An inventory-based business can be a satisfying venture with quite a substantial potential for profit. However, it can also be easily susceptible to failure, especially when operations are hodgepodge. It’s critical to recognize the potential vulnerabilities in your operations, as doing so will not only help you avoid inventory-related troubles, but you may even be able to eliminate them altogether. Here are some of the issues you should look for, as well as the best ways to resolve them.
Not having a streamlined system
At the heart of every inventory-based business is inventory management. In a nutshell, this encompasses the entire inventory process—from acquisition to storage to shipping, and in some cases, disposal. In manufacturing operations, this also pertains to the management of raw materials and other components to the handling of finished products. It’s a basic enough idea on the surface, yes, but depending on the particular operation, it can have a number of sublevels that make it all the more complex.
Indeed, it can be safely argued that your inventory management measures can make or break your business. Not having a streamlined system can put your business in danger of a variety of mishaps, such as human error. Along those same lines, USPS explains that recognizing your key performance indicators is a must in bettering your processes. Excess inventory, for instance, is both spent money and space you can’t fill with better sellers, and it’s through the inventory system that you will ultimately avoid wasting money and space.
This invariably takes us to the next point . . .
Not modernizing
You might be surprised to know that there’s likely still a good number of businesses that are still handling their inventory manually—that is to say, with a clipboard, pen and paper, and maybe Excel. There’s a number of problems that could come out of this, including inaccurate forecasting of supply and demand, which is undoubtedly counterproductive to the very tenet of inventory management. It’s for this reason that modernizing inventory management by replacing manual tracking is absolutely crucial.
At the most basic level, doing so means embracing and implementing warehouse management software. Essentially, tools like 4SIGHT Warehouse Management Software, mobe3 WMS, Robocom WMS, and many others will make every step of the entire inventory management process—that is to say, ordering, scanning, shipping, tracking, and more—a lot more manageable.
Equally important is the ability to automate your inventory functions. Not only does this, again, eliminate the likelihood of mistakes from process gaps, but AllBusiness notes it also offers your operations the chance to maximize efficiency, which translates to higher productivity and profitability.
Not hiring the right people
Even with the right software and systems in place, you still need the right human element to ensure that the wheels of your operations continue to turn. However, what you probably don’t knowis that you shouldn’t just hire anyone off the street to work on your inventory or in your warehouse. As a matter of fact, inventory work is highly specialized, which means that, if you really want to cut down on the possibility of human error, you will want to recruit the right people.
As a rule, you will want to pay attention to specific qualities when you hire inventory workers. Physical strength and hand-eye coordination are important, of course, but so are soft skills in communication and organization. Computer skills are a must, as well, as is the right attitude. Being experienced and sufficiently trained will undoubtedly be welcome, too.
How well you establish an inventory management system for your business is a huge factor to its success, as is your willingness to innovate and acquire the right resources and people to help you in the process. With all these elements in place, you can all but sit back and watch your hard work flow naturally. In turn, you allow yourself more room to attend to the overall growth of your business.
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