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Taking Stock of Your Inventory Introduction Whether you're looking for a printer cartridge or medical vial stored in the supply closet; searching for an installation part in a warehouse or seeking a box of the high-end sunglasses promoted in your boutique's latest newspaper ad, inventory management is a critical component of any small or midsize business. However, many business owners do not fully realize the costs associated with poor inventory management, or the potential opportunity for improvement.
handle write-offs, cope with tax issues and depreciation, combat cash-flow and loan problems, and face unnecessary expenses. Consider, too, the negative impact on your customers as delays unfold. Unmet expectations may damage your company’s reputation and, at worst, frustrated customers may turn to other suppliers to satisfy their requests.
Taking Stock of Your Inventory While applications like spreadsheets are well-designed for their specific purposes and provide some initial visibility, they are inadequate to monitor the constant ebb and flow of office supplies, parts and materials or other inventory items. This was the case for Process Control Outlet, a small industrial electronics reseller. Initially, the company used its accounting application to try and track the hundreds of industrial electronics items it sells.
Likewise, these solutions should track the quantity on-hand, sold and on-order. If you order in bulk, the software should automatically break-down the order into smaller quantities or units of measure (UOM). An inventory management system should give you visibility into your inventory's location, what's moving, and what's stagnant, allowing you to make informed decisions about purchasing, marketing, and advertising.
Taking Stock of Your Inventory computer, barcode printer and software. This eliminates the need for integrating and testing separate vendors’ products, a sometimes time-consuming and confusing proposition. In the retail environment, you may choose an inventory solution that incorporates point of sale (POS) functionality.
When Ace A/C & Heating realized its spreadsheet-based inventory management simply wasn’t up to the job, it bought a barcode-based mobile solution. The midsize business uses the technology to manage its parts inventory, create reorder reports, review inventory reports to track item sales history, and keep an accurate count of items in stock. In the past, Ace technicians – who earn about $40 per hour – wasted around 20 hours each week obtaining parts that were not in the warehouse.
Taking Stock of Your Inventory Rod Works needed a POS and inventory-control system for its four retail stores, two clearance outlets, warehouse, and headquarters. It opted for an integrated solution that delivered automated inventory tracking, e-mail invoices, and report generation, and worked with vendor-generated barcodes.
