Not Ready for Automation? You Can Still Optimize Your Workforce
It's no secret that many businesses are moving toward automation. And while automation can solve for a range of distribution and fulfillment problems, it might not be feasible for your business, at least, not just yet.
Constraints like budget limitations, supply chain delays and sourcing the correct equipment can make it difficult to commit to an entirely new system. Or you might simply want to see your business grow a bit more before making a significant investment in automation technology.
Additionally, with increasing global economic uncertainty, more and more businesses are reconsidering costly automation implementations, like investing heavily in robotics or automated picking systems. Instead, leaders are evaluating technology that can drive efficiency, while lowering labor costs — and selecting solutions that best suit their business in more of an à la carte fashion.
Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives to fully embracing expensive automation. So before overhauling the entire operations and potentially disrupting the flow of your business, consider the following technology solutions as a path toward full automation.
If Automation Isn’t the Answer, What Can You Do Today?
In many ways, it's been a perfect storm of imperfect information — a global pandemic, supply chain shortages and lack of skilled labor, along with many other factors, make it difficult to confidently make decisions regarding the future of your business.
But when you're able to access accurate data — or more likely, appropriately filter the data you're already generating — you can leverage that information to better see how your facility is performing.
Getting the right information at the right time allows you to improve all aspects of your operation — from reducing costs and bottlenecks, to understanding what your customers need and quickly responding to their buying behaviors.
For these reasons and more, tools that provide accurate, reliable information are more valuable than ever. Here, we'll look at three solutions Rufus offers that allow you to gather the data you need, without having to completely buy into expensive automation.
1. Wearable Technology Barcode Scanning Solutions
Equipping your employees with the right tools can automate critical business processes and provide inventory visibility and accuracy, all in real-time.
Rufus WorkHero offers a variety of wearable barcode scanners that are both effective and ergonomic. By allowing workers to operate in the warehouse or industrial facility, hands-free, these scanners improve productivity and efficiency up to 50 percent. Additionally, familiar Android devices with automatic barcode pairing help your employees onboard quickly and reduce training time.
2. Productivity Management Solutions
WorkHero also includes Rufus Intelligence, a productivity management software solution. This system allows visibility into employee performance and productivity. With Rufus Intelligence, you can easily tap into data surrounding each worker’s scanning activity, the number of labor hours put toward different tasks, and the activity levels throughout their shift.
This software solution provides insights beyond just what happened in the last shift, or even the performance of the last week. In a matter of a few months, you can identify ways to lower your labor costs, while pinpointing successful investments in your workforce to maximize productivity.
Over time, the history of your operations can be used to predict the resources you'll need for the future — for the next day, or even the next week. You'll be able to anticipate the precise number of employees in each area of your operations needed for maximum efficiency.
3. Mobile Device Management
With all these mobile wearables being utilized by your workforce in different ways, it's essential to be able to locate and control these devices in a centralized way. Mobile device management (or MDM) solutions allow your IT team in the warehouse to control all workplace devices from one central hub. WorkHero wearables come with Rufus Device Hub, which provides unparalleled insight into real-time device data, including the GPS location of each device, battery life, user session data and much more.
A Complete Set of Solutions
If you feel that the technology and management systems mentioned above would be an asset to your workflow — why not have all three? Rufus WorkHero provides wearable barcode scanners and rugged Android devices for workers, a robust software dashboard suite for management, and support for one monthly subscription cost. No hidden fees, starting at just $99/worker.