Improving Supply Chain Efficiency? Speed Up Counting

Imagine you could make receiving or cycle counting methods up to ten times faster– but not lose any accuracy, or even improve it?

It sounds unlikely, doesn’t it? We’re used to data capture in receiving or inventory count processes involving a trade-off between accuracy and speed.

But the old rules of supply chain efficiency don’t apply if you’re using smart data capture. This extraordinary speed-up is possible today with MatrixScan Count. It’s Scandit’s new ready-to-use smart data capture solution for lightning-fast, intuitive and error-proof receiving and cycle count inventory processes.

MatrixScan Count is an out-of-the-box scan and count software solution. Frontline workers can scan and count multiple items simultaneously and with guaranteed accuracy. It runs on readily available Android or iOS smartphones or tablets.

How to improve supply chain efficiency

Let’s say you have a counting workflow that typically takes an hour a day. If you could make it ten times faster, it would only take six minutes.

It’s well-known that retail and logistics businesses are struggling with labor shortages. Even if every unemployed person with experience in retail were employed, the industry could only fill 70% of vacant jobs, according to a recent study by the US Chamber of Commerce.

MatrixScan Count tackles this challenge by dramatically improving supply chain efficiency in receiving, cycle counting, spot counting and van loading/unloading processes.

It frees up hard-pressed frontline workers to spend their time on delivering great customer experiences. Not only that, it also makes the day-to-day employee experience better.

Because no one likes counting. MatrixScan Count automates one of the least-liked tasks in supply chains.

How could improving employee experience in this way improve your ability to attract and retain scarce frontline workers? And what if you could give workers a counting tool they actually enjoyed using?

One experienced warehouse worker who helped test MatrixScan Count told us, “I can’t wait to use it in my work”. Another described it as “a groundbreaking product”.

How does MatrixScan Count speed up counting workflows so much?

The secret of MatrixScan Count is that it doesn’t just solve for the moment of scanning. It solves for the entire workflow.

A dedicated barcode scanner may be quick at the instant of scanning. But if you’re using it to scan barcodes one by one, and cross-checking against a separate item list, the end-to-end workflow is still inefficient.

MatrixScan Count is different. It uses Scandit’s existing MatrixScan capabilities to locate, track and decode multiple barcodes simultaneously. On top of this, it provides real-time feedback using augmented reality. This allows workers to maintain accuracy at every step.

Here’s a couple of screen recordings showing how our barcode scanner for inventory counting works. On the left, a barcode has been detected but not yet scanned. The application alerts the user to move closer and rescan

MatrixScan Count can also validate scan results against item or stock lists provided by the customer’s application. On the right, the user is alerted that a barcode is present which isn’t on the list – for example, if there’s a package in a delivery that shouldn’t be there.

Deploy at speed and scale for quick supply chain efficiency improvements

Digital transformation is about people, as much as technology. From the start, our basic principle was that any frontline worker should be able to use MatrixScan Count straight away, with minimal training.

We also wanted to remove the need for customers to build and user test their own interfaces – a process that can take months.

That’s why MatrixScan Count ships with a built-in interface developed by our UX experts. It’s not only intuitive to use, but guides new users to understand they no longer need to scan items one by one.

We designed, tested and iterated this interface over a period of months. This involved repeatedly user testing with real frontline workers in realistic environments.

We also know that frontline workers can only scan multiple barcodes simultaneously if all the packages are facing in the same direction. While this is often the case, it’s not invariably true. (This is a particular issue in logistics, where companies don’t always own the full process.)

As part of our focus on intuitive user experience, we’re also building in capability allowing users to switch easily between scanning single and multiple barcodes.

Give your frontline workers superpowers in receiving and cycle counting processes

MatrixScan Count is a testament to how our design and engineering teams came together to reimagine what a counting workflow in efficient supply chains could be.

“The logistics industry is pretty old-fashioned,” one frontline worker told us, ruefully. We’ve listened to and observed tens of workers like him. They told us, again and again, about receiving and inventory counting methods that were manual, cumbersome, and error-prone.

They spend their days counting palettes, ticking off item lists, or pointing and aiming a handheld device hundreds of times.

By solving a single specific workflow and putting end users at the heart of our development process, we’ve created a product that will have a real impact on frontline workers’ day-to-day experience.

It’s commonplace when talking about augmented reality to claim that it gives you superpowers. But in the case of MatrixScan Count, it’s literally true. It literally gives workers the ability to count at supernatural speeds – with a parallel impact on supply chain efficiency.

Smart data capture eliminates inefficiencies across multiple dimensions. And for anyone specifically addressing supply chain inefficiency in retail or logistics, MatrixScan Count makes inefficient receiving or cycle counting methods low-hanging fruit. They can be fixed today, with an immediate impact on efficiency and worker experience.

Interested to find out what could happen if you gave your workers superpowers? Reach out to us to book a demo, or get started with MatrixScan Count for iOS or MatrixScan Count for Android.