Thursday, 6 November 2014

Need and Key Constituents of a Typical Inventory Management System

Imagine you own a supply chain business, and your business in flourishing with several shipments from suppliers rolling in and several customer orders rolling out. This would be any businessman's dream!

However, if you look into this prospective deeper while the huge volume of inbound shipments and outbound orders is desirable that would mean equally huge volume of purchase orders and sales orders scattered on your desk. The amount of effort you need to put in just to arrange these order-slips is enormous; add to this the work you need to do to efficiently track the movement of goods in the inventory so that the older products don't remain piled in the stock while you are busy selling the new ones. This issue grows more serious if you deal in perishable goods like food items, delay in selling off your older stock might lead to massive loss. If you are facing such conditions, it means that your business is yelling for a good inventory management system.

What is a good inventory management system? A good management system is one that automates most of your book-keeping works, minimizes the paperwork, keeps in track of the movement of goods in and out of the inventory, offers you real-time access to the inventory data, and helps maintain the desired stock levels. Any inventory system that delivers the above advantages can easily make your supply chain business easier to handle, minimize losses due to errors in manual book-keeping, and make your business more profitable.

A typical inventory management system usually comprises of the following three main constituents:

1. Barcoding hardware: It includes barcode printers and barcode scanners. Distinct barcodes are printed on every item available in the stock as the goods are unloaded from the shipment arriving in the warehouse. The printed code on the products is then with the help of scanners when the product is sold or dispatched.

2. Inventory management software: It is an application, often custom built by software development companies to cater to the needs of every individual businessman’s needs. Even those sold as standard software suites offer plenty of customizing options for the users. The main responsibility of the inventory management software or application is to do all the processing work on the data entered by inventory employees. At the advent of the product in the inventory, its barcode is read by a reader and its name, price, location, expiry date and other details are entered in the database along with its barcode. Now, when the product is shipped out, its barcode is read again, and the software makes necessary modifications in its database automatically.

3. User interface/computing device: It is the place where the software application is deployed. It allows the inventory owner or managers to see the relevant data on the goods in the inventory and take necessary controlling action. Earlier desktop computers were used for this. However, these days with the soaring popularity of mobile devices, and surfacing of numerous inventory management software apps for iPhone and android, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are being used widely as an interface for inventory management software solutions. The main advantage of using mobile based inventory management software apps for android devices, iPad and iPhones over inventory system for desktops is that they allow the users to get access to valuable, real-time inventory data even when they are on the move.

Friday, 31 October 2014

Reducing Costs in a Restaurant by Effective Inventory Management


It’s easy, and really common, for restaurants spend money over poor inventory management. Beginners are predominantly exposed to this cash drain, as they often do not have their commercial control systems secured, beforehand. But even the best managed, established restaurants have continuing challenges in this area.

A substantial portion of all your operational costs is occupied in the products you purchase. Management of inventory is a way to make the most of every dollar spent, as it helps reduce unwanted, wastage, and overstocking of foodstuffs. A system with upright checks and balances will similarly help eliminate the prospect of theft. These days inventory management is very easy with the help of inventory software for mobile.

Reasons for high food inventory cost

Consider the problems of dealing with food.
  • Most of the time, your inventory is not like a bottle of beer at a bar counter. A lot of it is highly fragile. Your ingredients have a narrow shelf life, much of it less than seven days, some as little as just a day or two. In the event of not using a product within this short time means throwing it into the garbage along with more or less your hard-earned income.
  • Moreover, you have a lot of individuals, who handle your food roster — from the time your goods are ordered, received, warehoused, prepared and finally served to your customers. Even a lesser eatery may have 10-15 people tangled in the food production procedure. The more people tangled in taking “raw” inventory and changing it to the delivered product, the more challenging it is to control loss, waste and abuse of inventory.
Things that can help in reducing costs
  •  Inventory Management Software - Foodstuff inventory management software can make all aspects of the inventory procedure exponentially easier. Watch out for a solution, which is compatible with your assembling, recipe, and invoice systems, so that you can effortlessly monitor the cost of goods sold (COGS), inventory valuation, and inventory trends. Choose a program that’s intuitive and easy to use for each member of your inventory crew. You may even want to study one that permits you to perform physical inventory tallies on smartphones and tablets. Especially, a home inventory app for iPad is very useful software for this.
  • Set Inventory Levels - A par level is the smallest quantity of an item you must have in inventory to last until your next delivery. In case, the on-hand quantity is beneath the par level, simply demand what you need to take it back up to the same level. Cycle menus are helpful in establishing accurate par levels. Cross-use will lower the number of stuffs in your inventory. Similarly, be sure to refer to your catalogue data when you’re altering menus, with the aim of lessening the waste. There is a barcode inventory system for iPad that can be used for this.
  • Make it Routine - Introduce a set frequency for your inventory tally—weekly, monthly, annually, or even at the end of each business day. The more frequently you count the inventory, the easier it is to recognize and correct problems.
So an effective inventory management system can be really solved to your increasing budget.

