Your worst warehouse nightmares are knockin’
No matter what method you use to manage inventory during peak season – be it a legacy warehouse management system (WMS), ERP system built in 2003, spreadsheets, abacus, or Ouija board – there’s one thing we can all agree on:
Anything can go wrong in the warehouse at any given moment.
Related: What is a warehouse management system
“I see dead inventory”
You don’t need a sixth sense to know that usually, that thing with 40 eyes rears its ugly head at the worst possible times:
- Incorrect or late shipments
- Misplaced pick lists and missing orders
- Staff walk-outs and no-shows
- A system outage on Black Friday
- Non-compliant retail labeling
- Stockouts, messy transfers, and dead inventory
You are not alone
As the old adage goes, the only thing to fear is fear itself. So we set out to visit some customer sites with a camera, Blairwitch-style. We knew they wouldn’t give us candy, but that was not our goal.
We asked these customers to imagine their worst warehouse management nightmares. “Witch” ones give them the heebie-jeebies? And how does Deposco WMS protect their margins and keep them growing? Then we thought, why not create a little Halloween fun?
“It’s alive! It’s alive!”
Each week through November 2022, we will release a new batch of videos to round out the creepiest collection of warehouse management scenarios ever.
So c’mon, my pretty! The first two batches of our 13 Worst Warehouse Management Nightmares are now live.
Ready to watch? Or are you CHICKEN?!
Video countdown: 13 Worst Warehouse Management Nightmares
Why we’re doing these videos
“We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones.”
—Stephen King
Why are we doing this video series? TBH, it was just fun. But there’s another reason we wanted these stories out there…
Peak season is upon us, lurking in the dark shadows. Peak season 2022 trends show this year will bring even more inventory voodoo than what we saw in 2021. According to a new report with Supply Chain Dive – Peak Season 2022 is Here — What Can We Expect,
- Nearly 60% of supply chain executives surveyed expect this year to be more challenging than 2021, which was a peak season like no other.
- The once predictable patterns of peak season are disappearing into thin air – with nearly half of supply chain executives saying that non-stop volume is now an everyday phenomenon
Once again, supply chain executives aren’t super confident in their systems to handle these unknowns. And once again, we act surprised. With the availability of advanced cloud WMS technology, why is warehouse management still an unsolved mystery???
I mean, every single one of us has screamed at Laurie Strode (aka, Jamie Lee Curtis) for coming home through that rickety, old, cobweb-infested door and leaving it unlocked. You KNOW he’s coming.“No! Are you crazy?! Lock the door and board it up!” It sends shivers down our spines.
So why – in this era of insidious labor problems, torturous delays, blood-sucking costs, and other supply chain jump-scares – are so many businesses not doing more to protect their warehouse management operations from risk year after year?
Here’s what really creeps us out
In the peak season report findings,
- 79% of respondents agree that investing in a modern warehouse management system (WMS) or order management system (OMS) will prepare their operations for improved profitability, but only 36% have made such investments ahead of the 2022 peak season!
- Many feel that hiring up is their only escape from these nightmares
At Deposco, we help protect retail, ecommerce, 3PL, and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands from warehouse management nightmares by actively removing obstacles that put growth in harm’s way. Which allows them to:
- Accelerate their speed to market
- Preserve gross margins
- Deliver products that their customers truly want, when and how they want them
- Keep their technology up-to-date – without the slow and painful death of another failed custom IT project
Our warehouse management system and expert team show these businesses the optimal way to pick, pack, ship, and fulfill high volumes with fluctuating delivery expectations, all year long. Because all year long could be the wicked reality for warehouse management teams from here on out.
#WorstWarehouseNightmares
We hope you enjoy our 13 Worst Warehouse Nightmares series! Make sure you don’t miss any of the action – follow the hashtag #WorstWarehouseNightmares and on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.
Check back every Friday to catch new episodes, and don’t be afraid to share them with the people you care about.
Sweet dreams! Muw-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!