Without question, a company's greatest asset is its inventory. Among the most important tasks in every industry, whether it be manufacturing, retail, healthcare, or another, is inventory management. Maintaining inventory control is essential for operating a profitable and successful firm, yet poor inventory management is one of the main reasons for company failure. Thankfully, there's a way to manage your inventory more efficiently while saving money and effort. A collection of technologies called bespoke inventory management software aids organizations in maintaining track of their stock.

What is Inventory Management Software?

For companies of all sizes, inventory management software is an essential tool for managing orders, keeping track of stock levels, and streamlining operations. With so many options on the market, selecting the appropriate software can be difficult.

All facets of inventory are tracked, planned, and scheduled in clear text using inventory management software. It increases efficiency, conserves time and resources, and provides perceptive viewpoints that further the success of businesses. Instead of wasting time and resources on pointless monitoring, organizations will instead concentrate on evaluating, identifying, and communicating supervision in their processes with inventory management software solutions.

The Inventory Management Process:

You must have a thorough understanding of each stage of the inventory management process before creating an inventory management plan. This is essential for reducing mistakes and selecting the best inventory management system for your company.

• Items are brought to your location.
• Examine, arrange, and stock items
• Observe stock levels
• Stock orders are place
• Stock orders are submitted and authorized
• Remove products from stock and adjust inventory levels
• Adjust inventory levels
• Acquisition/Restocking
• Items are brought to your location:

At this stage, raw materials and subcomponents for manufacturers, or finished goods for customers, arrive at your warehouse.

• Examine, arrange, and stock items:

This is the process of reviewing, sorting, and storing merchandise in the appropriate stock locations, regardless of whether you utilize drop shipping, cross-docking, or another warehouse management system.

• Observe stock levels:

This can be achieved using cycle counts, perpetual inventory software, or physical inventory counts, all of which lessen the chance of error.

• Stock orders are place:

Orders are placed by customer’s in-store or on your website.

• Stock orders are submitted and authorized:

This is the point at which you give the order to your supplier; alternatively, your POS system may automate it.

• Remove products from stock:

By SKU number, the required items are located, removed from stock, and sent to the supplier or client.

• Adjust inventory levels:

You may automatically update inventory levels and notify relevant stakeholders by using a perpetual inventory system.

• Acquisition/Restocking:

Low stock levels promote buys and reorders. Stock up on supplies when needed.

Inventory Traceability versus Inventory Tracking:

In the warehouse and distribution industries, the words "Inventory Tracking" and "Inventory Traceability" are sometimes used interchangeably. However, their meanings are distinct, and they are both crucial to inventory control for quite different reasons.

• Inventory Tracking:

Product-specific record keeping is known as inventory tracking. It entails recording and keeping track of a product's movements from the time of receipt at your facility until the point of departure during shipping, as well as keeping those records for a predetermined amount of time after the item leaves your hands in case of a future recall.

• Inventory Traceability:

Operator performance plays a special role in inventory traceability. For example, recording the productivity of each colleague throughout a certain procedure for future evaluation or keeping track of who inside your facility used a tool crib and checked out a part last.

Key features of inventory management software in Zambia:

• Reporting
• Inventory Tracking
• Purchase Order Management
• Inventory Optimization
• Count Cycles
• Barcodes
• Multi warehouse control
• Reporting and Analytics
• Reporting:

Software intended for inventory management and reporting, as well as manual tracking techniques like spreadsheets, can be used to create inventory reports. They can be used by a company's purchasing, production, Inventory and sales departments, among others, to make sure that inventory is maintained properly and efficiently.

Businesses can determine what they can sell and what has to be ordered by looking at an accurate inventory report, which gives an account of inventory items. Physical or digital inventory reports are available and can be used to prevent overstocking and stock outs.

• Inventory Tracking:

Having the appropriate stock in the right quantities is your primary duty as a retailer, no matter how big or little. Accurate inventory tracking is essential to this process and is provided by a stock management system.

Therefore, efficient inventory management is crucial. Your inventory management system must be capable of accurately predicting shifts in customer demand and adjusting stock levels accordingly. To maximize client lifetime value and fulfil growing consumer expectations, this is essential.

• Purchase Order Management:

An official contract for the acquisition of products and services between a business and a supplier is called a buy order. It guarantees that the supplier will provide the promised amount and quality of products and services within the allotted time. In addition to making purchases simpler, purchase orders are an excellent tool for optimizing the functionality of your wholesale inventory management system.

Keeping thorough and precise financial records and monitoring your company's spending is beneficial. A well-managed buy-order system can significantly increase the efficiency of your inventory management operation.

• Inventory Optimization:

Ordering, maintaining, storing, and transferring inventory as well as overseeing the movement of items from producers to warehouses and onto the appropriate sales channels will be your main focus if you manage inventory.

Efficiently ordering the right amount of items in the right quantities to meet demand is the aim of inventory optimization. This is achieved by taking volatility in supply and demand into account and dynamically modifying inventory characteristics and stock regulations. By finding a balance between inventory investment restrictions and service level needs, inventory optimization aims to avoid the risk of costly excess or obsolete stock, lower inventory expenses, and ensure optimal availability.

• Count Cycles:

Inventory Cycle Counting is a system of inventory counting that uses a cyclical timetable to rotate product counts to reduce the workload associated with regular audits. High warehouses with a high number of products or a wide variety of products are the perfect place for inventory cycle counting. The Trio of Cycle Counting Methods,

• Control Group Cycle Counting
• Random Sample Cycle Counting
• ABC Cycle Counting
• Barcodes:

Barcodes are symbols, letters, and numbers displayed visually. There are parts where the characters are only black and white. Making barcodes is simple. They can be created using online barcode generators, specialized inventory management software, Excel, Word, or almost any other PC or Mac tool that lets you alter fonts.

Businesses give each product they sell a number using barcode inventory management systems. The number can be associated with the provider, the product's weight, dimensions, and even variable data, such as the number of units in stock.

• Multi warehouse control:

A multi-store inventory management system makes it simple and effective to maintain daily inventory. Automate warehouse operations, transfer orders, oversee several warehouses in various locations, and provide strategic reports to identify sales patterns.

• Reporting and Analytics:

Keep tabs on the movement of your inventory via shipping, sales, warehouse, and purchases. With a variety of filtering options, you can quickly and easily analyze your inventory and get a complete overview.

• Inventory Summary
• The stock levels
• Report on Committed Stock and Available Stock
• Cost-based inventory valuation