STOCK CONTROL
For a full case study on Nutrivend and Vendmanager, including how they are putting the ware-house app hard to work, maximising stock management, visit:
https://sbsoft.co.uk/nutrivend/ Stock management — part of an integrated whole “Today, such choices are less available.
There are pressures on supply chains, and shortages of labour. Stock control (or management) has always been important. But in times like this it be-comes vital. Today it is vital for operators to know an
understand and do all of the following: A) know clearly and fully exactly what is where, right now B) understand where it will be most needed/useful next (and when) C) maximise efficiency in getting things from A to B on schedule. When items are in short supply, you need
to make the most of what you do have or what you know you can get. And if any lines do run out, you want maximum flexibility to swap things out as quickly and as intelligently as possible without losing any business. Mr Black says: “In this way, the boundaries
between efficient stock management and effective (customer focused) merchandising dissolve. Both serve the same purpose: making the best use of the machines that you have in service and the stock that you actually have available. Empty spirals do not generate sales.” In meeting this challenge, technology can
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now help in ways that were simply not available even two years back. “It’s not just a question of harvesting data,
here has never been a time in recent memory, when stock control has been as important to our sector as it is today.
Emerging from COVID, and with so much still affected by Brexit, stock man-agement has risen above an “important discipline”. Today it is an integral aspect of ensuring the efficient flow of the lifeblood that is business: maximising sales and profitability. Simon Black, managing director of SB
Software, says: “In 'normal” times some of our clients chose to run a lean warehouse, operating a “pull-order as needed” system akin to “just in time manufacturing," whereas others preferred to hold more stock as a buffer, or reservoir.
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although that is an essential starting point,” Mr Black says. “Once you have the data, it needs harnessing and applying too. It must be made available on hand, and be easily accessible wherever it adds most value. So any way that today’s technology can assist should be welcomed.” SB Software is able to help its
customers in this regard as follows:
• the SBS warehouse app maps your warehouse onto your mobile device, streamlining picking as well as underwriting accuracy: you have all the current information in the palm of your hand • “pre-packing” allocates stock per machine in advance, reducing time both on site and overall • “single walk” (built upon the ready visibility of accurate data and SB Software’s Vendmanager) frees up operators to move onto the next delivery. By reducing the time per location, they make minimum trips on foot • “visit on demand” improves efficiency all around, as well as targeting the right stock to the right place at the right time to maximise sales, as well as save time.
All of this relies on timely accurate data
that is both relevant and meaningful. That data needs to be easy to use and accessible wherever it adds most value in ways that are designed for commer-cial deployment. Stock management is not just an island, existing in isolation. It is part of an inte- grated whole and times of increased pressure on both stock availability and workforce shortages, both visibility and efficiency are paramount.
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