What is inventory management?
Inventory management essentially refers to the efficient management of stock and inventory. In a nutshell, it is all about having the right amount of stock at the right time, right place, right cost, and in the right quantity. However, the entire process is not as easy as it might sound. It involves the use of various inventory management techniques to control and oversee order placements, ensure the appropriate storage of the stock, and controlling the number of products for sale. It can often get challenging for businesses to keep up with inventory demands while monitoring the inventory process and the needs of their workers, customers, or the buyers.
Inventory management best practices
Track the fast and slow movers
A proven advantage of optimizing inventory management for warehouses is that it can help track sales and orders for each product or customer. These inventory management techniques are extremely useful for companies to gain smart insights into inventory data. This information can be used to track the high sellers. This way, the entire stock management process becomes more efficient, storage and shipping are performed faster, and companies will not have to worry about this task ever again. This is an ideal inventory management best practice to keep the big clients happy.
Categorize the inventory
One of the most common inventory management techniques for categorizing the stock is through ABC analysis. This is the technique of arranging the stock into groups that range from the most important to the least important items. A-items typically the best-selling, highest priority stock and require regular reordering and constant quality review. B items are medium-priority stock and usually require monthly reordering. C-items are often low priority goods that are typically carried in high volumes with minimal reordering. Organizing your stock within the warehouse according to how they sell and how much value they bring the business is an important inventory management best practice that will help companies optimize storage space and streamline order fulfillment.
Automation and Mobilizing the workforce
Another inventory management best practice is to liberate the employees from their desks and allow them to perform daily tasks on the go. But employing modern technology for connectivity and cloud-based services it is possible for the staff to monitor and manage the stock levels without physically being present in the office or warehouse. Furthermore, employees might find repetitive tasks to be monotonous. So, companies must look at ways to automate these manual tasks, helping employees to dedicate more time and attention to other core tasks. Such inventory management techniques are also known to improve employee productivity.
Movable and fixed tracking options
Movable and fixed tracking option is an inventory management best practice that allows you to see where a product has been placed, how it can be accessed, and whether it is ready for shipment. Movable tracking provides insights on where items are located at all times, and it makes the entire stock management process faster, easier, and more intuitive.
Gain more insights into the inventory management solutions offered by SpendEdge