How Important Inventory and Asset Management Are to Your Supply Chain
Have you ever stepped back and looked at just how many steps it takes to deliver a product? Depending on your business, it's nearly impossible to quantify all it takes to ensure your goods arrive at a store shelf or on a customer's doorstep. When considering how we sustain the flow of both information and physical items, robust inventory and asset management are essential. From maintaining a competitive advantage to attaining total transparency, proper inventory and asset management systems are crucial to your businesses — and your peace of mind. Establishing these systems has become even more critical given our current supply chain delays, and variability in forecasting and demand. However you do business — whether you have a small e-commerce arm, or a “bricks-and-clicks” model — these systems are integral to your success.
What Is Inventory Management?
When referring to inventory, we're talking about the total amount of goods and products your business has in stock. Tracking that inventory typically follows the flow of a product across development, production, transportation to a storage facility, and then delivery to your consumer or a store.
Each day, orchestrating operations relies heavily on inventory and asset management: Items are often in motion, supplies need to be replenished, and shipments are constantly coming and going. In the past, delivering goods to a customer was much more straightforward. But with the complexities of today’s supply chain, leaders are realizing the benefits of using technology to access real-time insights into their inventory, including:
1. Being able to quickly identify any points of friction that could slow down supply chains: from unnecessary steps to under-performing partners.
2. Increasing supply chain transparency, which can not only boost efficiency, but provide visibility into proper sourcing practices.
3. The ability to easily access past sales history and inventory, allowing you to prepare and stock up for future trends.
As we enter into a new era of inventory management, the emphasis is on automation, cloud computing and location tracking — which can all come from barcode scanning devices.
What is Asset Management?
When we refer to assets, we're talking about fixed assets that businesses invest in and manage. These long-term pieces of property don't turnover quickly; instead, businesses use these assets to make their products and profits. Assets can range from large pieces of machinery, like vehicles and forklifts, to smaller tools and wearables, like smartphones and barcode scanners.
Like inventory, assets also need to be managed — although in different ways and for different reasons. Certain items must always be in working order for day-to-day operations — if a machine isn't properly maintained, your production could halt indefinitely. Additionally, "ghost assets" or items that are listed in your inventory, but can't be located in real life, also cause delays. Tracking tools, including smart tag systems and barcode scanners, are allowing businesses to automate this process and better monitor assets in real time.
How Both Inventory and Asset Management Work in the Supply Chain
As we discussed in the previous section, supply chain management is about tracking two types of flow:
1. Physical flows: In the supply chain, this refers to the movement and storage of goods and materials that make up your inventory. For instance, the forklift in your warehouse is essential to physical flow.
2. Information flows: How employees across the supply chain track your inventory. Barcode scanning devices, which provide updates in real time, have become increasingly integral to this process.
Errors in your inventory or fixed assets can disrupt the supply chain. For instance, if a customer tries to purchase a product that's listed in stock, but actually isn't available, you'll lose your current and possibly future sales. Additionally, if a piece of equipment stops working during peak production, the supply chain will stop as you focus on repairs.
The same goes for the flow of information — top-notch service comes from the ability to accurately track the journey of a customer's package, from start to finish.
How Your Business Can Boost Your Management Processes
Interested in giving your supply chain a stronger backbone? More and more businesses are automating their inventory and asset management systems. Manual processes, like a pen and paper, don't allow you to visualize how your goods and materials move. Upgrading to modern inventory and asset management systems and using barcode scanning devices creates a path toward efficiency, growth and profitability. Barcode-based systems are flexible, popular and relatively inexpensive when taking into account all that they offer. They allow powerful visibility into your supply chain, so you can track inefficiencies and make informed changes. Simply put, investing in wearable barcode scanners can quickly improve your brand and your bottom line.