Optimising stock control has the potential to significantly impact business cashflow. It is often overlooked, but to put your business in a strong position, good stock control is critical. Companies that get it right can provide uninterrupted production, sales and customer services levels while keeping costs down. It helps them maintain the optimum amount of stock and parts to fulfil orders without increasing overheads with excess stock.
Real-time inventory management is important as customers have ever-increasing expectations on the speed in which they will receive their orders. They expect to order online and be able to track and receive their orders seamlessly within as short a timeframe as possible. This applies to both companies selling direct to consumers and those selling to other businesses.
Stock control also involves anticipating external pressures that companies have no influence over, such as fluctuations in the price of materials and commodities, hold-ups in the supply chain caused by border issues and extreme weather events. And never underestimate the power of press coverage to cause issues that wouldn’t have been a problem otherwise, such as the recent panic buying of fuel and toilet rolls!
To cope with the challenge of stock control, manufacturing companies have had to look at new technologies. Insightful solutions enable all aspects of stock control, providing visibility of stock, orders, and the effect of different scenarios. Analysis of historical data can help companies plan for peaks and troughs in demand, such as seasonal demand or sales promotions, to allow them to optimise the amount of stock or components held in the warehouse. This avoids having unnecessary overheads held up in stock, as well as avoiding running out of various items due to unexpected demand.
How can SAP Business One help?
SAP Business One helps companies streamline their stock control, managing detailed data, optimising stock by location, and by tracking and recording stock movements in real-time. This provides a cost-effective and comprehensive warehouse management solution, with all key warehouse data stored centrally, providing a ‘single source of truth’. Reliable information on goods in and goods out, as well as existing stock levels, helps businesses manage their supply chains and avoid costly and unnecessary purchasing errors.
SAP Business One can help:
• Reduce stock-outs of products, which can result in lost sales, backorders and dissatisfied customers.
• Reduce excess products in stock, which increases overheads and the financial impact of having unsold goods or unused raw materials taking up space, or the potential wastage of raw materials passing their expiry dates.
• Provide insight into product availability and where stock is located, avoiding time wasting and reducing inefficiency.
• Provide detailed insight to support strategic decision making with advanced reporting facilities.
SAP Business One provides real-time inventory visibility across the operations and supply chain, providing detailed insight to support decision making and further optimise stock control, helping to support cashflow. It also contributes to positive customer and supplier relationships; the ability to fulfil orders on time and communicate effectively with customers increases customer satisfaction and positively affects company reputation.
SAP Business One offers:
• Straight-forward tagging, classification and item analysis giving the ability to manage different types of items.
• The ability to easily manage multiple units of measure, stock and bin location, valuation methods, product expiry dates and batch numbers, providing real-time visibility and effective analysis and control.
• The ability to maintain accurate inventory levels, giving insight into when new stock needs to be ordered to avoid unnecessary wastage and decrease overhead costs.
• A reduction to the risk of running out of raw materials during the production process, improving accuracy of orders and helping to forecast future stock requirements.
SAP Business One doesn’t just help you optimise your stock control or streamline your supply chain. It brings the whole business together with a ‘single source of truth’, enabling companies to integrate their entire operations.
The detailed insight that SAP Business One provides will future proof the business and set it up for the long-term, with the information it needs to optimise stock control, reduce overheads and therefore boost cashflow, as well as support strategic decision making to compete successfully in an ever-changing market. Contact our friendly team now for more information on how SAP Business One can help your company optimise stock control and streamline operations.