If you’re looking to improve, maintain or implement a new inventory management system or process, you’ll already know there is a lot to think about. That’s because stock control and inventory management are where real-world actions meet record-keeping, and you have to take both into account all the time!
Every businesses’ needs and processes will naturally differ from each other, but there are a few things that make sense in almost every business we’ve consulted with.
Here are the top four techniques your system should take into account.
Using a perpetual inventory system
For most businesses, a perpetual inventory system makes a lot of sense. Unlike periodic systems, a perpetual inventory management system can keep your inventory up-to-date in almost real-time.
If you have a few locations or deal with high sales volumes then periodic inventory management might slow you down and add on extra admin time with stock takes.
Perpetual inventory can help you understand and track transactions in real-time with the help of digital technology. While it does mean an investment in the right tool, it’s generally considered to be far more efficient than running periodic inventory processes.
Click here for tips on finding the right inventory management system
Think about objectives vs admin
Any time you want to record and understand something new about your business (be it stock, productivity, profitability or anything else) you’re going to have to add some more admin to your team’s time.
Take the time to think about the value of the information you’re gathering and how much time you’re willing to spend to get that information. If you stay objective and focus on the things that will save your business time and money overall, then you’ll likely get more from your inventory management system. Plus, if your team can see the usefulness of the info they’re collecting then the process may be more likely to stick. This leads us to...
Don’t forget change management!
No matter how robust and technologically advanced your project management system is, it will always rely on getting accurate information. As we mentioned before, inventory management requires changes in the real-world, and part of that is your team actually telling the system what’s happening when it’s happening.
If you’re updating or overhauling your system, it’s important to get engagement and buy-in from your team. Make sure your team know what’s changing and why and what steps now need to be undertaken.
Here’s some tips for preparing your team for change
Reduce Admin when you can
Finally, before you make a change take a look at your new proposed workflows and try to streamline the process as much as possible. You’ll want to minimise double entry of data to save time and preserve accuracy.
Looking for systems that “talk” to other areas of your business can be very helpful in reducing admin time. If staff can add costs to projects while updating stock that will save you time and make records more reflective of the real world. Linking to your accounting system will mean your admin team won’t need to manually transfer the information.
Don’t forget the landed costs
Depending on what stock you’re getting in and where it’s coming from, your shipping costs, taxes and customs fees could be a huge part of your expense. By accounting for your landed costs, you can get a more accurate idea of the profit you're making when selling that stock.
WorkGuru tracks the actual cost of your products landed on each purchase order. This is much more accurate than the average cost model and allows WorkGuru to track landed costs and cost of goods sold (COGS) much more accurately.
If you are looking for a system that can help you manage your stock and jobs, then WorkGuru may be the answer. The easy to use software can help you manage both these functions in one place.
If you want to see if WorkGuru is a good fit for your business, book a free training session. The session will help us to answer all your questions while you get hands-on with the software and see how easy it will be to use.
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