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How to Effectively Manage Your Workplace Inventory
Within any business, good inventory management is absolutely crucial. You’ll need to plan your inventory well to meet customer demand, whilst also ensuring that you are not letting inventory go to waste. The inventory management system should effectively oversee the flow of products and services coming both in and out of a business and this can easily become a very overwhelming task! Thankfully, there are now a few things that you can do to ensure you keep this process running smoothly. Below you can find our top tips on how you can make your inventory managing a success!
Supplier Assistance
When managing your inventory, a great way to keep track is to get help from the suppliers. When you do this, you will essentially give the vendor access to your inventory data. The supplier will generate purchase orders based on what your needs are as the distributor. This is a great way to eliminate data-entry errors and managing the timing of purchase orders.
Lead Time Reports
If you are in charge of ordering inventory for your business, we would recommend that you establish lead time reports. This is a useful way to manage your inventory as it will give you an idea of how long it takes to replenish your inventory as suppliers will all deliver products at varying times, with some taking quite a bit longer than others!
Purchase Software
A lot of businesses now are managing their inventory by using special inventory management databases or management software. This allows you to customise the database to fit the individual needs of your business. One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways you can implement something like this is to use an app template such as that available at GoCanvas.com, which allows you to take a physical inventory of your office/warehouse/store room on a mobile platform. This removes the need to use paper as everything is done on a specially designed and customised mobile app! It will automate the whole process so you can easily stay on top of your inventory at all times.
Monitoring Inventory Levels
In any business, you are bound to have some items that sell much better than others. However, having high levels of inventory can quickly add to your expenses and increase your overhead costs. Determining the inventory demands of your company can help you effectively monitor inventory levels and make rational decisions such as cutting back on certain items that are not selling very well or limiting seasonal inventory.
Developing Tracking Systems
In a lot of companies, you will now find that they successfully manage their inventory by developing tracking systems which manage inventory and monitor turn around times. This can help you to organise all items and take cycle counts within distribution centres and stock rooms!
If you are in charge of the inventory within your business, be sure to follow our handy tips and tricks to make this process a lot more effective and efficient.
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