Barcodes and Portable Handhelds with Inventory Software Reduce the Cost of Taking InventoryMonthly inventory advice from the leaders in Inventory Solutions for small to medium businesses, IntelliTrack Inc. Find out how you can get a handle on, track and control your Inventory and Assets at www.intellitrack.net. December 2009 Inventory Tip: Get Inventory Right!Are you required to take a physical inventory? Are you one of those countless small and midsized businesses that spend hours taking physical inventory by hand with pen and paper? We feel your pain. No matter the size, a small one-person shop or a full warehouse, the process is all the same. Taking inventory is a tedious, time-consuming process and if you are using paper you open the door to human error. One of our client’s stores material for a manufacturer. They deliver the material on demand to this customer. They are required to supply detailed inventory of available material to the customer monthly. Their customer depends on that count to support their lean manufacturing practices. To our client that meant shutting down the warehouse, bringing in the crew, paying overtime and counting over a quarter million individual items. Their problem was solved with a Warehouse Management System (WMS) using barcodes for locations, tracking inventory receipts, moves and shipments using Wireless Portable Data Collectors. The result is that the reduction in time spent taking inventory was 60%. This was achieved by using a mix of cycle counts and only one yearly physical. Inventory accuracy soared to 99.8%. You do not need to be a big warehouse to utilize an inventory counting system; the technology doesn’t have to be expensive. Think about this. Another client of ours runs a small chain of restaurants who, weekly needs to count inventory to determine the next week’s bulk food orders for the chain. The only concern was to know what is in the supply rooms now! Each week with paper order slips, a laptop with an excel spreadsheet, the client headed out to take inventory. It easily consumed a twelve-hour day. Several problems were generated using the manual system and the most important was mistakes in ordering which often resulted in running out of product or worse, the amount of food going stale which needed to be discarded as spoilage. The solution was a very simple inventory counting system, IntelliTrack Inventory. By implementing this solution using barcodes and portable handheld terminals, the client was able to assign the task of taking inventory to restaurant managers. In addition, each restaurant manager is in charge of setting minimum and maximum inventory amounts. Managers receive an incentive to keep items in stock while reducing spoilage. Three things occurred. First, the reduction in spoilage was over 85%. Over all, inventory is in line with customer demands and this reduced inventory levels for many items in the restaurants. Bulk supply cost is lower. The most important gain in the chain was that food was fresher and the customers noticed! Business grew and the chain is expanding. We do not claim to take credit for everything after all you have to start with good food in the first place. To summarize, anytime you use a paper-based system you open yourself up to “human error” and “human decisions”. A barcode inventory system is a smart technology. These barcode based software systems allow customers to see available on hand inventory, compare minimum and maximum levels of inventory, control inventory levels and establish reorder points. They reduce loss and limit human error. Small or large, any business can benefit by using this technology over paper. -Will Daniel, COO IntelliTrack, Inc. |
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