Author: Ian Benoliel

8 Inventory Control Methods

Posted on by Ian Benoliel

1. Set Par Levels

Setting “par levels” – the minimum amount of your product that must be in stock – for each of your products will make your inventory management easier.  Your par level should be based on how quickly a product sells and how long it takes to order new stock. After all, the ultimate goal is to ensure you never run out of products.  

2. First-In First-Out (FIFO)

“First-in, first-out” is a phrase to remind warehouse managers that the oldest stock should be sold first, not the newest stock. This is particularly important for food or other perishable products, but should be adhered too across all lines of products.

3. Build Good Relationships With Suppliers

This will help them compromise with you when a difficult situation arises. You may be to bend the rules when it comes to deadlines or minimum order requirements.

4. Contingency Plans

Have a plan for all situations which could potentially go wrong. This could include cash flow shortfalls, where you can’t pay for crucial products, a spike in sales that leads you to run out of stock, or having a poorly-selling product taking up all your warehouse space.

5. Use Software for Auditing

There are so many software solutions which allow you to automate the auditing process, saving you time and money while ensuring there are no mistakes made.

6. Use ‘ABC’ Method to Prioritize Products

A – high-value products with a poor sales B – moderate value products with moderate sales C – low-value products with frequent sales Category A items need regular attention because their financial impact is significant but sales are unpredictable. It’s the opposite for category C items because they have a small financial impact and they’re constantly turning over. Items in category B fall in the middle.

7. Accurate Forecasting

A large part of quality inventory management is accurately predicting demand for each of your products. There is plenty of decent software that helps you to do this.

8. Consider Drop Shipping

Ask your supplier if they offer a drop shipping service. Products will cost more with this method, but you’ll save money on storing inventory.

How Atlanta Car Dealerships Are Using Cloud Based Inventory Tracking

Posted on by Ian Benoliel
Four Atlanta-based Hennessy car dealerships have been using a cloud-based inventory tracking system called RadioTrax since February, and it has revolutionized their businesses. RadioTrax prevents businesses from having to manually search for inventory. Instead, a small tracker placed inside each vehicle helps staff learn of the vehicle’s location. They’re powered by a small replaceable battery which has a lifetime of up to two years. It works using a combination of low-cost networking technology and GPS devices.  An antenna on the roof of the building helps connect the company to the data. Weather-hardened gateways are also for businesses who are more vulnerable to horrific weather conditions. The technology has proved particularly effective for businesses that have multiple locations. Hennessy Buick GMC is one of the dealerships to have made good use of it.   Chris Moore, who is new car sales manager at the dealership, explained: “RadioTrax saves our personnel 10 to 15 minutes per customer, greatly improving both the buying experience and our associates’ efficiency. “When someone wants to test drive a car they saw on our website, we can pull it up to the showroom door almost instantly – regardless of where it currently is within our seven lots.” RadioTrax can help businesses of all kinds with their automated inventory management. It’s not just for locating cars. Nevertheless, it’s clear to see that these businesses now have a more reliable and cheaper way to track and search inventory. Dealerships can become a lot more data-driven with this technology at their disposal. Not only can they track when a car leaves their lot, when it arrives, and when it enters, it allows them to track which makes, models, and colors have been test-driven more than others. It remains to be seen how widespread this technology becomes in the automotive industry.

What Is A Warehouse Management System?

Posted on by Ian Benoliel
A warehouse management system single-handedly manages every process that goes on in even the most dense and complicated warehouses. A high-quality system will automate every process in your warehouse, from tracking shipments and replenishing products, leaving you with time to concentrate on growing your business. Because this software is more or less completely automated, it can substantially decrease the use of time and money needed to manage warehouse staff. In an increasingly globalized world, these solutions have become increasingly essential. Warehouse management systems help managers organize their businesses in a more efficient manner A warehouse management system helps you track inventory, shipments, and personnel. It works as an HR system as well as it works with stock control.   If you’re going to invest in a warehouse management system, try to get one that is individually tailored to meet the specifications of clients. Ideally, you’ll purchase from a reputable company that has been referred to you from a trusted source. After all, these solutions can be the difference between managing your warehouse efficiently and mistakes constantly being made. Warehouse management should be as automatic and free-flowing as possible. That’s where great warehouse management systems come into their own. There’s a wide choice of options for warehouse management software these days, but the increased competition has helped each piece of software improve substantially over the years. It’s necessary to have the best possible solution for your warehouse management.. This isn’t an area where it’s recommended to try and cut costs. In an industry, where productivity is key, the quality of your warehouse management could make all the difference between the quality of your business versus your competition. Do some research to see what options are available and invest in the best possible solution for your business today.

