A warehouse inventory system tracks the inventory in a warehouse. Plain and simple. They tell businesses how much inventory they have and when it is available. Inventory is not only goods to be sold but also goods that are used for production and manufacturing.
But how can having an efficient warehouse inventory system benefit your business? An effective warehouse inventory system will keep track of inventory to minimise financial and time costs to the business. Inventory management is one step in the overall warehouse management solution or system, while it is not integral to all other parts of the business in can play a key role. It is constantly being updated and changing, so supervision of any system is necessary. Below are 8 key advantages of a warehouse inventory system.
- Organisation
Warehouse inventory systems will help to increase organisation within a company. They aid with tracking all inventory; when it comes, where it is stored and when it went out. An effective system will help workers stay on top of the inventory available and make processes run a lot smoother further down the supply chain.
- Time management
With the click of a button, staff will be able to find available inventory. The days of searching through large files are over and with that staff can be more productive and in turn help service their customers and clients more efficiently.
- Planning
Planning is an integral part of any business and a key to future success. An effective warehouse management system in Australia will help a business plan for the future. Holding data from previous years, it can provide a detailed analysis of numerous aspects relating to the inventory, such as how long it was held, allowing further future planning to be executed so that the business can keep progressing.
- Review
Reviews per product can be undertaken to show popular products and the data related to this product regarding sales. While lost or stolen stock can be identified quickly and easily upon review. Data on machines used for production can also be examined and reviewed to aid planning.
- Productivity
Considering the benefits of a warehouse inventory system in relation to time management and planning, a connection can then be made with productivity. The greater the level of time management and planning, the higher future productivity will be.
- Environment
The days of paper-based inventory systems are gone and with that business’ can be happy safe in the knowledge that they are helping the environment. Automated systems ensure that paper is no longer used, and wasted, documenting current inventory. This old-fashioned system was not only inefficient for company’s bank balances but also their carbon footprint.
- Cost
Inventory costs money to store. Staff hours and overhead costs need to be managed effectively. The cost of these will be affected by inventory held. An analysis of the inventory system will give an indication to the company on where they can cut costs or where they need to put more money into the business.
- Staffing
A warehouse inventory system, as outlined above, holds a lot of key information about inventory in a warehouse. This amount of inventory held will correlate to how much staff is needed to deal with incoming and outgoing processes. Companies track their inventory and with this information they will know whether they need to upsize or downsize their business.
As detailed above, warehouse inventory systems have many benefits. If effectively implemented, these systems can have a positive effect on a company’s sales and returns for years to come and will be worth the initial set-up costs incurred.