How to Optimize Central Stores Operations?
University and college campuses have to carry out infinite responsibilities for the welfare of their students. Universities are responsible not only for educating young minds but also ensuring a safe, efficient, and comfortable environment for them to gain knowledge. As an integral part of meeting this objective, a campus’s central store must provide equipment, materials, and resources to staff, faculty and operations.
This process entails keeping a record of orders, requests, purchases and deliveries, inventory control, warehouse operations and vendor management. It requires a great amount of effort to maintain an organized maintenance management system to keep a track of all office and industrial supplies. It is especially important to keep track of hazardous materials. Some substances and elements stored for use in experimental and technical labs can be dangerous, volatile and very expensive. Others involve serialized or unique item tracking, such as gas cylinders, etc.
These items must be tracked and stored safely and securely, such that no opportunities come about that could endanger the health and well-being of students and staff, or pollute the campus environment. To ensure effective management of resources, supplies, and cradle-to-grave materials tracking, when required, campuses need to employ processes and systems, including business management solutions with nimble inventory control and materials tracking software functionality. This automated software facilitates the identification of items at the time of issue and, when required, the tracking of materials during usage.
The system must also address campus requirements such as billing, department, or grant account charge-backs. This functionality must be a part of the item issue process as well as at time of re-order, procurement request, and P.O. creation. A highly effective system will also apply and be cognizant of any billing or chargeback rules at time of inventory/PO receipt, as well. This may include the ability to interoperate with the university’s existing ERP or financial via XML file import/export, web services, or other formats preferred/required.
Materials Management software and Central Stores Automation solutions may also offer mobile workforce functionality that enables staff to easily move or roam across campus for deliveries, or to more easily manage warehouse or stockroom inventory control. Orders can be taken from the counter and automatically update a mobile workforce with revised instructions or info, such as changes for pick-ups, deliveries, and warehouse inventory pick processes.
Properly selected and implemented software is an ideal materials management tool that automates the central stores operations. A truly complete solution is one that encompasses, inventory and materials management, as well as logistics. By keeping the central stores operations under strict and organized control, this software provides campuses with effective solutions for automating all aspects of the process from inquiry to request, to order, receipt, stocking, issuing or delivery confirmation. And, when required, tracking and enabling hazardous materials management.
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