Microsoft Access - Project Profile for the Pallet Inventory and Selection System

Sector: Transportation
Industry: Logistics

The company is a full service logistics provider. The company prides itself in lowering the cost of managing inventory for their clients while providing exceptional service, dependability, and innovation in logistics.

Business Situation

The company was using a Microsoft Access database to coordinate the pallet logistics for a major US corporation. Excel files that contained pallet activity was manually being copied into the database which became very time consuming and decreased productivity.

In addition, the client began to use a different pallet identification system. Since the database was not capable of handling the new system of pallet IDs, the company had to manually manage the pallet activity using the new IDs. As a result, some of the client’s pallets were processed one way and other pallets were processed a different way. This resulted in inefficiencies in client management and reporting.

Pallets get moved to different locations throughout their lifetime. The database did not track the pallet movement history which would be beneficial for tracking pallet lifecycle activity.

Solution

Automating the Import of Pallet Activity

Enhanced functionality was developed to import different types of pallet activity data. Users can now browse and select an Excel file and have the database automatically import the data. This saves the company a considerable amount of time.

Handling the New Pallet ID System

The database was updated to handle the new pallet ID system. All forms, reports, and code were analyzed and several updates to the database logic were made. The automation of processing the new pallet IDs saves the company hours of manual processing and guarantees the accuracy of the pallet information.

Tracking Pallet History

The database was updated to track pallet history. Whenever a pallet is moved, its previous location is now recorded. This enables the company to run a report on a specific pallet and review its lifecycle of location activity. The solution provided by Access Programmers will allow the company to easily analyze its operations and identify areas for improvement.