Friday, December 31, 2010

Inventory management software in future

For any firm with stocks to manage, Inventory Management Software services can be extremely beneficial. The stocks might consist of raw materials, semi-finished products, or finished goods. Often, the sheer volume of inventory can be overwhelming, and its management is an arduous task. In these cases, services from an inventory management company should be seriously considered. This strategic move can also help in minimizing overall costs and maximizing efficiencies and revenues.

However the importance of getting effective inventory management services varies from industry to industry. The major determinant factors are volume, nature of business, and values of inventories of a company. For instance inventory management is different for an industrial products firm vs. a cosmetic products company.

Some companies need Inventory Management Software services continuously in order to stay organized. They can either employ separate staff or hire an inventory management company for the solutions. If you are a wholesaler, the process of inventory management starts at the onset of production and purchase of raw materials. For a retailer it starts when the first order is placed to the wholesalers.

Good inventory management is effective enough in determining in advance where products are to be stored, especially if they are large items. Automobiles are a good example of this. Usually the time of inventory management is the time interval between goods production and its final delivery to the concerned party.

It involves a great deal of paperwork and documentation, which can be very time consuming and tedious. To get rid of such problems it is better to install software programs for effective and efficient inventory management. One can find many inventory management service providers in Simi Valley to choose from.

Many service providers offer free of cost inventory management software on the Internet, but they are usually not up to the mark and sometimes ill-equipped for your specific business. Thorough and well-equipped software keeps track of the amount of goods sold and those that remain. Although it may sound simple, it is actually a complex procedure, so it is wise to seek help from a well reputed and reliable inventory management company.

This software is available for sale online as well as offline. They can be very easy to use and integrate into your business’s day to day functions. Even a non-IT savvy person can operate it. Some companies even order customized inventory management software that is specialized for their business if the existing one cannot fulfill their requirements. The inventory management professionals will thoroughly train the staff on utilizing the new software effectively and to its best use.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Inventory Management Techniques: Planning, Replenishment and Activities Control

These Inventory Management Software techniques will improve your inventory turnover ratio and transform frozen assets into cash!

Cutting-edge inventory management software techniques deliver results that go far beyond initial expectations. Explore the latest inventory management methods for saving money, satisfying customers and speeding up the flow of inventory. Learn how to take days—not hours—out of the manufacturing and distribution cycle. Discover how to apply today’s most exciting stockless production techniques.

How You Will Benefit

·         Reduce your cost of inventory obsolescence
·         Become truly responsive to your customers’ real needs
·         Make your scheduling and shop loading more efficient
·         Narrow the gap between sales and stock replacement
·         Fine-tune your record-keeping accuracy for better inventory management
·         Determine your exact material status and inventory dollar burden

What You Will Cover

·         The strategic role of inventory management techniques
·         Establish the optimal inventory level
·         Inventory planning and replenishment
·         Distribution center and warehousing operations
·         Inventory accuracy and audits
·         Inventory management, measurement and reporting
·         Inventory forecasting and demand management
·         Lead-time analysis and reduction

Who Should Attend



Factory and inventory control professionals, manufacturing and production control managers, industrial                               engineers, plant managers, material and purchasing managers, factory superintendents and customer/technical service managers who can benefit from enhancing their inventory management techniques.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Inventory Control

Inventory Management Software control will help you eliminate common inventory problems including:
Costly end of year inventory write-offs
Inaccurate inventory counts resulting in customer dissatisfaction and loss of sales
Wasted time spent searching for missing inventory

Engineered to improve efficiency and profitability,  Inventory Control provides the capabilities you need to accurately track inventory, without the complexity or expense of an enterprise solution. Easy. Efficient. Affordable.

Ideal for businesses ranging from individual contractors to larger operations with multiple locations, Inventory Control delivers advanced capabilities in an easy-to-use format. Inventory Control is recommended for:
Warehouses
Light manufacturing and distribution centers
Retailers
Stock rooms & supply closets
Inventory-carrying mobile trucks, ships or containers
Installation contractors or any business that buys, stocks and sells parts and products.

