When you are running the type of business that stocks and sells products, you are going to need to make sure that you are controlling and managing the inventory in a the most effective way. However, there are also all sorts of different mistakes that can spring up here and which clearly you need to be sidestepping. Otherwise, there might be a negative impact on your business – some of which you may not even notice or be fully aware of until it’s too late. With this firmly in mind, here are a few of the top inventory control mistakes that you need to be avoiding.
Waiting Too Long in Between Inventory Checks
The first issue that you are likely to find yourself up against is simply waiting too long between the inventory checks in the first place. If the gaps are too wide, this can easily lead to a situation in which you are not keeping proper track of your stocking situation. A direct result of this could easily be that you are not property monitoring what you have currently, what may need to be reordered and when you are ordering too much – leading to financial problems.
Not Organizing the Layout of the Warehouse Properly
Another crucial mistake that can be easily done, but you certainly should be avoiding is to not lay out the warehouse properly. A properly organized warehouse should allow you to locate everything quickly and easily. There should be no pinch points where accidents can occur, or rubbish builds up. You should also be in the habit of regularly rotating your stock to ensure that nothing is expiring, which is an easy potential risk when you have a mismanaged warehouse. You should also be thinking more closely about how staff members are going to be able to move around the space with ease and perform their duties, ensuring that there are no unnecessary holdups along the way.
Failing to Automate and Bring in Tech
Just as you should be looking to automate various other parts of your business as and when possible, the same should also be true of your inventory. Automating your inventory system will bring a whole host of benefits, just make sure that you are investigating carefully and getting the right system for your processes. By automating your inventory system as well as you ordering system, it is possible to massively reduce human errors. Repetitive functions or tasks with large amounts of data are always going to lead to large numbers of errors if a human is doing them, automated technology is designed for the job and does not get bored or lose concentration. Ultimately, you should always be keeping one eye firmly on the future when you are running a company, and there is no doubt that tech and automation should be at the very forefront of what you are doing.
Lack of Proper Training for Staff Members
While you will certainly want to be doing a great deal to ensure that you are properly managing your inventory, you also need to be doing the same for your staff members. Otherwise, there is always going to be a crucial piece of the puzzle that is sadly missing. After all, ensuring that inventory control mistakes are not made should be a joint effort of everyone at the company. Training needs to be updated on a regular basis, ensuring that any new processes and different tech that comes into the mix is taken into account as and when it is brought into the fold.
Not Ensuring Proper Communication is Made a Priority
Another central element of proper inventory control involves ensuring that each and every one of your staff members are properly communicating with one another at all times. After all, if there is a stock shortage, there is no point in one person keeping it all to themselves. At the same time, you are also going to need to make sure that all the main channels of communication have been properly established.
Failing to Get Feedback
It is bound to be the case that all your staff members have an entirely different perspective to your own. With this fact firmly in mind, you need to ensure that you are getting all the proper feedback along the way from them. They are bound to have a wide range of perspectives that could all prove to be useful in one way or another.
All of these are amongst the most common inventory control mistakes out there, but by taking pre-emptive steps you should be able to avoid them and ensure your company’s success.
