Demand Planning.. Typical Problems of Inventory Control

Do you have headaches around your demand planning? How does this transfer through to your inventory planning and stock forecasting? Your issues are most likely not completely unique to your business, although they may appear so.

Many companies faced issue before they found StockTrim, which is a cloud based inventory planning software. Most planned using spreadsheets, causing mistakes and upsetting suppliers and customers alike! 

Probably compounding this is the fact that these elaborate spreadsheets are a ‘legacy design’ created by one individual who runs this. Should that person leave, get sick or simply go away and someone else attempts to operate it, things can go rapidly wrong.

Things that really come unstuck as a result of poor inventory planning and control are:

Over-Stocking (reduced cashflow)

• Not enough space, inefficient use of space, costs associated with storing inventory for too long
• Wrong items in wrong locations, and time delays and expedited freight to correct this
• Materials that expire or become obsolete because they have been held too long.
• Damaged stock, lost stock due to too much movement, or incorrectly stored.
• The cashflow implication of having paid for stock that is sitting in your warehouse and not being sold. This is money that could be spent on more productive things in your business.

Under-Stocking (lost profits)

-Simply not being able to manufacture what you need to, halted plant, shift disruptions etc through missing materials or ingredients.

-Additional costs in fast freight to get the materials

• Unhappy or lost customers. 
• Reduced or lost margin, opportunity costs surrounding these lost sales
• Credibility and trust with clients diminished
• Creating hassles and unpredictability with suppliers

-Time spent in Replenishment

• Pouring over spreadsheets and manually created formulas takes a lot of time
• Human error or data entry error can significantly alter purchase orders
• Simply failing to remember or finding the time to do it properly
• This task is often done by the owner or senior executive, due to the implications for the business. Is this a good use of their time if there are viable alternatives?

This is why we have developed StockTrim. A number of inventory control issues are resolved by being able to accurately predict your stock needs and purchase according to this.

StockTrim helps companies achieve cashflow savings of up to 40% by using an AI algorithm to analyse your inventory levels. Across our trial users (before they became customers), we found:

-->Average over-stock (same as working capital that can be saved): $700,000

-->Average under-stock (risk in missed sales – sum of margin for each item): $350,000

-->Average time saving in purchasing 75%

Find out what StockTrim can do with our free 14 day trial. There's no obligation, and you have enough time to run some figures and see some graphs. We don't lock anyone into contracts or other silliness. Visit www.stocktrim.com

As a final thought, if you talk to any business owner the other biggest issues usually are listed as:

• Cashflow
• Productivity and People issues
• Inventory Control / Demand Planning

It is of no small coincidence that Stocktrim is growing 22% month on month due to our ability to help small and medium sized business resolve these issue for about the price of a coffee per day.

Request a demo today.