What are the causes of incorrect shipments and deliveries, and what are the countermeasures and improvement methods?

"Incorrect shipments and deliveries require countermeasures as they can result in a loss of customer trust. There are three main causes for incorrect shipments and deliveries: ""incorrect items,"" ""quantity or unit mistakes,"" and ""shipping instruction errors."" Each cause requires specific measures to address them. In this article, we will explain each cause of incorrect shipments and deliveries and provide solutions for addressing them.

Causes of Incorrect Shipments and Deliveries

Incorrect shipments and deliveries in logistics operations can lead to a decline in reliability and brand image, as well as increased workloads and costs associated with re-shipments. It is crucial to minimize these occurrences by understanding the causes and implementing appropriate measures.

There are three main causes of incorrect shipments

• Incorrect items: Shipping items different from what was ordered, such as items with different colors or sizes.
• Quantity or unit mistakes: Shipping an incorrect quantity of items due to errors in counting or misinterpreting order quantities.
• Shipping instruction errors: Making mistakes in the instructions for delivery destinations.

Let's now take a closer look at each cause of incorrect shipments.

Cause: Incorrect Items

The causes of incorrect items can be categorized into three main factors: storage errors during warehousing, confirmation mistakes during picking, and errors during pre-shipment inspections.

Storage errors during warehousing

Incorrect storage locations can lead to shipping the wrong items if they are picked from the wrong places without noticing the mistake.
Implementing effective location management, where the correspondence between incoming goods and storage locations is clear, is crucial.

Confirmation mistakes during picking

Confirmation mistakes on picking lists can result in incorrect items being shipped. This often occurs when employees rely on their experience to determine the location of items.
Special attention should be given to items with similar names, numbers, or a wide range of color and size variations.

Errors during pre-shipment inspections

Even if mistakes occur during warehousing or picking, conducting thorough inspections before shipment can help prevent incorrect items. However, relying solely on visual inspections may make it difficult to detect all errors, resulting in incorrect items being shipped despite the inspection.

Cause: Quantity or Unit Mistakes

Mistakes in the quantity of items shipped are mostly caused by human errors known as ""slips"" or ""mistakes.""

Slips due to quantity mistake

Quantity mistakes can occur when counting or misinterpreting the number of items, particularly when there is a large quantity of the same item. Mistakes can also occur when there is confusion between units, such as mistaking ""pieces"" for ""cases."" Even experienced employees may become less vigilant over time, leading to slips.

Cause: Shipping Instruction Errors

Shipping instruction errors often occur when shipping labels or waybills get mixed up with those of other items, resulting in incorrect labeling on different packages. It is important to make arrangements to avoid conducting shipping operations for multiple items in the same location simultaneously. In the case of handwritten waybills, it is essential to be cautious and avoid mistakes in item names, quantities, and other details.

For more detailed explanations on QCD improvement in logistics operations to eliminate human errors, please refer to our article

Risks of Incorrect Shipments and Deliveries

Incorrect shipments can lead to various risks that have negative impacts on business operations.

Decreased trust from customers and business partners

Incorrect shipments result in a decrease in customer trust. No matter how excellent the quality of the products may be, frequent occurrences of incorrect shipments can cause customer stress and diminish their desire to engage in further transactions. The loss of sales opportunities due to decreased trust can have adverse effects on the business. Additionally, a damaged brand image is a risk associated with decreased trust.

Leakage of personal information

Mistakes in shipping destinations can lead to the leakage of customers' personal information, such as names and phone numbers, to unintended recipients. If personal information is misused, customers may suffer harm, and in severe cases, it could escalate to legal actions. Therefore, it is essential to exercise caution to prevent the leakage of personal information, as it poses significant risks to both customers and businesses.

Discrepancies with inventory information

Incorrect shipments can cause discrepancies between the recorded inventory data and the actual inventory. For example, if six items are shipped instead of the ordered five due to a counting error, the actual inventory will be one item less than the recorded inventory. This discrepancy can lead to accepting more orders based on the recorded inventory, only to realize a shortage of items during the shipping process.

Incurrence of unnecessary costs

Incorrect shipments result in additional costs for reshipment. The need for accepting returns with freight collect is common, which can lead to significantly higher shipping costs compared to correct shipments. Moreover, the process of reshipment, accepting returns, verifying and correcting the quantity discrepancies between data and actual inventory, involves wasteful tasks that incur costs in terms of labor and time.

Steps to Address Incorrect Shipments and Deliveries

To minimize the risks associated with incorrect shipments and deliveries, the following three measures are necessary

Identify the causes

It is crucial to identify the causes of incorrect shipments. Understanding the specific processes where incorrect shipments occur and pinpointing the root causes enable effective improvements to reduce errors.

Review manuals and guidelines

Along with identifying the causes, reviewing manuals and guidelines is essential. By following the procedures outlined in manuals, it becomes easier to identify problematic areas in each process. If manuals are not in place, it is important to create them promptly for tasks such as receiving, inspections, and packaging, ensuring that the procedures and rules for each process are clearly defined and communicated.

Reduce human errors through system implementation

As long as manual labor is involved, human errors cannot be completely eliminated. Therefore, it is necessary to promote system implementation and automation as much as possible. For example, implementing a location management system that provides clear visibility of the correspondence between incoming goods and storage locations allows for error-free picking regardless of employee experience. System implementation enables the accurate and swift identification of the causes of incorrect shipments.

LOGITO: Providing Solutions for Incorrect Shipments and Deliveries

At DAIICHI JITSUGYO, we offer the solution service ""LOGITO"" that facilitates the automation of logistics operations. Leveraging our extensive knowledge and experience as a comprehensive machinery trading company, we provide optimal solutions tailored to the needs of manufacturing and warehouse businesses.

For addressing the issue of incorrect shipments and deliveries, we recommend considering the implementation of a Digital Picking System and a Warehouse Management System (WMS).

The Digital Picking System utilizes digital displays to automatically provide picking instructions, minimizing errors and improving accuracy in picking operations. This solution is particularly effective in preventing incorrect shipments. Furthermore, it reduces the need for extensive training and eliminates paper-based instructions, contributing to a paperless environment.

By leveraging Warehouse Management System (WMS), a software application for warehouse management, you can efficiently manage incoming and outgoing shipments, streamline operations, visualize work progress, standardize processes, enhance inventory management, and reduce costs.



In the related materials provided below, we explain the automation of logistics operations to prevent incorrect shipments. If you are interested, please feel free to download and review them.