5.1.3 - digitally supporting organisations

• Stock control is a large part of logistics, it ensures that all stock is accounted for, reducing lost shipments and failures to deliver
• Stock control is great to automate as it involves highly repetitive tasks, and requires very high accuracy
• The benefits of Automated Stock Control is that it is:

  More efficient

  Highly accurate

  Cheaper than staff
• The main drawbacks of Automated Stock Control are that it is/has:

  Expensive initial cost

  Needs power

  Less adaptable than people
• How do Automated Stock Control systems work:

  New stock is scanned and added to stock table and order table

  When ordered stock is scanned and added to a shipment it is removed from stock table

  Once all items in a shipment are gathered it is scanned and the order table is updated
• If stock drops below a certain level what can automated stock systems do?

  Order more stock
• Are Automated Stock Controls usually made up of few parts (hardware, software, communication links)?

  No
• 4 example of software in a Stock Inventory Control:

  Inventory management software - interacts with tables

  Barcode scanning software - inteprets barcode and tells inventory management software to modify tables

  Warehouse management system - manages location of product

  Reporting and analytics - provides real-time data and insights about stock for decision-making
• Hardware comes in many sizes for Automated Inventory control, 3 examples of components:

  RFID readers

  Barcode scanners

  Mobile devices
• RFID is used for what in Stock Inventory Control systems?

  Tracking goods movement
• Barcodes and mobile devices are both used to do what, in Stock Inventory Control systems?

  Capture data, such as barcodes
• Communication between different parts of an Automated Stock Control system is very important as it composes?

  All connections between hardware and all between software
• The Automated Stock Control system will generally communicate with other parts of an organisation such as the accounting department
• Internal stakeholders particularly benefit from cloud-based technology, especially when they're remotely working
• Traditional technology refers to hardware and software that is commonly used by individual businesses or people.

  
  

  On the other hand cloud-based technology refers to services that can be accessed through an internet connection, managed by a third party
• Are suppliers internal or external stakeholders?

  External