Much of what is involved in receiving will depend on the type of product being received and, sometimes, its value. The first stage when goods arrive is to check that the delivery matches your expectations. If goods are palletized this may be an initial count before offloading, to ensure the products and quantities are correct. The delivery paperwork should also match your purchase order and the physical quantity received.
If goods cannot be identified on the vehicle, or if more rigorous checks are required, they should be offloaded to a receiving area for this to take place. For palletized products, this may be a simple check to confirm the correct number of cases.
For loose goods, however, it is essential to perform a full count of items before they are recorded and put away. For some products, it may be necessary to open a sample of cases to check that the correct items are contained and they match the stated quantity.
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Once product and quantity checks are completed, the relevant data must be recorded. As a minimum this should be the product code (SKU), quantity received and possibly a status (sound, damaged etc.). But there could be much more:
For manufactured products, you might record a batch code.
For food products and cosmetics etc., it’s essential to log expiry dates.
For high value items like white goods or electronics, serial numbers may need to be captured.
In essence, any data that you need quick access to while in storage, or that is needed when the product is sold or relocated, should be recorded.
Receiving is completed once the checking and recording processes are done. All that remains is for the goods to be placed in the correct location, according to your chosen storage strategy. The benefits of a “real-time” warehouse management system with the ability to scan and capture barcode data will make all of these processes more accurate and efficient.