Are stock deficiencies costing your business?

Kiran Soni, Managing Director of inventory management specialist RGIS, explains some of the simple steps you can take to regain control and boost productivity.

Do you have complete control over your inventory?

At some point, your company has probably experienced a loss in earnings due to being unable to find a part in the warehouse or discovering last minute that you have far fewer parts on the shelves than you need for a production run.

Across all industries, not having the right parts at the right time can cause significant issues, including unseen overheads, altered production plans, and time spent trying to find a part in the warehouse.

To assist with this, here are some quick wins you can implement to improve inventory control significantly:

1. Delivery checks and audits

Implementing better delivery checks and auditing pick accuracy gives you better insights at every level, helping to minimise stock shrinkage; by identifying precisely where and why shrinkage occurs, you can understand how to prevent it.

You can also implement processes such as Good Faith Receiving (GFR), which assumes that most supplier deliveries are accurate. This enables faster goods flow, which is especially useful if your warehouse regularly receives large quantities of goods.

Working on trust, you pay invoices in full, agreeing to be reimbursed if the supplier delivers fewer parts than promised. To audit these deliveries, you audit a representative sample of delivered goods instead of counting every part.

2. Replenishment process review

Most businesses can’t afford to hold inventory of every line item, meaning replenishment is a constant balancing act between cash flow and warehouse costs versus the risk of missed sales if a stock-keeping unit is not in stock. Fundamentally, ensuring that the right stock items are reordered ensures the business meets customer demand.

Improving your replenishment processes can pay big dividends to accurate inventory management. This can positively impact your business by improving operational efficiency and profitability.

3. Stock accuracy audit

A full audit of your warehouse is a vital element in inventory control. It can verify inventory levels, giving you the data you need to decide where to focus your efforts next. For example, a stock accuracy audit can validate the accuracy of the picking process or identify issues that need addressing.

Accurate stocktaking is essential for any business that incorporates inventory management. It provides several benefits, including reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction and optimising inventory management. Whatever the size of your business, implementing an accurate stocktaking process is necessary to optimise your inventory management and boost your bottom line.

Key benefits

Outsourcing your stock audit has several benefits, from minimising disruption to your facilities and staff and bringing in experts to conduct these audits. It can take less time than expected and gets the best possible results.

Additionally, outsourcing provides access to advanced technology for optimal results. While barcode systems are common in retail and logistics, they are far less common in manufacturing and industrial warehouses. This can pose a problem for some third-party stock-checking companies, so it is important to ensure you employ one that can digitise the process even if you do not have a barcode system in place.

For instance, RGIS Vision enhances stocktaking and inventory checks by going beyond barcode scanning, effectively eliminating the need for paperwork and manual data entry. Its integrated camera technology captures part numbers, QR codes and product codes alongside barcodes, deciphering smudged, faded, or blurred part numbers. The cloud-based software automatically generates a spreadsheet of your inventory, providing accurate data and real-time insights with reports customised to your business needs.

For further details, visit www.rgis.co.uk

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