Category: Inventory Management

Inventory Management and Turnover Performance

Top 5 Industries That Benefit Most From Inventory Scales!

Demystifying Weighing Systems!

Inventory management isn’t exactly the most glamorous topic—nobody wakes up dreaming about weighing loads of goods or streamlining stock control. But, if you’ve ever experienced the chaos of running out of stock or accidentally ordering ten times more than needed (hello, paper towel mountain of 2020), you’ll know just how vital inventory management is. 

Enter inventory scales. These unsung heroes of the business world offer precision, efficiency, and a whole lot of sanity to industries juggling countless items, parts, or products. Sure, they don’t come with glitter or fireworks, but their impact on business operations is something worth applauding. 

Here, we’ll explore the top five industries that rely on inventory scales to function their best.

Whether you’re a business owner or someone who simply enjoys the fascinating quirks of industry tech (it’s a niche, sure, but worth celebrating), this post will weigh in on why inventory scales are game-changers for so many sectors.

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What is Inventory Shrinkage?

Featuring Our 10 Best Inventory Management Articles!
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There are many terms for inventory shrinkage: warehouse shrinkage, product shrinkage, loss of product. They all amount to the same thing — your merchandise is missing from the warehouse shelves.

For businesses that sell physical things, some amount of shrinkage is unavoidable. At point of sale, stores can experience retail shrinkage from breakage and shoplifting. ECommerce businesses experience inventory shrinkage when items are damaged on warehouse shelves or disappear during shipping or receiving.

It’s important to understand your shrinkage rate because it affects your bottom line. Here’s everything you need to know to calculate and prevent inventory shrinkage.

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5 Inventory Management Tips for Manufacturing SMBs!

Featuring Our 10 Best Inventory Management Articles!
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Inventory management is a holistic and logical methodology for handling both raw materials and finished products. It encompasses several manufacturing SMBs processes such as tracking stock levels, planning production schedules, and liaising with vendors. 

Raw material inventory management represents a vital stage in the successful supervision of any manufacturing company’s supply chain. Without it, the overall productivity and profitability of your businesses would likely plummet. You can’t manufacture shiny new goods without raw materials, after all. 

Later stages of the inventory management process include organizing finished goods and (depending on your product offering) works in progress.  

Contemporary manufacturing represents a complex and diverse sector, so many small to mid-sized business (SMB) owners have trouble getting to grips with inventory management. If you’re new to the world of stock counting and supply chains or are simply looking to hone your existing processes, we’ve put together a handy guide to inventory management below.   

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Process Based Inventory Turnover Improvement!

Featuring Our 10 Best Inventory Management Articles!
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Inventory management is a critical area for most companies. And breakthrough improvements require a process based inventory turnover improvement strategy.

Too much inventory, especially the wrong inventory, can negatively impact cash flow, return on investment, customer satisfaction, and profitability. Too little inventory, especially the wrong inventory, can result in lost sales, inability to delivery to customers, and also impact cash, ROI and profitability.

Despite these devastating and far reaching implications of poor inventory management too often this area is not given the respect and attention that it deserves. You cannot just wave a wand a wish inventory levels will be magically lower.

Brute force approaches will at best result in short term gains. In our experience the best way to systemically, and sustainably, optimize inventory is to take a process based inventory turnover improvement approach.

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7 Ways the Right Pallet Racking Optimizes Warehouse Efficiency!

Pallet Racking Selection!

Are you thinking of streamlining your warehouse operations to increase efficiency and productivity? If so, worry no more as this guide gives practical insights on selecting the right pallet racking, which is critical to optimizing your warehouse efficiency. 

Warehouse professionals face a lot of challenges, such as inaccurate inventory, avoiding product damage, and poor space utilization. Fortunately, having the appropriate pallet racking system can help address these challenges.

There is a wide range of pallet racking systems on the market, and choosing the right one could be downright confusing.

So, here are several tips to help you decide on the pallet racking system that would best meet your warehouse needs. 

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Seasoned Leadership in Action™ – An Interview with Drew Morgan !

Our 2021 All Star Seasoned Leadership in Action™ Interviews!

At Supply Chain Game Changer we believe in sharing experiences and expertise from people in every industry and from across the globe.  As such we have introduced our “Seasoned Leadership in Action™” Interview series at Supply Chain Game Changer. This interview is with Drew Morgan, Director, Global Supply Chain and Procurement at ModusLink.

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The Fear of Running Out (FORO) in Supply Chain!

Confessions of a High Priced Expediter!

By definition, Supply Chain is responsible for the continuity of supply and inventory of goods and services. If supply lines are disrupted, or if inventory runs out, Supply Chain is on the hook to restore supply.

Supply disruptions can bring a company to a grinding halt, compromising customer deliveries, revenue and profitability. With the stakes so high it should be no surprise that the very prospect of supply continuity issues can create fear and wreak havoc on the time, focus, and mental well-being of Supply Chain professionals.

