A material gate pass management system solves day-to-day problems associated with materials being moved into and out of the business premises.
Most of the challenges arise due to the fact that recording material movements, their authorization or tracking is still a manual and time-consuming process. For example, just getting the required permission from the authorities for sending a material out can take days.
A material gate pass management system solves all of these issues and many more. In this blog, we take a look at the problems it fixes.
What Is A Material Gate Pass Management System?
In simple terms, a material gate pass management system is a solution that keeps track of all materials entering and exiting your facility right from the origin of request for such a movement until it reaches its final destination.
Gates passes traditionally are of two types depending on whether the material is - returnable - RGP or non-returnable - NRGP. A material gate pass management system digitally tracks and monitors these two types of materials besides streamlining the entire process of material movement into and out of your business premises, ensuring a high level of efficiency as well as security.
Common Problems in Material Entry And Exit Processes
1.
Drowned In Paper Registers
Paper log books are a common sight in most entry and exit points of business premises. Most company admins still use paper registers for record keeping of material entry and exits.
In reality, paper log books do not serve any purpose. The data that is entered in the logbook cannot be reused. The materials cannot be easily tracked using this data.
2.
A Time Consuming Affair
Manual processes that need to be followed prior to any material movements - be it RGP or NRGP - are time consuming.
Filling up forms for material passes and getting them signed by the relevant authorities, making manual entries in paper log books - these day-to-day issues take up unnecessary time and effort.
In a gate pass system, however, authorization can be done remotely. How cool is that.
3.
Error Prone Methods, Unreliable Data
Since most of the data entry is done manually, the chances of error are high. A good many details in paper logbooks are unreliable and cannot be used when needed.
Paper forms for material entry and exit get lost and remain unaccounted for.
These issues lead to misuse of information and are a fertile ground for misappropriation.
In a material gate pass system, there is no chance of any kind of error or misplacement of materials.
4.
Cannot Track Any Material, Lost Items
Tracking a material using logbook data is nearly impossible. If you indeed need to do it, you have to spend a lot of time and effort.
What date and time did a material exit the premises, when is a material expected to be received, have the required number of items been transferred to their respective destinations? These issues cannot be addressed in the traditional methods of material management. Not in a way that is timely or useful.
Many times, items get lost. But a lost material cannot be traced when data is on paper.
5.
You Don't Get No Reminders
A reminder is necessary for important entries and exits, say, if a material is needed to be sent or received urgently. It helps in intimating the relevant staff that they need to authorize a material movement on time.
However, there is no way that reminders can be set in a regular manual entry and exit process. This challenge is easily overcome with a material gate pass management system.
6.
Computing Difficulties - It's Near Impossible
There is no way you can manually keep a count of entries and exits on a paper log.
You cannot keep track of how many materials have entered or exited your premises daily or monthly.
And lost items? Forget about keeping a count.
7.
Who's Accountable? None Really.
There is lack of accountability in the traditional methods of material gate pass systems.
If an item gets misplaced, there’s nobody the management could hold accountable as multiple people are involved in the process and the details are difficult to track.
This is again, a fertile ground for mismanagement, misappropriation, and pilferage.
Conclusions
The problems that we have discussed here are the norm in most businesses. Organizations do not take notice of these daily challenges that the teams face. More importantly, the solutions that exist are part of complex systems and do not resolve the issues completely. Therefore, a few paper forms and registers look like something one cannot do away with despite the time and efficiency loss that businesses suffer due to them.
However, a material gate pass management system is one solution that can save time as well as bring about a high level of efficiency and security.
The system should however, be lightweight - a cloud and mobile solution - that takes care of all the issues that organizations currently face in just sending or receiving materials.
