For businesses that calculate monthly, quarterly and annual budgets, there is almost nothing more frustrating than finding actual profit/revenue losses on sales due to miscalculated inventory decisions. Often times, overbuying inventory or ordering product components that are not required result in concessions of markdowns to the retailer or distributor.
Mistakes in ordering the wrong materials of products can account for up to 53% in unplanned markdowns. These errors can have an unhealthy effect on the year-end bottom line.
While many companies rely on older methods of planning inventory such as previous year sales and spreadsheets, there are other more advanced alternatives.
Inventory and Forecast Planning Made Easy
StockTrim, a New Zealand based software firm has been helping small and medium sized companies streamline their ordering processes to accurately meet their customer demands. A few of the features include:
- Intuitive Order Plan - Take advantage of their cloud based software to calculate quantities you need now without getting caught short or over ordering.
- Manufacturing - Ensure that an accurate forecast for your finished product by translating the required components that needed to complete production. BOMs (Bills Of Materials) are also issued for various suppliers.
- Variable lead times - Supplier lead times will inevitably vary and real time data assists in not only ordering products but accounting for transit times for delivery. This also includes ordering practices that accomodate multiple stores and/or warehouse.
Rene Serbon – Dermal Systems – est. 2011.
Rene states that, “Getting StockTrim on board has saved her hours, stress and money.” With over 150 SKUs, it could take up to 10 days to issue a single purchase order considering the pace of sales, seasonal peaks and very important “expiration dates”. After engaging StockTrim and their cloud based software, purchase orders are processed in hours instead of days, and leaves more time for business development.
Many other small and medium sized businesses are aware of the volatility of the global supply chain that has experienced unforeseen delays and interruptions since the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic and demands that best practices are required for accurate inventory planning and ordering.
The Challenge to Ensure ‘Enough Product’ but not Too Much
In early 2001, Justin Maher joined Angel Food in New Zealand as Production Coordinator and Food technologist. Product development and quality control are part of his duties but also responsible for scheduling and production times.
As a plant based food manufacturer, Angel Food certainly has an interest in keeping their product inventory fresh and well within the expiry date of certain ingredients.
>He adds that “If you run out of stock you not only lose revenue, but also reputation and trust. If you order too much you risk having it expire, selling cheap or dumping. You also create a cash flow issue if you’re over-ordering.”
StockTrim was able to accommodate the marriage of Angel Food’s ‘Cin7” and their own cloud based software that has seen cost savings through accurate inventory planning and timely delivery to their manufacturer’s production runs.
Affordable Solutions
StockTrim specializes in inventory management for a very affordable fee. Once the system is in place and the old ordering practices are eliminated, companies have saved substantial costs that would have otherwise been evident through improper inventory ordering practices.
