Inventory Management through handheld devices

Managing retail inventory often requires long hours and can result in costly errors. A handheld solution for inventory management can better utilize retail workforce time by giving them a tool to check stock inventory in real-time.  Retail associates can use handheld devices to immediately check stocked merchandise and provide customers the most current inventory and price information.

As an integrated module as of the iVend POS 6.2, a handheld device for inventory management replaces manual searches for merchandise with a real-time retail solution that improves both customer experience and business intelligence by:

Other major benefits observed using a handheld device include:

Improve Inventory Accuracy

Reduce data entry errors with barcode scanning rather than manual data entry and improve data accuracy and reduce data entry time. Handheld devices increase productivity through reduced data entry and streamline employee utilization. Further, they enable process automation, which increases throughput and decreases material cycle times.

Improve Transaction Accuracy

Inventory accuracy improves two-fold through the reduction of data entry errors, as well as the capability to identify inventory inaccuracies faster. Inventory accuracy techniques such as cycle counting are more efficient when performed with real -time barcode scanning capabilities.

The benefits of improved inventory accuracy include having the right material on hand when needed, optimizing replenishment and fulfillment plans, and decreasing the carrying costs of excess materials.

Reduce Latency Using Handheld Devices

Handheld devices enable users to enter transactions and perform inventory requests pertaining to goods and stocks in real-time at the point of use. Transaction validation takes place online, identifying valid data immediately. Real-time inventory information improves the quality of supply chain collaboration, enables accurate requests for replenishment orders, and optimizes warehouse and supply site scheduling activities and resources.

Enhance Productivity

In combination with barcode scanning, data entry using applications on handheld devices enable a more efficient use of man-hours, improved time-motion activities, and an ability to perform validation and corrections online and in real time. Users also have access to more information, such as inventory availability, process receipts, and issues without having to change stations or work locations. Users may complete inventory transactions from anywhere inside or outside the facility. Handheld devices may be assigned to users, significantly reducing dependencies on adequate space and allowing users to access the system wherever they are.

Deploy Diverse Hardware

iVend handheld Module runs on any handheld device that can run a standard WinMobile 6.5 client. The architecture also supports most standard barcode encoding formats.