STOCK CONTROL


A pattern to success


Good stock control is arguably one of the most essential weapons in an operator’s business arsenal as it delivers efficiency and ultimately does what all operators want – it keeps customers happy.


There are a few key questions operators need to ask to make sure their many machines, installed across varied facilities and dotted across a sizeable geographic area, are properly stocked. If they can determine what sells, what doesn’t, how often and to


whom, they will be able to develop the patterns to make timely refills with the most popular products in the most efficient way possible.


AN AGE-OLD TRADITION Stock control is a pass time that has always been important to people and primitive examples of it date back some 40,000 years to prehistoric artefacts which showed tally marks cut into them. Since then there has been ongoing evolution, from notches in


bones, to clay tokens stored on a string, to Arabic or Roman numerals engraved or written, and so on and so forth, right up until the computerised systems of today. Modern-day vending solutions are designed to assist operators in


every aspect of inventory and these, such as SB Software’s Vendmanager Mobile, can be tapped into on-the-go at the van or machine, or wherever is best for you. According to Simon Black, MD of SB Software, there has been a


step change in stock control for vending. “Technology such as our own Vendmanager Datakey continues to make things easier, faster and better, while offering more accurate inventory which is more frequent and up to date. “These are valuable incremental improvements which increase


profitability in themselves. But the revolution lies beyond, in how the data is put to work in determining what to order, when to order, how much to order and the logistics of those decisions.


VENDING MANAGEMENT “A key question now is – at what point does stock control end and vending management begin? The border between the two is disappearing or at least blurring and moving towards greater automation.” Putting data to work now


effectively improves stock management to the extent that


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you never run out of stock; get too low; let shrinkage go unnoticed; or hold too much – and all this with minimal time and effort required. Vendmanager’s Purchasing Wizard monitors and manages a


wealth of data across a machine park, holds multiple up to date supplier prices, and automatically places orders with diverse suppliers. “With functionality like this, we are transforming stock control from passive record keeping to active commercial management, making the data itself proactive. Such automation brings acceleration and moves actions up-stream, earlier in the process. It is re-allocating decision-making where it makes sense to do so as long as it adds value, and freeing people to do the other things where they make the most difference,” Simon contends. In conclusion, software specialists


inform us that operators in the field are taking advantage of ever-increasing automation in stock control and are introducing changes that will bring benefits to both their companies and their customers. So, with the options now available, is it worth getting left behind, or is it time to modernise and keep pace with the competition?


STORAGE? NOT YOUR CONCERN


Suppliers who are able to take away the headache of storage for operators may well have tapped into an advantage that some might welcome. One such supplier is 4 Aces which allows operators to


access as many products as an when they need them without having to consider storage and space. These are then delivered by direct parcel delivery on a next day basis. “Basically, the issue of storage and making sure the goods


are available becomes our concern, rather than the customer’s. It’s win-win as it secures repeat business for us and keeps everyone else happy too,” says 4 Aces managing director Chris Penn.


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