February 3, 2022

Inventory: Management and Visibility

When you partner with a warehouse provider to manage your inventory, you trust your logistics partner to manage your most valuable asset, your inventory. Visibility, management, and real-time communication are key success factors that ensure you have optimal service from your logistics provider.

Effectively communicating with your logistics service provider

The most common communications requested from our clients who outsource their inventory control to our warehouse experts are as follows:

• Inbound Purchase Order (PO) / Advanced Shipping Notice (ASN): Purchase our clients can provide order detail upon receipt in the warehouse. Crane Worldwide confirms the product received is accurate and complete. 
• Goods Receipt: Upon receipt of the inventory, Crane Worldwide verifies each item received and confirms it to stock. Crane Worldwide sends a goods receipt to clients, enabling them to update their system to update their own inventory systems with the stock we have in storage. 
• Outbound Sales Order: The client places orders against the product we have in our warehouse's inventory. The outbound sales order is sent by our client and outlines which items must be picked (and also packed) and where to ship the order.
• Shipment Confirmation: Once Crane Worldwide ships the order, a confirmation is sent to our client confirming the order was shipped, along with tracking information and order details to ensure accuracy. In turn, this deducts the inventory from the client’s system and completes the order. These communications keep our client’s system in sync with our activity as your warehouse provider.

The accuracy and timeliness of these communications are key to a successful logistics partnership. We offer our clients several options to view these transactions and maintain accurate inventory levels in their system.

Let’s take a closer look at those communication options...

API (Application Programming Interface): Crane Worldwide's API Portal offers our clients access to their inventory and transactions in secure, flexible views. The client enters the API portal at their leisure and extracts the information they desire. Our API is a fantastic offer because it requires no development, and the setup is quick and easy. Unless the client requests customization, our APIs are available at no charge to the station or the client.

EDI (Electronic Data Interchange): EDI is a transfer of electronic messaging between Crane Worldwide and our clients. These messages are triggered by an action performed and updated in the system, sending and transferring that data to another party. EDI messages require a specific format for them to process correctly; therefore, analysis, development, and testing are required in the implementation phase. 

Standard Messaging: Crane Worldwide can provide an integration guide to support the development of standard messaging, which will enable our clients to develop integration methods with Crane Worldwide's portal. 

Automated Messaging: Smaller clients or individual projects may not have the resources for API or EDI. Therefore email notifications and reports as transactions occur are made available. Automated email notifications on milestones and transactions can be made in real-time.

Crane Worldwide is a global logistics provider with a global warehouse footprint from the west to the east coast of the USA, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. Our contract logistics operations are growing, and we work in partnership with our clients to provide optimal warehouse services throughout the world. 

Our PO management system, inventory management technology, and tracking system provide inventory visibility throughout your supply chain. You can check out our global locations here. Reach out for more information about our technology and warehouse services. We are here to help!