Maintain Accurate Warehouse Location Data

Your warehouse management system says the part is in Bin A-127. You walk to A-127 and it's not there. Someone moved it two months ago and never updated the system. Now you're walking the aisles looking for it while a customer order waits. This scenario plays out multiple times per day in warehouses everywhere, destroying productivity and frustrating workers.

The problem gets worse during reorganizations. You need to move 200 items from one area to another. That means 200 individual updates in your system - each requiring you to look up the item, find the location field, change it, save, and repeat. The process takes hours. People skip steps. Locations become inaccurate. Three months later, nobody trusts the location data anymore.

Physical inventory counts reveal the extent of the problem. Items are everywhere except where the system says they should be. You find $50,000 worth of parts that were 'missing' - they were just in the wrong location and nobody could find them. You discover you've been purchasing parts you already own because the location data was so unreliable that people assumed you were out of stock.

The impact on operations is massive. Pick times double because workers don't trust the system and check multiple locations. New employees can't find anything without asking veterans who've memorized where things actually are (versus where the computer says they are). Customer shipments are delayed. Rush shipping costs increase because you can't find parts in time for regular shipping. Everyone knows the location data is wrong, but keeping it updated seems impossible.

DataScan makes location updates so fast and easy that people actually do them. Moving one item to a new bin? Scan the new bin barcode, then the item barcode. Done in 3 seconds. The app records the item, the new location, GPS coordinates, and timestamp. Export to Excel and update your WMS in seconds.

The real power shows during reorganization projects. You're moving 200 items from Aisle A to Aisle D? Use DataScan's One-to-Many Scan mode: scan the new location barcode once, then scan all 200 item barcodes (takes about 90 seconds). The app instantly associates all 200 items with their new location. Export the data showing Item-Old_Location-New_Location and update your WMS. What used to take 3 hours now takes 5 minutes.

The system creates a perfect audit trail. Every location change is recorded with who, what, when, where, and GPS coordinates proving it. If something goes wrong, you can trace exactly when an item was moved and who moved it. This accountability naturally improves accuracy because people know their moves are being recorded.

DataScan works offline, so you're not dependent on warehouse Wi-Fi. Walk through the warehouse scanning hundreds of items and their locations. The data captures locally on your iPhone. When you're back at your desk, export everything to Excel and update your WMS in one batch. No special equipment required - just your iPhone and barcode labels on bins and items.

MidWest Distribution operates a 45,000 square foot warehouse in Indianapolis stocking automotive aftermarket parts. They have about 8,000 SKUs across 1,200 bin locations. Their WMS theoretically tracked bin locations, but the data was only about 60% accurate. Workers wasted massive amounts of time searching for parts that weren't where the system said they'd be.

Before DataScan, location updates were so painful that people simply didn't do them unless absolutely forced. Updating one location required: logging into the WMS, searching for the item, navigating through several screens, finding the location field, changing it, and saving. For a single item that took 90 seconds. During reorganizations involving hundreds of items, the location update process could take longer than the physical moving.

MidWest labeled all their bin locations with large barcode labels (cost: $60). Items already had manufacturer barcodes. They started using DataScan for all inventory moves. When a picker found an item in the wrong location, they'd scan it and scan the bin where they found it. When receiving put stock away, they'd scan items and their destination bins. During a major aisle reorganization, they moved 400 items in one morning and updated all locations in under 10 minutes using DataScan's One-to-Many Scan mode.

The location data accuracy went from 60% to 98%+ within two months. Workers actually trust the system now. Pick times decreased by 35% because pickers go directly to the correct location instead of checking multiple spots. New seasonal employees can find parts on their first day because the location data is reliable. 'Where is it?' searches that used to happen 15-20 times per day now happen once or twice per week.

During their most recent physical inventory, location accuracy was confirmed at 98.7%. They found only 6 items out of 8,000 that were in completely wrong locations (and those were likely mis-picks that got caught). The inventory count process itself was faster because counters found items where they were supposed to be. Customer shipment delays due to 'couldn't find the part' have essentially disappeared. The WMS data is finally trustworthy.