Leading up to Brexit, many businesses anticipated some changes to the easy process of transporting goods through the UK. However, the UK's new required guideline to provide a T1 financial guarantee on arrival in Britain was a shock to many EU hauliers and transport companies.
The financial guarantee requirement was not applicable for EU companies before Brexit, as goods usually sailed through British ports before Brexit. Now EU suppliers need to provide a significantly increased amount of paperwork before export in addition to the T1 financial guarantee. Documentation required from EU companies also includes completing mandatory customs declaration documents.
- Topic:
- Warehouse and Logistics
Logistics digitalisation has seen its fair share of teething problems whilst companies adapt and modernise their processes to see that employees and machines work harmoniously alongside each other.
However, there is a way to use technology – even gamification – to increase employee productivity, retention and satisfaction that doesn’t come in the form of a gimmick.
- Topic:
- Warehouse and Logistics
Disruptions in global supply chains manifest themselves in many ways, from natural disasters to medical crises. Regardless of the situation, UK manufacturers must be able manage any tremors felt in their supply chain - and software tools are the missing link for creating a robust supply chain.
- Topic:
- Supply Chain
What is Shop Floor Data Capture?
Shop floor data capture, often abbreviated to SFDC, is a process where shop floor operatives book on and off works orders in real time on the production floor. Many manufacturers are not using SFDC as a tool to help them run production more efficiently and are missing out on a huge amount of data (and therefore insight) that SFDC brings with it. Some benefits include:
- Real-time job progress – identify bottlenecks
- Accurate and complete product costing
- Productivity analysis by employee or work centre
- Planning accuracy improvements
- Topic:
- Supply Chain
If you’re currently selling online, there comes a tipping point where orders become cumbersome to manage on multiple platforms. For many, the time spent manually updating stock levels, producing stock labels and hunting for the best courier starts to hinder their ability to sell and fulfil quickly. In a world where speed of fulfilment gives retailers the edge, an Order Management System (OMS) could be exactly what you need to keep up with the market. We’ve outlined the top 5 key benefits of adopting an OMS.
- Topic:
- E-Commerce
In the UK, 15% of adults smoke cigarettes and 6% use e-cigarettes. One in four employees in manufacturing is a smoker. Type ‘smokers more breaks’ into Google and you would be barraged with angry employees complaining about their smoking colleagues.
- Topic:
- Supply Chain
Changing from a paper-based system to a warehouse management system can seem daunting for any business. There are more obvious payoffs from implementing a system, such as increased picking accuracy, intelligent warehouse mapping, increased capacity, and automated reports, just to name a few. However, the benefits of a WMS are more wide-reaching than you might think and can make a difference to your employees’ attitude and performance.
Here are the key problems that arise from choosing to remain a paper-based warehouse.
- Topic:
- Supply Chain
How implementing a WMS helps wholesalers and 3PLs overcome the most common warehouse problem.
I speak daily to businesses with warehouses ranging from 8,000sq ft to 70,000sq ft, and they are almost all worried about the same thing: visibility. Lack of visibility is most often caused by continuing to use paper-based systems when warehousing is quickly becoming more and more electronic.
Read our article on "The minefield of Warehouse Management Systems
- Topic:
- Supply Chain
It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? So why are so many manufacturing companies struggling to access the information they need to make fast decisions and run their businesses at optimum efficiency?
Information is power - but only if you can get to what you need quickly and have complete confidence that it’s correct. And that’s the problem for so many manufacturing companies. Despite having invested in software and systems to collate and manage data, it can still be far too difficult to gain access to what is needed quickly and confidently. Separate and unconnected systems are the root cause of data problems with duplication, inconsistent update protocols and lack of formalised data cleansing. It’s easy to see why the mountain of information just gets bigger – and the ability to use the data effectively becomes ever more difficult
- Topic:
- Supply Chain
