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| courtesy of Intermec |
• Does it start when someone checks to see if the items ordered by the customer are in Stock? Possible.
• Does it start when manufacturing sends in a purchase request for raw materials or components? Could be a possibility.
• Does it start when an order is placed with the supplier for raw materials, finished goods or components needed to fill a customer order? What about a manufacturing order to build to stock? Interesting.
• Does it start when the shipment arrives at the Receiving door and each item is checked against the order? That sounds right.
• Does it start when the items are moved out of Receiving to another location? Definitely part of the inventory process.
• Does it start when the finished goods are moved into customer inventory? Has to be in there somewhere
• Does it end when the customer order is filled and shipped? Or does that start the cycle over again? Hmmm?
Does your inventory management system work the way you want it to? Is it as accurate as you need it to be? Is inventory movement accounted for from end to end? What about the Lot Numbers?
A True Story:
On a recent visit to a manufacturer, the supervisor pointed to a forklift carrying a pallet of raw materials between buildings. In the breezeway the operator stopped and placed the pallet on the floor and drove off.
“That probably came from Receiving,” he said, “Sure, we know it arrived. Somebody checked it in receiving and sent this driver with instructions to “put it someplace,” which he did. But I know from past history that our system doesn’t know where it is. It knows it arrived, but it doesn’t know where it went. As far as the system is concerned, this pallet is still located in Receiving. The reason is that the breezeway between buildings isn’t a location in our system where we store received materials. Unless that driver comes back later to pick it up, it will stay here until somebody ‘finds’ it.”
Does inventory ever get found? “Not often enough.”
The answer is a robust inventory management system that accurately checks items against outstanding orders as they are received and then tracks every movement of that inventory from Receiving to Staging to Quality Inspection to Inventory to Manufacturing to Finished Goods to Customer Order to Ship Staging and then to the Customer.
If your inventory management system doesn’t track inventory the way you need it to be tracked, what you don’t know can cost you.
A3 Technologies is software developer and systems integrator serving the manufacturing, distribution and warehousing markets. The company has carefully designed an inventory and warehouse management system – Fontana IMS – that warehouses, manufacturers and distributors can utilize to address inventory movement and other issues.
For more information, please E-mail us at sales@a3-tech.com or call us toll free
at 888-461-4222 or visit our website at www.a3-tech.com
