Across the multiple fields of the demanding manufacturing industry, functional and efficient equipment is necessary to remain competitive. A lack of preparation can often translate into idle machines, mismanaged assets, or forgotten maintenance repairs that balloon into excessive costs and, in some cases, hefty fines from industry regulators.
For all of the modern equipment advances offered to manufacturers, one of most powerful tools is not a machine at all, but the software to track it: equipment inventory software. Let’s discuss the importance of equipment inventory software in a business and how it can help in big and small ways across the board.
Heavy-duty tool
Equipment inventory software can perform a whole lot of your heavy lifting in its capacity to monitor, manage, and maintain your entire workflow. Here is a sample of the many features that you will find within this streamlined software.
Monitor
- Eliminate laborious audits and cycle counts with asset tracking
Cycle counting is an important job that must be done on a regular basis to keep all of your inventory records accurate. But they do not necessarily need to be performed on a daily basis. If you can reduce the number of times you need to perform cycle counts, you will be better off in the long run.
- Coordinate future jobs and availability to keep those assets in use
Know where your assets are going and for how much time they will be used to complete specific manufacturing jobs. That way, you will not wind up with unnecessary waste and misplaced items in the warehouse.
- Track machine production to ensure customers stay satisfied
You may not need to be working at capacity at all times. Different times of year may call for different levels of production, so keep an eye on seasonal trends and try to plan ahead with the help of equipment inventory software.
- Factor total cost projections to shifting needs and secure your bottom line
Integrate an online time clock solution, such as Fishbowl Time, with your manufacturing software to include labor costs in your work orders. This helps you accurately track all of the costs that go into the manufacturing of finished goods.
- Multi-location tracking collects and combines all of your data for easy access
Track inventory quantities by warehouse and sub-locations within each warehouse. That way, you always know exactly what you have on hand and you can quickly transfer items from one location to another, when necessary
Manage
- Repeatable schedules for cyclical work orders and assets
By tracking sales, seasonal trends, and purchase orders, you can plan ahead and set a workable manufacturing schedule to always produce the right number of goods to satisfy your customers.
- Auto-purchase orders and auto-ship at custom set points
Set up automatic reorder points to inform you when products’ quantities get below a certain level that it becomes necessary to produce or otherwise obtain more of them. Then you will be informed of the need via email or text. This will help you maintain proper inventory quantities.
- Multi-order capacity for large or varied location purchases
Generate purchase orders for different locations. Order some goods for a specific location and then order other goods for another location. You can place as many orders as you like to meet each warehouse’s specific needs.
- Create custom work orders specific to customer needs and regulations
That is right. If you need to go past all of the usual work orders for standard manufacturing jobs, you can create a custom work order to switch out parts and do different things than you would normally do in most of your work orders.
- Integrate instructions per specific user or worker
You can assign work orders to certain users, so that you know who is responsible for them. This encourages accountability and ensures that everyone knows his or her role at every step in the manufacturing process.
Maintain
- Set customer manufacture types
There are all sorts of manufacturing jobs besides the regular assembly jobs. These other manufacture types include maintenance, disassembly, repair, and reverse. You can create work orders for every one of these manufacturing jobs.
- Track equipment repair with the ability to auto-schedule according to unit
Keep an eye on each piece of equipment’s age, status, and use over time, so that you can tell when it is time for routine maintenance. When repairs are called for, you will be ready for them, and you will be able to plan ahead, reducing the impact to your manufacturing schedule.
- Review repair vendor location, inventory, and relationship
When you send equipment out to a repair vendor, you can track those items by their location and also ensure you understand the vendor’s payment terms and record. That way, you know if you are getting a good deal and if the vendor delivers on what they promise to do.
- Auto-ship the needed inventory to multiple locations
Quickly generate transfer orders, sales orders, and purchase orders to ensure that the right products get sent to the right locations. You can even save those orders and duplicate them at a moment’s notice when the same kinds of orders need to be made in the future.
- Generate custom repair work orders with location and instructions
If a product needs to be repaired in a unique way, possibly requiring replacement parts in addition to the repair, then it is possible to do so with a custom work order. You can also assign the work order to a specific location and include written instructions if the job is particularly complicated and requires extra explanations.
Put all of your assets and other equipment to the best use, and keep them in top shape and always available by using the most important tool of all: equipment inventory software. With its ability to monitor, manage, and maintain your entire workflow, equipment inventory software is an ideal solution to the many manufacturing challenges you face.
Get a demo of Fishbowl today!