Planning for 2022: Why Your Organization Should Implement Well-Defined Processes, Including Warehouse Management
In this blog post, contributed to ArcherPoint by Brian Neufeld, Director of Marketing at Insight Works, we take a closer look at moving away from “tribal knowledge” within an organization to a system of processes. Having well-defined processes within an organization brings with it many benefits compared to relying on tribal knowledge of staff, as it pertains to getting things done; indeed, within the manufacturing and distribution sector around warehouse management, these benefits become even more pronounced, with Insight Works’ apps offering an ideal solution in a myriad of scenarios.
Understanding Tribal Knowledge
It may be a term you never heard of before, but it’s an important one to become familiar with. Tribal knowledge refers to the unwritten knowledge in your organization, or, to put it another way, any information about the company that is not documented and exists only in the minds of certain employees – think of it as being akin to the myths and legends passed down through the generations of your ancestors, spoken around the campfire and changing over the years. We will cover some of the problems associated with this in just a bit, but for now, know this: The phrase “tribal knowledge” is used most when referencing information that may need to be known by others to produce a quality product or service.
Management of an organization may not be aware of the many pockets of tribal knowledge, so they do not understand the risk to overall operations and profitability.
The Problem with Relying on Tribal Knowledge for Key Processes Like Warehouse Management
First and foremost, manufacturing and distribution companies that rely on the tribal knowledge of staff for improvements around warehouse management or any facet of operations are prone to limited growth, inefficiencies, errors, and quality issues. Here’s the challenge: Once your business starts to grow and people settle into “silos” based on their roles, disseminating important information about company policies and processes becomes much more difficult – especially if it’s not written down anywhere.
The bottom line is that when key information lives only in the heads of a few people, it creates a series of different problems, such as:
- Lost productivity, in that a manufacturer can be left in the lurch if the employee who possesses knowledge is sick or leaves the company
- Erroneous information, in that tribal knowledge is not spread amongst all employees and management and thus does not have to face the checks and balances that other processes would have to
- Hampered process analysis, in that, what the process pertains to is known only to the employee stored in their brain
The Solution: Putting Warehouse Management and Other Key Processes in Place
Growing your business sustainably is simply impossible without putting in place well-documented standard procedures/processes; depending on the approach, staff can be onboarded more quickly, better quality control and customer satisfaction can be achieved, and baseline operations can be refined to optimize efficiency.
This is where Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central can help, being that this cloud-based ERP software assists companies with eliminating manual tasks while enabling them to easily access up-to-the-minute performance metrics. In going one step further, you can optimize Business Central with add-ons from Insight Works to tailor it to your specific distribution and/or manufacturing business.
These add-ons include:
- Warehouse Insight – Improve warehouse accuracy and boost efficiency with mobile device and barcode integration. Learn more about Warehouse Insight.
- Dynamic Ship – Easily manage multiple carriers, real-time shipping rates, package management and shipment tracking. Learn more about Dynamic Ship.
- Shop Floor Insight – A comprehensive solution for barcoded time capture, time & attendance, and employee time management. Learn more about Shop Floor Insight.
- Advanced Inventory Count – Simplify inventory counts with comprehensive data entry, reconciliation, posting and analysis tools. Learn more about Advanced Inventory Count.
- MxAPS – Transforms production planning and scheduling from an inaccurate and time-consuming task into a responsive, repeatable and highly accurate decision support activity. Learn more about MxAPS.
The Bottom Line: Well-Defined Processes Will Position You for a Stronger 2022
Business Central, aided by premium apps from Insight Works, can open up all sorts of new doors as you move to a system of processes for your warehouse management and more. Contact ArcherPoint today to learn more.