Controlling your inventory becomes less of a challenge and more of a systematized process if you take the time to create effective policies that you then make sure are enforced by the inventory team and any other employees who have inventory access. Since getting started is usually the hardest part, we’ve compiled for you 7 proven tips for creating better inventory control policies. Discover them below.
- Use an effective inventory control and planning solution to manage your inventory process. At the end of the day, your inventory control will only be as good as the tool your use to manage it.
- Restrict inventory and inventory data access only to those who absolutely need it. The portability a cloud inventory application offers is wonderful, but you want to make sure this doesn’t work against you – if you grant every employee access to your inventory app, you not only expose your data to security vulnerabilities, but increase the risk of errors creeping into it, which become really inevitable when too many hands handle your inventory.
- Create a unique ID for every product you stock, including a Stock Keeping Unit (SKU) number, an universal barcode (UPC) number, and clear product specifications. While building an accurate inventory takes more time, this makes finding and tracking products so much easier at all stages of the product replenishment cycle.
- Check your stock numbers regularly, through a clearly-defined, ongoing stock-taking program. Equipped with a small business inventory management tool, automating stock management and maintaining real time stock data becomes easier.
- Understand the difference between cost and price for all the items you stock. The offers your vendors and manufacturers make you do not always include holding costs or freight costs, which can add up to the total value of your purchase orders. Having an inventory control strategy in place that sets clear limits on these differences, as well as encourages manufacturers and vendors to be transparent, can help you save money in the long run.
- Follow best practices for physical inventory counts. Begin by preparing your warehouse(s) for the counting, labeling exceptions and isolating transit. Then ensure a control desk revises all data and ensures the numbers add up. Finally, choose the most appropriate metrics for tracking inventory, and track them over time.
- Reduce compounded safety stock, which can add up to your overall inventory costs and lead to overstock. Define clearly how much extra stock you want to keep as a safety precaution for each individual product. An inventory control and planning solution can again help you with this.
DataQlick empowers you to create and maintain effective inventory control policies by keeping all your inventory data safe and well organized. As a QuickBooks inventory app, it integrates seamlessly with one of the world’s leading accounting apps and comes with the added benefit of sales forecasting capabilities. Discover DataQlick.