Inventory Control allows you to define multiple sites (a warehouse, truck fleet, stock room, or even an installation truck such as a TV or satellite installer) with multiple locations (a bin, shelf, or even a pallet within the location). It’s simple to track your inventory by location, serial number, lot or any combination of the numerous ‘track bys’.

Easily create barcode labels with Inventory Control. Print barcode labels or inventory tags using data from the Inventory Control database. Attach barcoded labels to inventory items, physical locations or pallets to quickly improve efficiency.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

What is "Inventory Management"?

Inventory Management Software  is the active control program which allows the management of sales, purchases and payments.

Inventory management software helps create invoices, purchase orders, receiving lists, payment receipts and can print bar coded labels. An inventory management software system configured to your warehouse, retail or product line will help to create revenue for your company. The Inventory Management will control operating costs and provide better understanding. We are your source for inventory management information, inventory management software and tools.
A complete Inventory Management Control system contains the following components:

Inventory Management Definition

Inventory Management Terms

Inventory Management Purposes

Definition and Objectives for Inventory Management

Organizational Hierarchy of Inventory Management

Inventory Management Planning

Inventory Management Controls for Inventory

Determining Inventory Management Stock Levels

Monday, December 27, 2010

High-level Inventory Management

It seems that  in High-level Inventory Management Software there was a change in manufacturing practice from companies with relatively homogeneous lines of products to vertically integrated companies with unprecedented diversity in processes and products. Those companies (especially in metalworking) attempted to achieve success through economies of scope - the gains of jointly producing two or more products in one facility. The managers now needed information on the effect of product-mix decisions on overall profits and therefore needed accurate product-cost information. A variety of attempts to achieve this were unsuccessful due to the huge overhead of the information processing of the time. However, the burgeoning need for financial reporting after 1900 created unavoidable pressure for financial accounting of stock and the management need to cost manage products became overshadowed. In particular, it was the need for audited accounts that sealed the fate of managerial cost accounting. The dominance of financial reporting accounting over management accounting remains to this day with few exceptions, and the financial reporting definitions of 'cost' have distorted effective management 'cost' accounting since that time. This is particularly true of inventory.
Hence, high-level financial inventory has these two basic formulas, which relate to the accounting period:
Cost of Beginning Inventory at the start of the period + inventory purchases within the period + cost of production within the period = cost of goods available
Cost of goods available − cost of ending inventory at the end of the period = cost of goods sold
The benefit of these formulae is that the first absorbs all overheads of production and raw material costs into a value of inventory for reporting. The second formula then creates the new start point for the next period and gives a figure to be subtracted from the sales price to determine some form of sales-margin figure.
Manufacturing management is more interested in inventory turnover ratio or average days to sell inventory since it tells them something about relative inventory levels.
Inventory turnover ratio (also known as inventory turns) = cost of goods sold / Average Inventory = Cost of Goods Sold / ((Beginning Inventory + Ending Inventory) / 2)
and its inverse
Average Days to Sell Inventory = Number of Days a Year / Inventory Turnover Ratio = 365 days a year / Inventory Turnover Ratio
This ratio estimates how many times the inventory turns over a year. This number tells how much cash/goods are tied up waiting for the process and is a critical measure of process reliability and effectiveness. So a factory with two inventory turns has six months stock on hand, which is generally not a good figure (depending upon the industry), whereas a factory that moves from six turns to twelve turns has probably improved effectiveness by 100%. This improvement will have some negative results in the financial reporting, since the 'value' now stored in the factory as inventory is reduced.
While these accounting measures of inventory are very useful because of their simplicity, they are also fraught with the danger of their own assumptions. There are, in fact, so many things that can vary hidden under this appearance of simplicity that a variety of 'adjusting' assumptions may be used. These include:
Specific Identification
Weighted Average Cost
Moving-Average Cost
FIFO and LIFO.
Inventory Turn is a financial accounting tool for evaluating inventory and it is not necessarily a management tool. Inventory management should be forward looking. The methodology applied is based on historical cost of goods sold. The ratio may not be able to reflect the usability of future production demand, as well as customer demand.
Business models, including Just in Time (JIT) Inventory, Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) and Customer Managed Inventory (CMI), attempt to minimize on-hand inventory and increase inventory turns. VMI and CMI have gained considerable attention due to the success of third-party vendors who offer added expertise and knowledge that organizations may not possess.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

What Are the Benefits of Inventory Management Software?

