Inventory Management Software for SMEs

Inventory management software is now readily available for small and medium sized businesses. That’s because Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have come a long way in their ability to help small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) achieve growth through inventory management. To learn more, download the Better Inventory Management White Paper to understand how Warehouse and Inventory Management software can help your small or medium sized business.

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Improve Inventory Management with Warehouse and Inventory Software Systems

Inventory is usually one of the biggest numbers on their balance sheet, making effective inventory control and management is a vital function to help insure the continued success of distribution and manufacturing and companies. The effectiveness of inventory control is typically measured by how successful a company is at reducing inventory investment, meeting its customer service goals, and achieving maximum throughput and cost containment.

Inventory Management Software delivers to companies the following functionality:
  • Multi-level warehousing and location management
  • Movements and transactions
  • RF data collection
  • Quality control
  • Costing
  • Acquisition price tracing
  • Inventory control
  • Tracking & Traceability
  • Procurement

Factors that complicate the process of inventory management fall into two broad categories: (1)conflicting objectives across various segments of each company, and (2) the tentative nature of both supply and demand. It gets complicated further when hundreds of thousands of finished goods for sale or thousands of parts for assembly are warehoused across multiple locations. With all of these complications to consider, inventory control and management amounts to walking a fine line between meeting customer needs and stocking the least amount of inventory possible.

Physical Processes of Inventory Management
  • Ongoing receiving, movement, stocking, and overall physical control of inventories.
  • Bar- coding stock keeping units (SKUs), consigning, and kit repackaging and other notable aspects of physical inventory control.
  • Data entry: items that enter or leave the inventory system are tracked in the company’s ERP system and paperwork pertaining to these movements filled out daily.
  • Perpetual Physical Inventory(PPI)

Inventory Planning
  • Material requirements planning (MRP) for high sales volume scenarios, or kanban in a lean, just-in-time (JIT) environment.
  • Supports inventory planning and ordering’s various methodologies dependent upon varying rates of demand.
  • Right-sizing to avoid stock-outs and lost sales of high-demand items, while also avoiding trapping working capital in overages of pricey stock.
  • Helps set up preplanned approaches to replenishing inventory with information relevant to sales, finance, purchasing, possibly production, and shipping and receiving
Inventory Analysis and Optimization with ERP
  • Supply chain management mechanism used to mathematically calculate where and when inventory should be deployed to satisfy predetermined management objectives.
  • Better classify stocking levels (buffer, replenishment, overage) based upon an analysis of past demand
  • Augment supplier management based upon past supplier performance,
  • Improve demand forecasting going forward.

If you are running a small or midsized enterprise, you should also learn about an ERP solution that fits your needs. Sage ERP X3 is designed specifically for midsized companies, delivering all the benefits of robust ERP solutions while remaining simple, flexible and scalable. The latest version of this cost-effective end-to-end ERP, Version 7, allows companies to gain immediate visibility of inventory to ensure compliance with customer and regulatory mandates, and optimize inventory levels.