Many businesses have accepted the fact that they need an inventory management system to keep track of inventories, deliveries as well as orders and sales. Spare parts shops need spare parts inventory management software to establish a work order as well as make a bill of materials. All these activities combined, thanks to the inventory management system ensure that the company remains profitable. Not only do spare parts shops become profitable but there is a decrease in service cost and a decrease in mean time to repair a vehicle. What happens with decreased service time is happy customers who recommend you and your business to their family and friends. When a customer is happy with your services, he will keep coming again and again.
Uses of an inventory system
An inventory management system is used for several purposes in business. Most importantly, it’s used to ensure that there are no product outages and product overstocks. In short, an inventory management software should be seen as a tool for data organization. Before the invention of such systems, businesses and companies would use spreadsheets and hard copy forms. This was tiresome and time-consuming.
Features of a good inventory management system
Like any other software used elsewhere in businesses, there are desirable features associated with a good inventory management software. Desirable features of an inventory management software include order management, asset tracking, service management and product identification. Going over these features, the inventory is programmed in a certain way to warn managers and relevant people of impending shortages. After the warning or notification, they are in a better position to reorder the same product or replace it with another desirable product. This prevents a business being caught unaware by the shortages of a certain product.
Asset tracking is the second feature of a good inventory management software. This means it’s possible to keep track of a product using its barcode as well as the serial number. Through wireless tracking and radio frequency identification, it’s possible to keep track of a product ensuring lost products are recovered. Service management is the other good feature that can be very useful for a system being used in the service industry where costs and processes are likely to change from time to time. The last feature of a good inventory system is product identification that involves the use of barcode reader.
Advantages of an inventory management system
Like mentioned earlier, there are advantages associated with an inventory management software. The first advantage is cost saving. Alongside workforce, inventory management system software is one of the largest investments that a company can make. Cost savings comes from the idea that it’s possible to holds only the goods you require in your storage facility. It’s also possible to have enough stock that can cover your demand. Another major benefit of an inventory management software is that they increase efficiency by automating many tasks. It’s, therefore, possible to collect data and perform related calculations. On the efficiency part, inventory management systems have the ability to create records.