Product Inventory Management Made Easy

There are several ways in which you can simplify your system of product inventory management, and choosing the methods and procedures that suit you is essential to your ability to adhere to the guidelines that you set forth. After all, if you implement a procedure that you don’t truly feel is important or integral to your system, then it will be difficult for you to follow it, as well as to enforce adherence to the policy with your staff. Here are a few suggestions to get the wheels in your head turning so that you can decide on the proper product inventory management strategies for your department.

Organization

Perhaps you are having trouble determining how to organize stock within the space provided. Several methods could assist you in making this decision. First of all, you’ll want the most popular products to be the most easily accessible, since these will be accessed most frequently. Next, you’ll want to map out the space you have and look at the size of items you stock, as well as the quantities you keep. Drawing it out on paper and scratching out where each item would best be located to maintain organization while still making efficient use of the room is a great product inventory management strategy.

Analysis

Don’t just assume that all items you have in stock when you take over the product inventory management process are necessary. If you look through sales records and find that a particular item hasn’t sold in months, you may want to do away with that item entirely. In fact, depending on what the product is, how large a quantity you have in stock, and the number of other items for which you need more storage space, you may determine that the best course of action is to simply write it off. You could even offer it at reduced prices for quick sale to help cut your losses, but it is best to remove it and make way for items that bring in revenue.

Budget

Work within a budget. Remember that, just because you have space for more stock, it doesn’t mean you have to fill that space. Sometimes, it’s best to leave empty bins in the warehouse where in case you need it in the future. For example, you have a product that goes on sale and the demand soars. This space can be used to store temporary additional stock of that item. It is better to have open space than to overextend the budget by ordering too many items. Also, having too much inventory on hand detracts from the value of the company. Avoid this situation because it doesn’t pay to show net worth in the red.

Tools

Make use of software and other tools you have for product inventory management. Most of the software packages available will give you analysis reports that can help you make better decisions in the future and help you track the goods you warehouse, taking a lot of stress and strain off your shoulders. Let the computer do the work and the worrying while you just motivate yourself and your team to maintain a free flowing inventory process.

Interacting With Inventory Management Services

Sometimes, we all need a little help getting our heads on straight, especially when it comes to learning the ropes in a new position or taking over a role that was not handled so well by the previous player. This is especially true in regards to inventory control, which is why there are inventory management services available to help you get your ducks in a row. What are inventory management services, and how can they help you when you take over a department or warehouse?

Inventory management services can be compared to property management companies in that they enter into the picture when you have little or no experience and need assistance in setting up a new system for control. This could be because there was no system implemented to begin with, because you are unsure where to begin, or because a former manager was unable to keep control of the inventory, leaving the entire warehouse is a state of disorganization.

In any of these cases, an inventory management service will come in, take an inventory of the entire stock in your warehouse, reorganize the storage of the items you have in stock so that everything is properly indexed, labeled, and securely stored in its own bin, and even set up an inventory management software tool for you and your employees to use to keep track of all stock.

Once everything is in order, some inventory management services will train you and your staff to use the software and will even provide you with tips and techniques to keep the inventory organized and properly managed. This means giving you information on how to guarantee that you don’t overextend your budget, order the proper items in the proper quantities, and generally understand the concept of turnover and stock rotation so that you can make sure your company or department is profitable. After all, money is the bottom line, and if you needed to call in an inventory management service, your business probably wasn’t profiting much.

While it may seem like an extreme measure, usually the money spent hiring and interacting with an inventory management company will pay off quickly and can help you save money and increase your income. These companies are trained to make your inventory management procedures as smooth and streamlined as possible so that you don’t have to hassle with any further rearrangements or make any further changes to your system.

Getting Familiar With An Inventory Management Software System

Once you’ve been put in charge of a large amount of inventory, you’ll need to get acquainted with the inventory management software system that is employed in your department or warehouse application. Using these systems is usually quite simple, depending on which type of software is chosen by the company to keep track of inventory. Most are also excellent inventory management tools, with a lot of options for customization that allow you to set up the system so that it is optimized for your particular industry and use.

The Database

Most of the inventory management software system packages today are based on a simple database setup. A database is a program into which you can enter information that will then be stored and indexed into several categories through which you can search for specific “keywords”. The categories are determined by fields, or areas named in a specific manner, into which a particular type of information is entered.

For example, if you were to build a database of books, you might create fields for the title, the author’s first name and last name, the year the book was written, the book genre, whether it was hardback or paperback, the edition, and even a brief description. Then, when you wanted to index a particular book by author’s last name, you would set that parameter and type in “Smith”, or whatever the last name was. The database would then pull up every book in your database written by an author with the last name Smith.

Using the Software

The same principle is employed when using an inventory management software system. In these applications, you typically have fields with the brand name, the type of stock, the UPC, the product type, and when applicable, an expiration date, color, and size or quantity. If you have bin numbers into which items are stored, it is appropriate to also have the bin number indexed into the database for search options. The more information you can enter into your inventory management software system, the more efficiently you can track and control your stock.

The software system will help you to track incoming and outgoing items, keeping a running total of the level of stock you have in your possession at any given time. This allows you to run reports, provide information for periodic inventory control checks to reaffirm that nothing is out of place or missing, and to order stock more efficiently by cluing you in to what needs replenishment and what items are hardly moving.

Why It's Important

The more familiar you are with your inventory management software system, the more likely you are to feel confident that your stock is completely in order. By being able to follow the information provided and to update this information without any questions or concerns will help you maintain a tightly run operation and to manage your inventory supply better. It is also vital so that you can pass this knowledge on to your staff without hesitation, allowing them to take a little weight off your shoulders by being able to help you keep track of your inventory.

Why You Should Attend An Inventory Management Seminar

The decision to attend an inventory management seminar is simple, especially if you are newly assigned to a position that requires the knowledge of how to manage inventory. There is quite a bit of information that can be gained in one of these seminars that will assist you in heading up your own department and crew in detailed inventory management. Some of the things that you will learn in an inventory management seminar are:

• Balance. While you always want to have plenty of inventory on hand to assure your customers that you will always have what they need in stock, you don’t want to overstock anything either. You’ll learn to find the right balance between supply and demand so that you don’t have inventory sitting in the warehouse not moving for long periods of time.
• Rotation. You’ll learn how to rotate stock to make sure that the inventory you’ve had the longest is sold first. Never leave the older product in the back and move new product first. This leads to a need to write off a lot of materials and wastes money.
• Budget. Regardless of the demand for a product, you should never overtax your budget to keep a hefty stock of it. You’ll learn to calculate exactly how quickly it moves out of your inventory so you know the specific amount you must keep to maintain enough stock without spending too much.
• Space. You’ll learn how to properly utilize the space you have available for warehousing to set up the most efficient inventory stocking program for your department. You’ll also learn about properly tracking the inventory and marking it for easy reconciliation with inventory checks.

Overall, an inventory management seminar will cover the basic information that will lead to your ultimate success in managing your own levels of stock and keeping track of your inventory with ease.