Inventory tracking

[mikebr]

Hello All!

We have had issues keeping track of inventory and currently use a spreadsheet to update what we have in stock. It has become quite a headache as things do not add up properly and when pulling parts from inventory we're either missing a few or end up finding out we don't have any in stock even though the spreadsheet says we got 5. What I need help on is basically finding a way to manage all of this and making sure they're accurate. Just to give you an idea, we're a service center and pull parts frequently to make repairs on units. We have about 4 technicians that update the spreadsheet and most likely it is human error causing the miscount on what we actually have. It's understandable that they may forget sometimes when you're doing many things at once to be sure that they have updated the inventory with parts used.

I'm trying to find a solution whether it is web based or software I can install on a separate machine where people have access to it, to manage all this stuff. Ideally I'd like to have a form that would be filled out with drop down selections that deducts from the stock inventory when the form is submitted. Is there some kind of software out there that could do what I want? Any guidance pointed to the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if what I'm looking for sounds confusing.

Thanks!

Mike

[Fulcrum]

Take a page from lean manufacturing and JIT and use a simple paper tag as a warning flag in the bin. This way if you stock 15 items on average with a minimum drop dead inventory amount of 3 items, a 5 item ideal minimum, a 15 item minimum reorder, and a maximum of 25 items on the shelf at any one time, once you hit the tag have your employee pull the tag and pass it to purchasing or hang it on a reorder board.

I hope that makes sense. If not let me know and I'll try to clarify.

[romels33]

Hello All!

We have had issues keeping track of inventory and currently use a spreadsheet to update what we have in stock. It has become quite a headache as things do not add up properly and when pulling parts from inventory we're either missing a few or end up finding out we don't have any in stock even though the spreadsheet says we got 5. What I need help on is basically finding a way to manage all of this and making sure they're accurate. Just to give you an idea, we're a service center and pull parts frequently to make repairs on units. We have about 4 technicians that update the spreadsheet and most likely it is human error causing the miscount on what we actually have. It's understandable that they may forget sometimes when you're doing many things at once to be sure that they have updated the inventory with parts used.

I'm trying to find a solution whether it is web based or software I can install on a separate machine where people have access to it, to manage all this stuff. Ideally I'd like to have a form that would be filled out with drop down selections that deducts from the stock inventory when the form is submitted. Is there some kind of software out there that could do what I want? Any guidance pointed to the right direction would be greatly appreciated. I apologize if what I'm looking for sounds confusing.

Thanks!

Mike

The first thing I was tasked to do at my previous job was to tackle this very same issue that the company I worked for was facing. They have an IT department in house with about 5 desktop support and hardware technicians. When ever they did a job (i.e., fix a computer or replace a computer for a client), they would gather all the parts needed from the small warehouse we had, and then they would keep a copy of the "current" inventory sheet with them (excel), which is usually printed before they start their day. At the end of their day, they would then "fill-in" how many of each part(s) they took and submitted the excel sheet to a web based application the company had owned and that would then update the inventory. As you can probably guess, things didn't match up often because sometimes the techs would forget how many they took, especially if they're really busy for that day and etc....

So, I was tasked to somehow try to resolve this issue, and the company thought that well maybe we can create a simple Android shopping cart application (all of the techs had an android phone, purchased by the company). So my idea was to have the techs continue do what they're doing when gathering the parts needed as usual, but instead of taking a copy of the "current inventory sheet" with them, and try to remember how many of each part they have taken to input in the excel sheet at the end of the day, Why not scan the barcode on each of the part taken, and have the inventory automatically update?

It worked quite well actually... =) Each day, the techs would gather their parts in the morning, place them all in a "shopping cart", and once finished, they head to the "check out" station, where they literally scanned each QR Code of the parts they took with their phone. Once the QR Code is scanned, the system automatically updated the inventory. No more remembering how many they have taken at the end of the day... =)

Not sure if this will fix your current issue, but I just wanted to share my experience with this =)

Romel