Inventory Management
/ By Karan Mudliar / Blog • Uncategorized/ • • • • • / 0 Comments

How SME’s can improve their Inventory Management Process ?

Majority of small and medium sized businesses dealing with warehousing, retail, manufacturing and distribution often come across inventory specific challenges. Be it issues related to dead stock or struggles with wastage’s and stock losses— lack of a functional inventory management process can seriously impair productivity and restrict growth. Moreover with massive levels of investments manipulating the inventory, it becomes essential for the businesses to treat stocks with respect.

In the subsequent sections, we shall look at some of the most functional inventory management strategies, adopted by the SMEs.

Making Use of Optimization Tools

SMEs are best served by inventory optimization tools that focus on specifics and help them gain a competitive advantage over the competitors. These tools help marketers and warehouse managers evaluate the concerned networks for the best policies and even the existing inadequacies. Each supply chain node is closely analyzed by the standalone tools which extract data from ERP and WMS systems. In a nutshell, these optimization tools analyze supply variability, demand variability, and certain replenishment parameters for staying ahead of the market and industry loopholes. SMEs are increasingly investing in these tools for carving out a pretty intuitive inventory management process.

Employing Real-Time Analytics and Business Solutions

Majority of SMEs are increasingly focusing on real-time analytics for managing the inventory in a better way. With technological innovations at the fore, it is quite easier for them to create a unified information model that comprises of financial data, supply chain insights and other granular information sets. Having a cohesive platform for employing varied business solutions is a great strategy that SMEs are increasingly focusing on.

Treating Stock like Finances

Companies that treat stock like finances never have to compromise on productivity and growth. Moreover, it is only appropriate to render similar levels of importance to the stocks as they are the organizational assets, precisely in the form of inventory. SMEs must keep a detailed track of the commodities by analyzing the inflow, outflow, stock movement and the price points. Businesses that have good understanding of the stock often fare better as compared to others as they usually avoid making additional orders and swear by smarter inventory-specific decisions.

Adopting Automation

Automation is probably the only solution that can easily streamline the existing inventory management requirements. Moreover, SMEs opting for this strategy need not depend on manual interventions. Be it placing replenishing orders for stocking or even following up the deliveries, automation allows businesses to stay ahead in terms of innovation. With automation on-board, it becomes easier for companies to detect excess and dead stock while addressing issues related to supply and demand.

Improving Functionality

Small and medium sized businesses should look to improve the functionality of the concerned warehouse for addressing the inventory specific requirements. The most probable solutions include staff access and updated inventory. Moreover, businesses must also look to integrate the existing inventory systems with a POS system; precisely for staying updated and minimizing the lag time. That said, improved functionality also leads to advanced reporting where SMEs can easily gather new insights, depending on performance and inventory management. Some of the other benefits associated with improved functionality include customizable workflows.

Monitoring Slow or Dead Stock

While we did talk previously about the dead stock, it’s high time we address the elephant in the room. Firstly, a dead stock takes up quite a lot of space and hinders functional additions. SMEs should be able to tabulate the stocks based on the dynamism and must try to get rid of the stagnant ones, at first. Slow moving stocks limit profitability by restricting cash flow. Lastly, businesses must segregate the stocks and commodities within the warehouses based on their shelf life. Once the stagnated stocks are liquidated, it becomes easier for the companies to control the deadstock levels, make new additions and improve productivity.

Inference

These are some of the most functional strategies which can be deployed by small and medium sized businesses for improving the existing inventory management framework. Apart from the mentioned ones, companies should also be able to added newer technologies into the mix for improving the entire process of inventory management. Last but not the least; SMEs should emphasize on amplifying the workforce efficiency within the warehouse for handing the inventory in the best possible manner.

/ By Karan Mudliar / Blog • Uncategorized/ • • • • • • • / 0 Comments

Benefits of a Transportation Management System

Companies dependent on retail chains and ecommerce solutions usually deploy TMS or Transportation Management Systems for simplifying certain fulfillment based tasks. A functional TMS plan is highly beneficial to businesses as it allows them to transport products in a very cost-effective manner. In addition to that, Transportation Management System also involves intermodal freight movements, comprising of inbound, outbound, domestic, international and commercial shipments. The best thing about TMS is that it can seamlessly function with the concerned company or even with an outsourced fulfillment or logistics partner.

Why Companies are Emphasizing on TMS Solutions?

TMS or Transportation Management System is the only supply chain tool that reduces additional freight costs. Having this strategy on-board helps organizations immensely as they can pair up logistics with functional analytics and optimization techniques. TMS solutions work way better than some of the more conventional supply chain management techniques and in the subsequent sections, we shall enlist some benefits which set them apart from the usual ones.

Better Customer Satisfactions Levels

Improved Warehouse Efficiency

While some might argue that a transportation management system has nothing to do with warehouse management, there is a direct correlation between the two. With a functional TMS solution on-board, companies can quickly dispatch the shipments; thereby saving a lot of time for performing warehouse duties. Moreover, with the TMS module integrated alongside the ERP, data entry issues and associated errors can be readily avoided. In a nutshell, TMS and WMS work together for improving the efficiency of the concerned supply chain framework. The inadequacies are duly minimized followed by higher levels of cost savings.

 

Better Delivery Options

Transportation Management System helps optimize the shipping techniques of the companies; thereby offering a host of exciting fulfillment options to the customers. Be it the inbound shipping programs or the pool-point shipping ideas, having a robust TMS module can open a door of opportunities for the customers. In addition to that, this approach to shipping and fulfillment also covers multiple locations and serves as a precursor to the Omni-channel customer experience. Lastly, one person with remote access can easily manage the entire delivery schema for multiple networks.

Reduction in Inventory

Organizations dealing with surplus inventory issues are best served by a TMS module on-board.  As companies can now ship products at a faster rate, it becomes easier for them to plan out the stocks in a better manner. This eventually minimizes the issues related to surplus stocks and can help businesses improve productivity.

Improved Cash Flow

Needless to say, a functional transport management system can also help an organization improve the overall cash flow. With freight accounting made easy, improved cash flow is something businesses can expect going into the future. Moreover, a TMS module offers a leeway to the shippers as they can now save a lot of money by tweaking the structure of inbound logistics. For those who are interested in facts and figures, companies can easily save something in the ballpark of 2 to 5 percent by cutting out duplicate payments, inaccurate charges and other logistical pitfalls.

Advanced Analytics

While we have addressed this aspect in some of the previous sections, it’s only appropriate to discuss more about the analytical side of transport management system. The associated analytics identify low-cost shipping options for businesses; thereby helping companies save a lot of money. Moreover, with shippers having fewer issues to worry about, the entire management team can concentrate more on warehouse and inventory control.

Inference

Over the past few years, it has become easier to implementing TMS solutions to the entire process of warehousing, fulfillment and inventory control. The best part about using this business strategy is the backhaul support and consolidation opportunities where companies can save a lot of additional costs without having to compromise on customer satisfaction levels. What makes most sense is to link a robust TMS module with a highly efficient warehouse management system. While this promotes better visibility of the entire supply chain, it can actually improve the process of inventory forecasting and minimize the data-specific errors.