Inventory Management Software is a big investment, and many wonder if it's worth it. Small to mid-sized businesses, especially, need to know that the investment they will be making is worth it in the long run. Inventory management software also comes in various configurations; some are industry specific, and many of them can be custom fit to accommodate special circumstances.

Start Early
When a business is small or has a small inventory, the bookkeeping needs can usually be handled fairly easily by the sole proprietor or a helper, but as a business grows there is usually a need for better organization and more detailed record-keeping methods. Inventory management software can be very useful to employ when a business is small so that criteria and specifications can be established while the scope of the effort is still manageable.
Purpose
Good inventory management is essential to the success of a business, both for its own records and for records that will be reviewed by the IRS and other outside entities. If inventory is not tracked, it is impossible to accurately identify where money is being made and lost or to learn how to improve processes within a company to help it grow. Inventory management software aids management to easily track company investments and see where improvements might be made.
Time Saving Benefits
Inventory management software helps the inventory manager to save time by keeping calculations up-to-date giving the manager easy access to the numbers that are needed for reporting and restocking information. These figures can easily be accessed by Purchasing for fast, up-to-the-minute information on what will need to be bought. Executives can easily access this information for help in determining where a company makes and loses money.
Money Saving Benefits
Inaccurate bookkeeping in a company's inventory can result in over-purchasing and under-purchasing of products that the company uses or sells. Either of these situations leaves room for loss; the under-purchased inventory runs out and stops production or sale of that item and over-producing causes an overage that can go to waste. The time-saving aspects of inventory management software save vast amounts of money, keeping production running smoothly and reducing personnel costs associated with record-keeping because much of the software is automated.
Automation
Inventory management software uses automation for many of its basic functions. Numbers can be simply "plugged" into specified areas and the software makes all the calculations. For instance, a person in the sales department will punch in a product code and quantity ordered by a customer to generate a receipt for the sale. The numbers will then be automatically entered into inventory, taking the product out of stock, adding the dollar amount to sales and calculating the gross profit made on that sale. This information is broken down and reported to the accounting department, and the purchasing department is notified that the sale has been made and stock will need to be reordered.
Potential for Growth
When purchasing inventory management software, the buyer should consider the current state of the company and what it may become in the future. The software is a big expense, but identifying how it can help facilitate the growth of the company is a critical step in the decision process. Many times buyers underestimate the success of their business and end up having to re-invest in new software a couple of years down the line. This can be a major, unnecessary expense and an even larger, avoidable hassle--transferring all the data to a new system.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Inventory Management Software

Inventory Management Software is often used by companies  to reduce their carrying costs.The software is used to track products and parts as they are transported from a vendor to a warehouse, between warehouses, and finally to a retail location or directly to a customer.
Inventory management software is used for a variety of purposes, including:
Maintaining a balance between too much and too little inventory.
Tracking inventory as it is transported between locations.
Receiving items into a warehouse or other location.
Picking, packing and shipping items from a warehouse.
Keeping track of product sales and inventory levels.
Cutting down on product obsolescence and spoilage.
Manufacturing uses/applications
Advantages
There are several advantages to using inventory management software in a business setting.
Cost savings
In many cases, a company’s inventory represents one of its largest investments, along with its workforce and locations.Inventory management software helps companies cut expenses by minimizing the amount of unnecessary parts and products in storage. It also helps companies keep lost sales to a minimum by having enough stock on hand to meet demand.
Warehouse organization
Inventory management software can help distributors, wholesalers, manufacturers and retailers optimize their warehouses. If certain products are often sold together or are more popular than others, those products can be grouped together or placed near the delivery area to speed up the process of picking, packing and shipping to customers.
Updated data
Up-to-date data on inventory conditions and levels is also an advantage inventory management software gives companies. Company executives can usually access the software through a mobile device, laptop or PC to check current inventory numbers.
Time savings
With the aid of restricted user rights, company managers can allow many employees to assist in inventory management. They can grant employees enough information access to receive products, make orders, transfer products and do other tasks without compromising company security. This can speed up the inventory-management process and save managers’ time.