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Automated Inventory Management With Barcode Scanning
With the help of: New York Manufacturing Extension Partnership (NY MEP)
About
Rochester Midland Corporation's (RMC) “customer-focused” approach has helped earn its place as a prominent specialist and leader in the chemical manufacturing industry. Those specialties range from facility hygiene, food plant sanitation, and biomedical research for holistic sanitation. RMC has maintained fundamental values that began and have evolved over the past 130 years by focusing on the well-being of employees and customers here in the USA and around the world.
The Challenge
RMC needed to automate its supply chain management process to maintain its well-established customer service reputation. Continuing to use a manual process despite an increase in workload would likely have led to more issues with data entry, inventory counts, shipping, tracking, and valuable time lost in finding and fixing errors.
Without NextCorps, the project may not have happened or been put off until later. The completion of the project was even more critical because of the COVID pandemic. The system implementation results meant access to real-time data for those working remotely and onsite, making employees safer by using bar code scanners to manage inventory. The grant reimbursement was a financial relief, especially with the uncertainties related to the pandemic. Some of the benefits we have experienced are faster more reliable inventory processing, better tracking, accurate replenishment, and customer satisfaction leading to growing sales. We have a great relationship with NextCorps and appreciate the guidance we have received from growth services. They have kept us on track even while going through vendor changes and have remained supportive long after projects are completed. Thank you NextCorps.
MEP's Role
NextCorps, part of the New York MEP and the MEP National Network™, strategized with and supported RMC in its initiative to increase the capacity for growth, by partnering with consultants including HighJump Software (HighJump) and Innovative Cloud Solutions (ICS, formerly Software Solutions). This project included software configured to run barcoding and scanner applications for warehouse management by HighJump and integrated into GP by ICS. This capital investment enabled inventory tracking for incoming and outgoing goods while updating data in real-time. The reduction in lead-time resulted in fewer back orders and a faster sales cycle that contributed to retained and new sales. With more than one location RMC could centralize, individualize, and categorize facility inventory counts. The ERP dashboard provides analytics that monitors and replenishes inventory based on usage. The ability to scan the barcode on a bill of lading (BOL) and automatically record inventory data improved operating efficiencies. Now, when a shipment arrives on a pallet with a variety and quantity of items, one barcode provides the order content. With less time spent manually checking and accepting shipments, employees have gained time and peace of mind.
Created July 8, 2022, Updated January 31, 2025