How does this Fear of Running Out (FORO) manifest itself in the planning, processes and attention of those in Supply Chain?

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4 Important Steps to Inventory Reconciliation and Why It’s Important!

Are Ghost Assets Haunting Your Inventory Control?

Keeping track of your business’s inventory is essential to its success and profitability. To help accurately account for what’s coming in and out, and what is stored in a warehouse or at an external storage facility, businesses need to reconcile their inventory records with actual stock levels—a process known as inventory reconciliation.

This process involves tracking inventory transactions, calculating quantity differences, and performing balance checks to ensure the accuracy of records. Read on for more information about why inventory reconciliation is important for the health of your business, and how you can go about doing it effectively.

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Revolutionize Your Business By Introducing QR Code Inventory Management!

How and Why to Use a QR Code for Your Business!

It doesn’t matter if you have a 20,000-product warehouse or a fledgling e-commerce business looking to move onto bigger things, unless you manage your inventory efficiently, life will be difficult.

Keeping track of where everything is and how much you have of it is at the core of your business to make sure you don’t have massive overstocks or gaps in your inventory that mean you could be failing your customers. 

Using QR code inventory management can be an easy way to get on top of a problematic area of your business, making life easier not only for you but for everyone who works for you as well. Here’s some reasons why you should introduce QR code inventory management to your business.

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Our 2021 Top 10 List!

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In the middle of our 5th year here at Supply Chain Game Changer we are proud to publish our 2021 Top 10 List. Here we are showcasing our 10 most popular articles for the first half of the year.

Since we’ve started we have amassed an extensive library of over 750 articles. There is something for everyone no matter what your interests, challenges and needs may be from one day to the next. And that fulfills our mission of sharing experiences and expertise for the benefit of all.

Still there is always more to right about to help our readers.

So let’s take some time to reflect, and look back on our 2021 top 10 list … so far!

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The Toilet Paper Supply Chain!

Coronavirus Exposes Global Supply Chain Fragility!
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Our recent trips to Costco and Walmart, in mid March 2020, had one thing in particular in common. Both stores were sold out of toilet paper, with no knowledge as to when more was coming in to the store.

A few weeks ago, in mid February 2020, when the panic was starting to set in with respect to the Coronavirus we saw some people buying a lot of toilet paper. At the time we bought more packages than we should have, just in case, not realizing there was going to be a full blown run on toilet paper.

This seems to be the story everywhere, even on Amazon. Every store is sold out of toilet paper. Why is it sold out? It’s such a common product that’s merely made out of paper. Does it all come from China, where their factories are shut down? Is that the problem?

In light of the current situation we thought it was time to learn more about the Toilet Paper Supply Chain.

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Harnessing the Power of ChatGPT and AI in Supply Chain!

What is ChatGPT?

In the era of digital transformation, organizations are constantly seeking innovative solutions to enhance their supply chain management (SCM) processes and create the Digital Supply Chain of the future.

One such revolutionary technology is ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). ChatGPT, developed by OpenAI, is a sophisticated language model that can understand and generate human-like text.

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Why Inventory Control is the Backbone of Supply Chain Optimization!

The Exciting Use of Drones for Inventory Control!

Have you ever wondered why some businesses always seem to have the right products at the right time without missing a beat? 

How do they avoid overstocking or running out of inventory, even when demand shifts unexpectedly? 

The answer often lies in how well they manage their inventory. Inventory control might not be the flashiest part of the supply chain, but it plays a central role in making everything else run smoothly. When done right, it creates a strong foundation that supports every link in the chain, from suppliers to customers.

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Supply Chain Scams and Fraud!

3 Most Common Freight Forwarding Scams (and How to Avoid Them)! (Infographic)
SC Viral The Pandemic Diaries
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Very early on in my career an associate of mine was fired because he was found to be taking kickbacks from packaging suppliers to whom he had been preferentially and inappropriately been giving business.

Most recently I have received lots of emails and messages from unknown people offering to sell me masks and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for really low prices. A cursory investigation into some of these finds that the items are substandard at best, and the commensurate price gouging during the pandemic reeks of fraudulent behaviour.

One of our most popular articles is Freight Forwarding scams. Every couple of weeks I will get an email from someone, from anywhere in the world, who has been the victim of a freight forwarding scam, and is looking for help.

All of this, and more, has caused to me consider that this is a very important, very real, and very prevalent issue. So let’s discuss Supply Chain scams and fraud.

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Characteristics of a Supply Chain Superhero Costume!

The Top 8 Supply Chain Superpowers!

In a world that relies heavily on Supply Chain, as proven by all of the disruptions that occurred during the global pandemic, Supply Chain professionals are the unsung heroes behind the scenes.

They possess the ability to orchestrate the movement of goods and services, ensure the seamless flow of resources across vast networks, keep customers happy, manage innumerable suppliers and materials, manage cash flow, and basically keep any company afloat.

Just like superheroes, these professionals certainly have Supply Chain super powers, and require a costume that embodies their unique skills and responsibilities.

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