Tag Archives: Inventory Management

What to consider when choosing your first inventory management ERP solution

What to consider when choosing your first inventory management ERP solution

Struggling to manage stock levels and satisfy customers using paper-based systems or spreadsheets? Here’s what you need to know about opting for inventory management ERP software.

Managing inventory is complicated. When your business starts to grow in size, keeping track of a large amount of stock via spreadsheets or paper-based systems is too risky and time-consuming. Inventory management software is key to operating efficiently and optimising stock turnover.

The best inventory management solution also gives you a joined-up look at your whole business. Without a clear view of how much stock you’re holding in the context of your sales, incoming supplies and cash flow—you’re vulnerable to under or over-ordering or losing sight of costs.

Companies seeking to improve inventory management are wise to consider an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution. But how do you approach the software selection process and what are the must-have features in your first inventory management ERP?

 

Which businesses need an inventory management ERP and why?

The way you move products from the production line to market requires finesse given that today’s consumers are more discriminating and have a greater sense of urgency.

In particular, agility and precision in stock management matter more than ever before in the retail and wholesale distribution industries. Businesses that procure, store, sell and deliver finished goods are a cornerstone of the economy, but competition and consolidation are increasing.

For smaller companies that are growing into mid-market enterprises, streamlining and automating the flow of products to end consumers becomes critical to achieving your goals for continued expansion. That may include adding new product lines, opening extra warehouses interstate or overseas, or bringing more parts of the supply chain in-house.

Whether you sell a variety of products into different industries or have a niche, the inventory management challenges for growing retail and distribution businesses typically include:

  • Managing information and interactions with customers and suppliers.
  • Gaining clarity about your capacity to meet demand now and into the future.
  • Getting accurate data around the amount, location and cost of inventory.
  • Increasing the speed and efficiency of fulfillment processes.
  • Managing multiple warehouses, in multiple countries and currencies.

You need to know what’s driving your sales pipeline, what’s happening in the warehouse, and how all of it affects your balance sheet. It’s all connected, but currently being managed separately—which is holding you back.

Rarely will spreadsheets, entry-level software, or a point solution be effective when inventory lies at the heart of your profitability. Instead, you need a comprehensive ERP solution that helps you manage inventory as part of end-to-end business process management.  

[FEATURE ARTICLE – 6 ERP readiness signs growing businesses will encounter]

 

What functionality do you need in your first inventory management ERP?

Keeping track of stock is a means to an end—the end being happy customers. Your new ERP solution should help you to provide an excellent experience, from the time a business or individual orders through to the delivery of their goods and after-sales care.

Your inventory management ERP should include functionality that allows you to:

  • Capture and use data about customers and vendors to improve sales processes, engagement, and long-term loyalty.
  • Plan with a clear view of your sales pipeline, shipping lead times, costs and supplier performance.
  • Automate re-ordering based on system-wide analysis of supply and demand.
  • Access real-time data on stock amounts and precise location across multiple warehouses and within each warehouse (bin management).
  • Track stock by serial number, batch number, or expiration date for improved traceability.
  • See at a glance how much money is tied up in stock, apply different valuation methods and costing methodologies, and analyse profitability by warehouse, product or location.
  • Easily see what’s ‘available to promise’ taking into account sales, forecast sales, goods stored across multiple warehouses, on consignment, or in-transit.
  • Analyse data to more accurately forecast minimum and maximum stock levels, and reduce wastage and dead stock.
  • Increase the precision and efficiency of picking and packing with pick lists, suggested routes and integration with technologies like barcode scanning and IoT.
  • Seamlessly manage dispatch processes, and support improved logistics or compliance with EDI requirements of large retailers.
  • Track and manage warranties and coordinate after-sales service.

In addition, in order to future-proof your technology investment it’s essential to choose a leading software solution that is:

  • Built on cutting-edge infrastructure and available in the cloud.  
  • Intuitive to use and available on mobile devices.
  • Able to be implemented in stages and easily integrated with complementary technologies.
  • Made by an innovative, established company committed to ongoing development and support.

[FEATURE ARTICLE – Enabling accurate inventory forecasting through a modern ERP solution]

 

Ready to start benefitting from a new inventory management ERP?

