How Inventory Management Has Changed The Biggest Industries
Failure to invest in, or effectively manage, your inventory system can make or break a business. The more efficient your inventory management system is, the more chance your company has of achieving exponential growth. However, the more growth you experience, the more challenges you’ll face in terms of tracking inventory levels and managing your logistical capabilities.
Your chances of growing also depend on the competitiveness of the industry you’re operating in. Below are the industries that have boomed as a result of investing in inventory management systems (IMS) and technology.
Retail
With such a wide variety of products for sale all at once, it is imperative retailers keep on top of their inventory levels. With automated inventory control, there’s minimal requirement for human labour as the integrated system will keep track of how many units of each product are in stock, and automatically place an order if the level reaches a predetermined low volume. But it’s not just the present that an IMS can take care of. Forecasts can be made using historic data to determine whether your current stock levels will be able to accommodate for a particular period. This is ideal for seasonality, ensuring that your business has the correct volume of products to cater to the determined demand.
Food And Beverage
When dealing with perishable items like food and drink, it’s less about tracking stock levels and more about keeping track of the sell by dates of your goods. An inventory management system can provide incredible data insight to restaurants, cafés through an alert system that notifies you of aged stock.
The food and beverage industry doesn’t just cover hospitality, but production as well. As the inventory needed for food production is on a much grander scale than a restaurant, more automation is required. By combining your IMS with a warehouse management system(WMS), everything from stock count to adjusting the stock itself can be done without any human input.
Manufacturing
No matter the complexity of the task in hand, manufacturing companies still need the raw materials to complete their production. In the event the materials start to run low, an IMS will be able to detect this and ensure your stock levels are always correct. This helps streamline the production process, therefore increasing those profit margins. If you’re manufacturing a product that contains a lot of key components, you need to have all the stock in order to complete production. Failure to have the right stock will mean the production line will have to be stopped, costing you more than just money.
Ecommerce
With orders placed every day – and many being dispatched on the same day as the order date – effective inventory management is crucial to succeeding in e-commerce. All products need to be picked, packaged, and sent out in one single process, so if there’s one area worth investing in, it’s your IMS. In lightning quick fashion, products can be restocked and distributed to the consumer as soon as possible, whilst also providing internal data on stock levels, supporting the reordering of any wholesale goods, and managing your costs in and out.
Sporting Goods
Businesses that manufacture and distribute sporting goods fall into a similar category than those within retail. However, the biggest challenge – and change – for those within sporting goods is seasonality. Sports are played all year round – no matter the weather or season. To keep up with this evergreen demand for equipment, you need an inventory management system that ensures a constant, accurate flow of stock. As demand fluctuates throughout the year, your IMS can help you manage this. For example, stores may see an increase in football related sales in August, as a result of the new season. Your IMS will know of this increase in sales, using historic data, and use this knowledge to notify of stock levels and help you deal with demand.
If you’re looking to implement an inventory management system into your business – or upgrade your current system – and streamline your business, we can help. Get in touch with the team today to learn about our services that help optimise, integrate, or implement new systems to improve your business and processes.