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What is Stock Management App in a Supply Chain?
Stock management or known as inventory management, inventory control or stock control is one of the processes of the overall warehouse management system. It’s essentially a process in a warehouse where stock levels are influenced by both external (purchase order) and internal (supplies) factors. The goal of the system is to balance both factors at a reasonable level.
How is the Workflow?
Stock management in the retail supply chain usually follows the sequence below. Firstly, there will be a request for new stock from stores to the office, then distributor’s or principal’s warehouses will receive and find the products. From there, there will be distributed through fleets to the corresponding area. Stores then receive the products and finally sold to customers at the shop.
Why is it Important?
The inventory stock has to correspond to the amount of products that are sold. If the stock is too many, there will be a risk of financial losses. Take for example perishable goods such as foods, if it is kept too long in a warehouse, it will spoil by the time it gets in the stores.
Efficient stock control requires an understanding and acknowledging the demands of those products. This strategy will keep stock at a reasonable level thus reducing the loss of surplus products.
Generally, there are two main ways you can manage your stock;
1. Periodic Stock Management
The system only counts the product at the beginning and the end of an inventory count. It doesn’t track the product on an ongoing basis. It usually carried out no more than a quarter or once a year. Physical stock counts are time-consuming and only suitable for small businesses with minimal inventory.
2. Perpetual Stock Management
The system relies on electronic track or POS systems (Point of Sales) to track products continually. It gives a more accurate and real-time activity of stock level, minimizing any human error and possible product spoilage. The stock app or software itself is more expensive than physical stock counts, however, in the end, it could save you a lot more resources if you can strategize better.
Stock Management App
The stock app’s goal is to help companies efficiently manage their stock for all incoming and outgoing inventory within their warehouses. Advotics keep accurate records in the cloud for all activities to eliminate the time-consuming data errors that occur often with the manual system. Data errors such as mis-shipments, out of stocks, overstocks, that would end up costing the company more money and wasted labor to fix.
Contact us to know more about stock management. Want more insights to improve your supply chain management? This is how you can incorporate QR codes into your warehouse management system.