Introducing an ERP solution into your business is a major change. It’s important to reflect on whether your business is prepared for the time and effort involved in embedding new systems across your whole enterprise. Poor planning can lead to failed ERP implementations.

If you’re ready to benefit from a digital supply chain, pay close attention to how closely a solution aligns to the actual improvements you’re looking to make—both now and into the future.

Remember too that ERP solutions should be configured for your unique workflows, processes, and financial reporting requirements to deliver maximum value.

Businesses new to the world of ERP software can benefit from third-party advice to choose and implement the ideal solution. Look for a reseller or implementation partner with demonstrated experience, an excellent track record of successful ERP projects, and an approach and team that you can trust.

Do you want to talk to an ERP expert about improving inventory management? Feel free to call us on 1300 045 046 or email [email protected] for more info or to schedule a consultation.

Inventory Forecasting ERP software

Accurate inventory is not a myth: Enabling accurate inventory forecasting through ERP

In today’s post, we are going to explore how Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) empowers wholesale distribution and manufacturing businesses with advanced inventory forecasting functionalities to resolve internal conflicts between warehouse, sales and finance.

The debate between your Sales, Finance and Inventory/Logistics Managers may sound something like this:

Inventory forecasting debate between sales, warehouse logistics and finance departments

Logistics Manager; “If sales forecast more accurately and sell to a plan we will be able to hold the right inventory levels…”

Sales Manager; “If purchasing and the warehouse team held the correct stock levels and kept us informed we would be able to sell more…”

Finance Manager; “We need more accurate stock holdings and we must reduce inventory levels to reduce the burden these stock levels place on cash flow…”

These are the three “most seen” competing points of view from most small to medium-sized businesses in the wholesale/distribution and manufacturing sector. The good news is, accurate inventory forecasting is not a myth!

So, how can an ERP solution help you manage these conflicting points of view and forecast inventory demand at any given point in time?

Accurate inventory forecasting is not a myth

ERP solutions give you the functionality to provide faster, better access to information for better decision making. This is particularly true with regards to inventory management for wholesale distribution and manufacturing.

Here is how an ERP solution can help resolve your internal conflict and give you accurate inventory forecasting functionalities.

Planning

The essence of an ERP solution goes well beyond invoicing, customers, financials and suppliers. Planning is at the heart of a good distribution and manufacturing ERP solution.

Planning tools for purchasing and production planning will help balance the supply and demand equation to consider thousands of transactions and recommend a plan. Think of the elements of any plan for a wholesale distribution or manufacturing business:

  • Lead times;
  • Economic order quantities;
  • Container and shipping management;
  • managing multiple suppliers;
  • forecasts and min/max stock levels.

It is impossible to manage all of these “moving parts” without the automation that an ERP solution provides.

A good planning solution will map out all relevant components to recommend purchase orders for raw materials and works orders for production planning. A good planning solution balances thousands of transactions to make the right recommendations.

Information

Decision making requires information; timely, relevant information. A good ERP solution provides relevant information such as lead times, current stock levels, historical sales, supplier on-time/in full reporting and expected delivery dates with detailed available to promise.

When your various business departments get access to all the information in real-time from your supply chain, your staff is empowered with the accurate data they need to make informed decisions.

Analytics

As mentioned, data empowers our staff with accurate information to make informed decisions. In today’s world, we have access to “big data” from multiple sources.

Let’s put this data to good use through analytics to help us with decision making. Decision making is about timely, accurate information. A well-implemented ERP analytics toolset will give you the information that you need when you need it to help you with the planning and forecasting.

Forecasting

Tough to get right in any business. Not to worry, ERP gives you access to automated forecasting tools and relevant data for forecasting historical sales, market trends and product updates.

Mobility

We live in a mobile world. All of the functionality that we require from our ERP solution should be available from a mobility device. Once again, the emphasis is on timely, accurate information.

Decision making can’t wait, and neither should you!

Access to information where and when you need it means that mobility remains important.

Conclusion

The debate between sales, warehouse management and finance can be solved by implementing an ERP solution to empower your business with advanced inventory forecasting functionalities.

Implement an ERP solution to provide your business with the information, analytics and planning tools to close the gap between planning, scheduling, sales, inventory management and finance.

At Leverage Technologies, we have been helping Australian businesses choose and implement the right ERP software to grow smart. For more information feel free to call us on 1300 045 046 or email [email protected].