Friday, 10 October 2014

Android Inventory Management Software for Chemical Industry


The Android Inventory Management Software is competent to know all the INs and OUTs of your business. Fortunately, we can keep control of our inventory with mobile user-friendly Android Applications which have immediate and accurate access, information of inventories in our hand. We can manage your industry employs, customers, trade show, meetings, suppliers, other managements.

Nowadays, Inventory System iPhone is available in the market, which is helpful to manage chemical industry. Lab Inventory Software can use to track reagents, analytical instruments, disposables, general laboratory and computer hardware. Inventory is common to all industries like biotechnology, chemistry, physics, medicine, education, dentistry, electronics and more. Inventory System for Android offers various types of software and tool which are beneficial in Chemical industries.

By the help of Inventory management, you can easily access and upload, manage laboratory inventory, place orders and keep track them in one place. You can also access this inventory access software from another place which software is available in iPhone, android platform. The software of Lab Inventory can offer the advanced functionality system which is helpful to control your stuff. The Android Inventory Management Software is really user friendly software which is understandable and easy to handle. There are various features and specification of Inventory Management Mobile Apps which are given in below.

1. Lettuce: - This app is useful to capture, payment processing, shipping and tracking, customer relationship management, and sales and order analysis. It eliminates to make redundant entries in the separate system of software packages. This web application is used in desktop, in laptops, in tablets and in mobile phones which provide companion cloud-based web app. The uses of this application are for setting up users, product listing, records of customers, integrating systems and other uses. Lettuce app is a paid application.

2. Goods Order Inventory: - Goods Order Inventory is an inventory management which is designed to manage orders, inventory, sales, products listing, and tenders on your mobile device or on your laptop / desktop. Goods Order Inventory App can avail on iPhone, android, blackberry platform. This application is not integrated with other software and services, but useful to export potentially data and database from similar tool and spreadsheets. Goods Order Inventory System Pro App is a free inventory management system software, which can be used in chemical industries.

3. Canvas: - Canvas is a versatile set of tools which allows data collection forms. Canvas apps are supported on tablets, smart phones to support a wide range of data types, including for inventory. You can easily handle canvas apps on your mobile which is available on iOS platform, blackberry platform and Android platform. To use canvas app, you need to install free canvas smart client application on your Smartphone. Canvas app is available for free trial after 30 days time period you have to pay some amount for Canvas application.

4. Inventory Tracker: - Inventory Tracker application is used to handle out businesses track inventory, sales, payments, shipments and balance sheet data. Spreadsheet export is available as are barcode scanner support, multiple currencies, database backup and many customization options available. The inventory Tracker app is a paid application.

Friday, 26 September 2014

Grocery Store Inventory Management Software


Choosing a right and better Inventory Management Software leads your business towards success. Hence, a pool of companies is working for Inventory Management Software development in various fields like Grocery Store, retails store, supermarket Management Software, billing management software and many more. Inventory Management Software helps to businessman for their management system.

Grocery Store Inventory Management Software is designed by top companies which gives practical powerful outcomes. Grocery Store Inventory Management Software saves the time and enhances the efficiency of grocery business significantly.

What is Inventory Management Software?

Before describing more information about Grocery Store Inventory Management Software, I am willing to describe you what is Inventory Management Software?

Inventory Management Software is the computer based real monitoring system which works on some coding, but in Grocery Store business can use it easily for automatic functionality. It can be used in the manufacturing industry to manage billing, work order and also manage outages and overstock condition in the store. Inventory Management Software is a type of tool which is used to manage and organize inventory data. Before the development of Inventory Management Software, businessmen were user hard copy or spreadsheets for all types of paperwork and management of work.

Features of Grocery Store Inventory Management Software

After knowing about Grocery Store Inventory Management Software, a businessman can easily understand the advantages of this brilliant software system which helps in management. Grocery Store Inventory Management Software has many features like Order management, Asset tracking, Service management and Product identification, billing and store management, outages and overstock management and many more.

There is some purpose to use any type of software why should businessman use the Inventory Management Software? So answers are given below why a businessman can prefer the software to track and manage Grocery Store business.
  • This system helps to balance between over inventory and very less inventory.
  • This system receives items for Grocery Store from warehouse and other inventory location and also tracks them.
  • You can use it in tracking the packing, picking and shipping purposes and also for product sales and inventory level.

Advantages and Disadvantages:

There is a huge number of advantages with some disadvantages of Grocery Store Inventory Management Software.
  • Cost savings
  • Warehouse organization
  • Increased efficiency
  • Data security
  • Updated data

Every system has some advantages, but not with 100% perfection, so system must have more advantages than disadvantages, so everyone can use them without any loss. Grocery Store Inventory Management Software has some disadvantages like complexity and expensive. This system is very expensive and this system is not so much easy to learn how to use it. But after learning this system, it helps very effectively to Grocery Store Management.

There are many software available in Compare Grocery and Supermarket like ACR System, HighJump software, Retail manager, uTouch POS, Vend software and Nobly.