What Is A Stock Control System?

Posted on by Ian Benoliel
A stock control system will single-handedly manage the stock of even the most dense and complicated warehouses. A high-quality system will take care of every process in your warehouse, from shipping products to tracking and replenishing them. Because this software is 100% automated, it can substantially decrease the use of time and money spent in organizing a warehouse. In an increasingly globalized world, these solutions are more important than ever. Writing this information down manually certainly doesn’t cut it in major warehouses in 2018. It helps managers organize their businesses more efficiently – and as such there’s such a wide choice of options, it’s become easier than ever to integrate them into your logistics business. A stock control system helps you project future inventory needs and automatically replenish stock, retrieve certain products from the warehouse, record data accurately, read customer histories and sales information, generate reports, and record storage data in real-time If you’re going to invest in a stock control system, try to get one that is individually tailored to meet the specifications of clients. Ideally, you’ll purchase from a reputable company that has been referred to you from a trusted source. After all, these solutions can be the difference between you keeping your company data cohesive or not. This task should be as simple and unfussy as possible. That’s where great stock control systems come into their own. It’s necessary to have the best possible solution for stock control. This isn’t an area where it’s recommended to try and cut costs. In an industry, where productivity is key, the quality of your stock control system could make all the difference between the quality of your business versus your competition. Shop around to see what stock control systems are available and invest in the best possible option for your business today.

7 Tips For Better Inventory Management

Posted on by Ian Benoliel
Inventory management is an important job for all logistics managers. Here are seven tips that can help you take your inventory management to the next level.
  1. Workflow Alerts
Invest in workflow alerts that automatically alert all necessary parties (supplier, manufacturer, distributor) whenever unexpected changes to the inventory occur. This allows employees to stay on top of inventory management in real time, rather than waiting days to find out.  
  1. Inventory Forecasting
Use forecasting software that use your sales data to predict future incomes and profits. This software tends to be surprisingly accurate, and can even help you predict when certain inventory is likely to run out.
  1. Material Planning Solutions
This hastens workflow by assessing what materials you will need to re-order and when. Many of these solutions can analyze and suggest amendments to sales orders, production orders, purchase orders.
  1. Cargo Tracking
This allows you to track the exact location of the goods and estimated time of arrival, delivering a clearer understanding of scheduling and quantities. There are similar tools that specialize in managing overseas shipments too.
  1. Analytical Software
Analytical software can help you maintain a better idea of fill rates, return on investment, current stock and the status of all your inventory in real-time. These tools will make it easy for you to judge how well your company is getting on and where you can improve.
  1. Warehouse Management Systems
These tools can improve the efficiency of your warehouse management in a number of ways. The most useful of these tools help you locate products and track stock, so your warehouse team can work at greater speed and are aware when certain items need replenishing.
  1. Mobile Proof of Delivery
Mobile proof of delivery apps show you when a product arrives at a customer’s address in real-time. Other information typically shown includes the distributor, the manufacturer, and the time of delivery.

The Best Inventory Management Software for 2018

Posted on by Ian Benoliel
A big part of running an efficient business where you sell products is to have the best inventory management software you can get. There are some features that you should look for when it comes to finding the right the right product for you. Here are some of the most popular options for 2018. Zoho Inventory is a great product to try out first. This one is ranked highly for the following features:
  • Automation – you can set up a lot of different processes to be done automatically, such as placing new orders when you’ve reached a certain threshold.
  • Delivery tracking.
  • Scalable – can grow with your company.
Erply is another top product on the best inventory management software list for the following reasons:
  • This product is web-based, meaning that you can access it online instead of on a specific device.
  • It is inexpensive compared with a lot of the other options out there.
  • User-friendly means that it can be easily understood.
  • Manages point of sale as well as inventory.
  • Compatible with the cloud as well as a lot of management-based apps. It is also oriented for use on an iPad, making management convenient.
TradeGecko is another option that can grow with your business, and it also has an added benefit of helping with customer engagement. It can also:
  • Depicts trends for your assets to help you better plan.
  • Integrate with many well-known systems so that you can add it to your current software.
With these options and many more on the market for product management, you have a lot to choose from so that you can create the perfect system that works best for your company. Finding the best inventory management software through Numbercruncher can do wonders to help your business grow as well as keep product organized and well managed in as stress-free a manner as possible.