You’ve Got Inventory Management Problems, We’ve Got Inventory Management Solutions

February 8, 2017
Fishbowl offers solutions to inventory management problems, Fishbowl BlogThere are quite a few challenges that go along with managing inventory. Thankfully, Fishbowl has software solutions that solve those challenges. So you could say that you’ve got inventory management problems, and we’ve got inventory management solutions. Fishbowl’s inventory management solutions include: Fishbowl Manufacturing: Inventory management software for manufacturers that allows them to use advanced work orders, bills of materials, and much more. Fishbowl Warehouse: Inventory management software that gives SMBs many of the same advanced inventory tools that big businesses use. Fishbowl Go: An app that lets you scan barcodes for cycle counting, reordering, and many other inventory-related jobs. Fishbowl Anywhere: A plugin that lets you access Fishbowl Manufacturing and Fishbowl Warehouse remotely through a Web browser. Let’s discuss 10 of inventory management problems, followed immediately by how Fishbowl’s products solve them.   Problem 1: Inventory shortage Solution 1: Set up automatic reorder points in Fishbowl for every single item in your inventory. Then when one gets down to a minimum level, it will alert you to reorder more.   Problem 2: Inventory overstock Solution 2: Rather than stocking up on a product because of high-quantity ordering incentives, you can just calculate the correct quantities you need by taking into account lead times and safety stocks so you won’t wind up with more than you need.   Problem 3: Double data entry Solution 3: Fishbowl integrates with dozens of solutions, everything from accounting solutions to shipping platforms, to eliminate double data entry. When you place an order, receive an order, or do other things that affect your inventory, Fishbowl automatically updates QuickBooks, Xero, Magento, UPS, and various other solutions with that information.   Problem 4: Unsure of total manufacturing costs Solution 4: Fishbowl tracks the cost of every part that goes into a final product. Plus, it has a plugin called Fishbowl Time & Labor that allows you to add labor costs to the cost of goods sold. This is a big help when pricing products and ensuring you’re making a healthy profit on them.   Problem 5: Difficulty managing multiple warehouses Solution 5: Get the most up-to-date data possible for every location you have inventory at. So when one location gets low on a certain product, you can transfer a few units from another location where you have a surplus. You can also analyze sales trends by location to know how best to stock each one.   Problem 6: Slow picking, packing, and shipping Solution 6: Optimize your warehouse layout to speed up the picking process, instantly generate packing lists and shipping labels to speed up the packing process, and integrate with USPS, UPS, FedEx, and other shipping solutions to quickly transmit shipping data to them.   Problem 7: Unreliable supply chains Solution 7: Monitor the performance of vendors/suppliers over time to ensure they are meeting your expectations and giving you a good deal.   Problem 8: Unable to track part levels Solution 8: Use lot numbers, serial numbers, revision numbers, tag numbers, and all sorts of other criteria to track products.   Problem 9: Working with customers and vendors in many countries using many currencies Solution 9: Create and receive sales orders and purchase orders in any currency and then use multi-currency conversions to change them to your home currency. This keeps your finances all in the same currency, which is really helpful for tax purposes and other reasons.   Problem 10: Errors in data entry Solution 10: Print barcodes, attach them to products, and scan them. You can scan barcodes to help with cycle counting, ordering, moving, and doing other things to your inventory. Barcode scanning leads to fewer data entry errors because you don’t have to manually type product numbers into a keypad and risk typos creeping in.   Sign up for a free trial of Fishbowl, and see how this can be the solution to your inventory management problems!