CMAC has dived into the real effects of paper-based data storage to understand the exclusive benefits of future-first digitization strategies.
What Paper-Based Systems Can’t Do:
- Compliance standards may be missed – Needless to say, paper-based systems can’t be updated in real-time, which means when compliance standards change -as they often do- updates may take time to be reported and diffused across your supply chain. This may result in failed audits, missed compliance requirements, and fees.
- Traceability is compromised – When it comes to customer loyalty, traceability can make or break the customer experience. For example, as much as 80% of consumers are not confident about businesses’ traceability efforts regarding food safety. This is easily reflected by the numerous recalls released this year alone by the FDA. Paper-based data entry can’t be shared quickly down the supply chain without being transcribed digitally first, a process that takes time and more labor expenses, putting your customers at risk.
- Workforce connectivity is erased – The digital age has allowed businesses to harness the power of collaboration across an entire supply chain from production to warehousing to transportation to retail. Without digitization, you run the risk of siloing teams, ultimately losing supply chain visibility. Consequently, you can also lose access to predictive analytics and actionable insights that prepare you for future changes in demand.
- Wasted storage space and slow retrieval – Because documents must be stored somewhere accessible by your administration team, they end up taking up a lot of space over time. Furthermore, in the event of audits and updates, your workforce must allocate more time to retrieve data, taking time away from other more important tasks.
- No Real-Time Data – Management must wait on the paper-based data to be entered into the system before it becomes visible to management. Two factors that cause issues are the time delay involved to enter the data as well as the potential for error with manual data entry. For example, discovering a shipping error after the shipment has left the facility is inefficient and costly.
To eliminate the drastic effects of manual data entry, CMAC has partnered with Zebra Technologies and Synactive to streamline data processing and sharing through mobile solutions designed for enterprise. By combining mobile computing, data capture, and reporting through one platform, you can:
- Increase order accuracy – Data capture technologies such as intelligent PRZM imaging help maximize scanning accuracy while cutting down order processing time. Furthermore, applications such as Zebra’s Simulscan combine accuracy and speed by collecting data from multiple barcodes at once and saving them onto your system without manual entry.
- Share data and supply chain updates across the workforce – According to the 2019 Zebra Vision Study, over half of surveyed warehouses plan to automate operations with mobile computers and handhelds. When paired with efficient data capture, intelligent computing allows you to update your WMS and inventory management system on the go, equipping teams with crucial insight into current operations and predicted changes throughout the supply chain.
- Mobilize SAP interface with Liquid UI – Your SAP interface is crucial to your operations. To ensure maximum visibility across your workflows, CMAC mobilizes SAP with Synactive’s Liquid UI, the mobile application that connects SAP directly to your device without any middleware. This allows you to immediately deploy mobile SAP data processing onto your device for faster sharing and updates connected to your WMS and ERP system. To learn more about how Liquid UI and Zebra amplify visibility, download our infographic.
No matter how trivial your paper-based system may seem, it holds the potential for optimization. To see which digitization strategy may work best, contact CMAC’s automation specialists for an in-depth evaluation of your workflow and start eradicating the dangers of manual data entry from your operations.