Business owners know that some spoilage and lost inventory is just part of doing business. They build the write off costs for spoilage into their operating budgets. But, for many businesses the cost of that lost inventory is much higher than it needs to be. Worldwide more than $35 billion in food products alone end up getting spoiled every year. There are several different factors that impact how long inventory stock survives but one of those factors is not having an automated inventory management system.
How Inventory Management Lowers Spoilage and Lost Inventory
An automated inventory management system can significantly lower the amount of spoiled food and prevent lost inventory in the following ways.
Reduce Human Error
The people on a team are invaluable, but they are also human and may sometimes make mistakes. Those mistakes can end up leading to expensive replacement costs or paying for spoiled or lost inventory. When you switch to an automated inventory management system, your processes will run faster, be more efficient, and reduce the inevitable human error so that your costs stay low and your inventory is full of food and goods that are in their prime instead of on the edge of spoiling.
Reduce Excess Ordering
A big percentage of the spoilage that a business has is due to over ordering. Without an inventory management system that updates in real-time, there will be spoilage. There will also be a greater likelihood of over ordering and filling the warehouse with goods, which may likely spoil before they can be sold. When doing a manual inventory count, it is easy to miscount or anticipate a need for more items than is needed. Automated inventory management systems deliver an accurate and fast count of what inventory is stock, and can help predict exactly how much fresh inventory is needed.
Streamline Transit And In Processing
When shipments of perishable goods arrive, the clock is already ticking on these items. You need to get them unpacked, in the system, and ready to be sold as quickly as possible to ensure your customers are getting fresh items. With an automated inventory management system in place, you can scan and log new items coming in. New inventory can be quickly processed, scanned, and stored in an appropriate way so it will be fresh for as long as possible.
If your spoilage and lost inventory costs are eating into your profits, it is time to do something about it. Switch to an automated inventory management system to lower your losses and help prevent over ordering. When you are using a state of the art inventory management system, you can easily scale up or scale back ordering, providing the real-time inventory numbers that you need to make the best decision for your business.
Automated Warehouse Management System for Macola and SAP Business One
Ready to get started with an automated warehouse management system? WiSys Agility solutions have been designed to achieve efficient Warehouse Management, Supply Chain Management and Inventory Management. Contact us to learn more.