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How has inventory management developed in your small business? Have your customers had the products available when they needed them? Is your business aware of products that are out of stock? Or are you sure you’re not losing money from overstocking?
For a growing small or medium business, it is always important to regularly evaluate each process to ensure that it is on track for success. And one of the most integral parts of a business is inventory management. And therefore, we have brought you some tips suggested by the professionals of inventory management firms.
Accurate inventory is critical to success.
Many of the biggest obstacles to a business’ logistics center efficiency start with inventory management issues. If your warehouse team is not able to keep an accurate count of what comes in, goes out, and is in stock, it is very difficult to keep everything in order.
A good old-fashioned top-to-bottom inventory count may be necessary if the business is in serious trouble. Otherwise, the ideal is to rely on the services of an inventory management firm that will help you in carrying out day-to-day transactions correctly.
Once the experts get to know what’s in your inventory, he/she will make sure to not let it fall back into chaos.
Give your employees the tools to maintain order in the warehouse
Sometimes it doesn’t matter how good the ideas are; if your people don’t have the tools they need while they’re doing the work, it’s hard to optimize. This can be as simple as ensuring the business is well stocked with common warehouse materials such as labels, pallets, wheelbarrows, boxes, ladders, etc.
For larger warehouses, it can often involve big decisions about whether to implement barcode readers or RFID devices. Either way, there is a clear message: for the job to get done, the tools must be present.
Use the FIFO (first in, first out) approach
Products must be sold in the same chronological order in which they are purchased or created. This approach is especially important for perishable products such as food, flowers, and cosmetics.
This way inventory management for non-perishable products is also a good idea, since items that remain stored for a long time, in addition to costing the business, can be damaged or outdated and, obviously, after a while, they cannot be sold.
The best way to apply the FIFO approach in a warehouse is to add new items from the back so that older products are on the front.
It is important to constantly audit
It is necessary to periodically count the inventory available in the business to ensure that what is in stock matches what is in the warehouse.
Companies large and small use different techniques, including an annual year-end physical inventory that counts each item and continuous spot check, which can be most useful for products that move quickly or have storage issues.
Ready to improve inventory management? Take these tips into account and you will see how in a short time your business will be able to manage its merchandise like large companies. If you think that you cannot do this alone, then we recommend you take the help of inventory management companies with which you can improve each area of your SME, including the warehouse.