Buyer Guide for Grocery Store Inventory Management Software:
Before purchasing the system software, the buyer must know about their requirements and about system effectiveness. The buyer must buy that software which can overcome their problems in Inventory Management. In the supermarket there are huge numbers of management software available so buyer should purchase the software which could provide all features and can fulfill the requirements.

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

Asset and Inventory management in the hotel industry


Hotels are always looking to offer the finest customer experience and facilities. For hotels to attain glowing customer reviews and to inspire new and returning visitors to stay longer, they need good systems in place to manage the things necessary for smooth and effective operation.

Hotel and Hospitality industry is a gigantic industry with huge financial investment and workforce. In 2011 alone, the accommodation industry made $21.6 billion in pre-tax income. Therefore, having a good asset and inventory control system is necessary in many way. Some of the most important points are as follows:

Maintaining a balanced inventory
Hotels usually have incoming supply processes system, where they work with particular vendors so as to receive discounted pricing. Purchases not made from a preferred vendor can be expensive because they don’t replicate discounts or any other benefits. An automatic inventory system helps employees in not purchasing items from anyone other than the favoured system of sellers. Largely, streamlining tasks will helps the lodging house run more professionally and perfectly while also saving costs.

Reducing the amount of misplaced item

As stated by the Los Angeles Times, “Professionals estimate that damages from hotel theft amounts for $100 million each year.” Obviously, lost, misplaced, or pinched assets are a huge burden on a hotel. An asset management solution aids in reducing the number of items lost. These items can be observed based on the info included on the labels and can be more effortlessly recovered if something is stolen. The Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel for instance, practices this technology in their management to track 35,000 cloth items known for getting lost – comprising sheets, dresses, and towels.

Keeping Things in Stock

An inventory tracking system makes certain that items are always available or can be without difficulty re-ordered. Keeping a track of inventory is vital for any retailer, and hotels are no exception.

For example, a hotel retails 30 bottles of water every day. If one is traded for $2.00, the hotel has the opportunity to earn about $60 per day. Given they don’t have any bottles in stock, that is a loss of $60 per day. What would that cost the hotel if it was a more costly item or if the item was unavailable for a longer period?

When considering for your inventory management solution, study the following:
  • Inventory management systems must save you time, money and area.
  • Don’t buy any service that necessitates you to buying supplies you don’t need.
  • Choose a program that’s customizable to goods you require.
  • Make certain your inventory management structure tracks expenditure.
  • Have an employee adoption plan. Experienced professionals develop a methodical way of accomplishing their jobs over the years and altering habits can be problematic. Make certain you have a solution that’s easy to use.
  • Avoid any program that needs a big investment at the start. It shouldn’t charge you anything more than the catalogue you are ordering to spend in an inventory management service.

Monday, 22 September 2014

Inventory management solutions delivering real-time visibility


Inventory management is considered as one of the crucial components in the success of every business. If stock levels will remain updated, customers' demands will be met promptly, accounting will be fair and working of the company will be efficient, it will automatically enable businesses to get successful as compare to their peers. In all, there are three types inventory, retailers dealing with fast moving, slow moving and non-moving inventory. Generally, these things cover the entire list of products owned by the company at any point of time. One of the primary goals of the business owners is to increase the number of fast moving items and lower the number of slow moving items.

Fast selling items Vs Slow selling items

Data from SCORE suggest that inventory accounts for between 45 to 90 percent of total business expenses. Hence, it is crucial for business owners to identify fast selling and slow selling items. Generally, slow moving products end up lying in the warehouse and gradually their value lessens. If retailers fail to sell certain items and they struggle to get the money back with poor profit margins. Secondly, if retailers keep piling slow moving items, it will not have enough space in the warehouse to store fast moving products. It will lead to numerous problems such as running out of stock and not meeting customer’s demands on time.

Power of inventory management solutions

Considering this, inventory management solutions can help enterprises manage their inventories in less time and gradually become efficient. Managing inventory is not easy as it appears. It is so important that businesses can’t afford to compromise on it. Right inventory management solutions help businesses to get real time visibility over stock levels, enabling them to easily determine which items are fast moving and which ones are slow moving.

Inventory management solutions play a much bigger role if the company operates in various sales channels. These solutions centralize inventory management, enabling merchants a single view of their inventory across sales channels. It enables them to quickly see which items are selling fast and which ones are low. Stocks can be re-ordered before they get finished.

Better inventory management solutions usually set a threshold limit and when it is reached, it alerts the retailer to re-order. In most cases, the solutions also generate an automated purchase order to help workers.

Avoiding inefficiency

As per SCORE, efficient and inefficient working with a firm is responsible for the success or failure of any business. Hence, it is crucial for firms to avoid inefficient ways of managing inventories and deploy a better inventory management system. Inventory management systems are designed in order to make firms using them efficiently and eventually successful. Since consumers are smart and they won’t for the product if not available to you. They would simply buy them from competitors. This is one of the reasons that inventory management solutions are mandatory for every type of business.

To conclude, inventory management solutions deliver real time visibility along with maximizing operations of the firm.