Proper inventory management is essential for any manufacturing company that wants to avoid supply shortages and keep customers satisfied. Inefficient inventory management is exacting a staggering toll on the US manufacturing industry, draining billions of dollars from companies’ coffers each year.
A groundbreaking study conducted by the American Inventory Management Association (AIM) has revealed that companies with an average worth of $1 billion are losing 2.5% of their annual revenue due to subpar inventory management practices.
These findings highlight the urgent need for companies to address this critical issue and optimize their inventory systems in order to reclaim lost profits and drive sustainable growth. If your company is having problems with inventory management, continue reading this article.
How to optimize your inventory?
Optimizing inventory is as simple as maintaining an accurate record of supplies. Failing to maintain accurate records can result in two undesirable outcomes: overstocking or understocking of products.
So, to ensure optimal inventory levels, you have to accurately track your inventory and effectively manage the flow of supplies. This means you need to have a comprehensive understanding of demand in the marketplace, manage stock-keeping units (SKUs), and proactively address supply chain disruptions and other potential risks.
Role of FSM software in optimizing inventory
Everything boils down to proper production, planning, scheduling, and picking of supplies. This process can be streamlined and made more efficient using inventory management software. If this is your first time hearing about an inventory management software product, you can read more here.
We have attached an inventory optimization checklist at the end of the article. You can download it for free and save time operating your supply chains.
Now let’s jump straight into the process of streamlining manufacturing supply chains with FSM software. Field service management software helps optimize inventory by
- Streamlining inventory levels
- Automating inventory replenishments
- Enhancing order fulfillment
- Forecasting the demands
- Reducing supply chain disruptions
1. Streamlines inventory levels
The real-time monitoring feature of field service management software streamlines production planning by providing visibility into the status of stocks, resources, and orders. With a comprehensive view of available stock and location-specific information, companies can optimize resource allocation and restock strategically to avoid bottlenecks.
2. Automate inventory replenishments
Integration of inventory management software with ERP (Enterprise resource planning) systems offers significant advantages in optimizing inventory. Integrating with ERP enables automated inventory item reordering, following predefined rules like minimum stock levels or reorder points. This automated process helps prevent stockouts and ensures timely replenishment, resulting in improved efficiency in inventory management.
3. Enhances order fulfillment
In the manufacturing of discrete products, the final product is often the result of assembling numerous parts or sub-products. This process necessitates effective coordination and synchronization of production activities. To collect the required components from various warehouses, you can use the capabilities of scheduling and dispatching solutions. These solutions ensure that the appropriate technicians, equipped with the necessary skills and tools, are assigned to each job, leading to reduced response times and improved customer satisfaction.
4. Forecasting the demands
Reporting and analytics of FSM software help you make informed decisions and optimize inventory by giving insight from customer feedback, equipment performance, and resource utilization. This valuable data can be utilized to identify areas for improvement, optimize inventory levels, and make adjustments to production schedules in response to demand fluctuations.
5. Reduces supply chain disruptions
One of the common reasons for delayed stocks is the unexpected failure of pieces of equipment in the warehouse. However, FSM software addresses this issue by assigning unique serial numbers to the products and equipment and continuously monitors them in real time. By utilizing this feature, you can effectively assess the reliability of your equipment, minimize unplanned downtime, and optimize maintenance schedules accordingly. This proactive approach ensures better equipment management and reduces disruptions in warehouse operations.
Pro-Vigil’s quest for excellence
Meet Pro-Vigil, the leading provider of comprehensive surveillance solutions in San Antonio, Texas. Pro-Vigil specializes in designing, installing, and operating advanced surveillance systems tailored to meet the unique needs of its customers. To support its operations, the company maintained multiple warehouses and storage facilities to house its inventory and fixed assets.
To keep track of procurement and manage their master inventory, Pro-Vigil employed an ERP system. While this system excelled in accounting-related tasks, it fell short when providing visibility and management of inventory and assets across diverse warehouse locations and customer deployments. This posed a significant challenge for Pro-Vigil as they struggled to optimize their inventory and asset utilization.
Zuper’s impact on the evolution of Pro-Vigil
Fortunately, Pro-Vigil’s journey took an exciting turn when they discovered Zuper FSM software. Zuper’s comprehensive inventory and asset management solutions, coupled with the seamless integration of Pro-Vigil’s ERP system, revolutionized their operations. Suddenly, Pro-Vigil gained end-to-end visibility into their inventory and asset utilization, as well as thorough insights into their work orders.
By leveraging Zuper, Pro-Vigil could now map each asset to its respective customers and manage its entire lifecycle, from deployment to repairs and maintenance. This newfound control allows them to track asset availability in each location and improve resource allocations for their customers, ensuring smoother operations and improved customer satisfaction.
Empowered by Zuper’s mobile application, the warehouse production team and technicians seamlessly performed their operations using QR code scanning. This streamlined process not only enhanced efficiency but also ensured that all transactions were audited, leaving no room for errors or oversights.
Additionally, Zuper’s robust reporting capabilities empower Pro-Vigil with a comprehensive 360-degree view of their inventory and assets, enabling them to exercise better control, reduce costs, optimize asset utilization, and minimize inventory wastage.
Maximize your Efficiency with Inventory Software
Take control of your inventory today using Zuper Inventory Management Software, an all-in-one solution that fits seamlessly into your workflow. Using Zuper Inventory Management Software, you can strike a balance between supply and demand, minimize your stock costs, and maximize revenue potential.
Also, remember that to optimize your inventory, you need the power of an ERP (Enterprise resource planning) solution, and the Zuper software solution excels in that respect. Zuper is integrated with 50+ applications and can seamlessly integrate with your existing ERP solutions.
Zuper brings endless possibilities to optimize your inventory. So, do not hesitate any longer—schedule your demo now and unlock the true power of your business. Your future success awaits!
Download free checklist for inventory optimization.
