If you have an insurance warehouse, you know the great effort and dedication it takes to keep inventory control. To tell the truth there is no magic formula that shows what is the best way to keep track, however, there are different methods for inventory control that have already been tested and can help you, in this blog post we will talk about the best known and why it is important to keep one.
What is an inventory control, and what is it for?
Inventory control is the document that shows a detailed and ordered count of the products in the warehouse. It is used to verify that the warehouse quantities and the quantities in the records coincide, generating a well-classified and ordered inventory can help to answer questions such as: How much product do I have? What is the availability? How much available product will I have soon? When should I restock this product? When does it expire?, among others.
Why is it important for a company to maintain inventory controls?
An inventory control is of the utmost importance to maintain order in your records, an orderly and well-documented inventory can answer two questions: How much product do I have to sell? And how much product do I have to supply? These two questions come from the sales and purchase departments, since sales must know perfectly how much product is in the warehouses to be able to offer it, while purchase needs to know how much is needed to supply the warehouse.
Inventory control methods
Now that you know the importance of inventory control, you may ask yourself, are there any different types of inventory controls? What is the best inventory control for my warehouse? To answer these questions, we will explain to you the 4 most popular methods:
FIFO Method (First Inputs First Outputs)
This method consists of releasing the first products that were purchased. The main objective of this method is to identify those products that arrived first at the warehouse, so that they are the first to be sold and that the stock is constantly renewed.
To carry out this method, companies must register each product with its acquisition date, its value and its expiration date.
This type of method works for all those companies that have a business based on perishable products or products with a high lag rate.
ABC method
This method is based on the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule, this indicates that 20% of your products generate 80% of merchandise movements, while the other 80% of the other products generate 20% of movements of the remaining merchandise.
The method classifies inventory into three levels:
-Level A
These types of items occupy 20% of an inventory, experience a high turnover and are of great importance for the organization, therefore a much greater stock control is maintained than in the other levels, with frequent or even permanent inventories, and they are located in direct access areas for operators. In this type of articles, companies have invested a very large amount of their budget and generate 80% of their income.
-Level B
These represent 30% of the inventories, have a medium turnover and are renewed with less speed than those of level A. Their stock control is less than that of level A with infrequent inventories. In the warehouse they are located in the intermediate zones where it is not as direct as level A, but it is still accessible.
-Level C
These items make up 50% of an inventory, however they are the least demanded. They are of low turnover and are of low importance to the organization. These types of items are not strategic for the organization and do not generate much income, therefore their inventory is rare. In the warehouse, they are located in the highest areas.
This type of method serves to identify those products that deserve more or less attention, since it identifies the items that have a significant impact on the overall value of inventory, costs and sales.
Cycle counting method
The cycle counting method consists of a frequent counting of a part or area of the total inventory. This method is complemented by the ABC method, since this method has three levels assigned with different counting frequencies. Cycle counting is intended to count all inventory at least once in a specified period of time and to improve the accuracy and reliability of inventory control.
EOQ Method (Economic Order Quantity)
The method consists of taking into account a constant demand known a priori, based on this, it is sought to know that through the cost of maintaining the inventory and the cost of ordering the order, the necessary quantities to be ordered can be obtained, in order to minimize inventory cost to the max.
It is based on three key assumptions:
1. The demand is constant and known a priori.
2. The frequency of use of the inventory is constant over time.
3. Orders are received at the exact moment that inventories are depleted.
This method was born to ensure that inventory costs are as low as possible, one of the priorities of all companies that work with warehouses.
What happens if I don't keep any inventory control?
Not having a control of your inventories can suppose big losses in your company, it can generate problems in the area of purchases and sales and especially problems with the finances of the company.
Example:
A computer parts company has an inventory system to supply itself, but it does not implement any inventory control method because it sees it unnecessary. A customer asks one of the vendors for a certain part for his computer, the vendor checks the inventory system to find out its availability and the system shows him 3 parts in the warehouse, when the vendor goes to look for a part he realizes that there are none of the 3 marked parts in the system. This can happen due to an error in the entry of the data, stolen products or others.
Using an inventory control helps you reduce these errors, since you have inventory monitoring on a recurring basis.
Odoo Inventory
Inventory management is hard work, and if it is not done in the correct way it can generate big problems that impact your finances, a tool that makes it easy for you to manage your stock is Odoo inventory, which allows you to:
Have a fully automated replenishment.
It offers the management of multiple warehouses.
A wide traceability to know where your products are throughout your supply chain.
Clear and complete reports of each of your warehouses.
It allows you to perform your physical counts and adjust your inventories.
Know the stocks in real time.
Connection with other Odoo modules, including Sales and Purchases.
Inventory control is essential in your company, with a well classified and ordered inventory you will be able to evaluate your current assets, balance your accounts, provide financial reports, have control of the merchandise and that your other departments have a reliability in what is in stock.