SME manufacturers often face problems with accurate demand forecasting, overstocking, stockout, human errors, data inefficiency, delayed reports and reconciliation, and more. Ineffective inventory management methods lead to lost customers and disruptions in production. Effective sales and inventory management is very important for the overall productivity of small-scale manufacturing businesses.
Sales and inventory management systems help you automate processes and improve coordination between in-house teams, suppliers, and customers.
In this blog post, we will learn how sales and inventory management systems can improve your supply chain efficiency and contribute to the growth of your manufacturing business.
Understanding Sales And Inventory Management Systems
Sales and inventory management systems are software solutions that automate and improve processes like analyzing customer enquiries, tracking inventory levels, and creating documents.
- A sales management system improves sales order processing from enquiry to dispatch.
- An inventory management systems help you keep balanced stock levels to avoid inventory shrinkages, overstocking and dead stock.
It is very important to integrate a sales and inventory management system in your manufacturing business to improve your supply chain performance. It helps you grab new opportunities, improve inventory accuracy, and run your business according to market trends.
Learn What Is Sales and Inventory Management Systems.
Key Benefits Of Sales And Inventory Management Systems In Supply Chain Efficiency
Sales and inventory management are the most important parts of the supply chain. It provides you with previous and real-time data to make informed decisions. Here are the key benefits of sales and inventory management systems in supply chain efficiency.
1. Improved Inventory Visibility And Accuracy
Inventory management software allows real time inventory tracking so that you can improve your purchasing, production, and sales activities. It improves inventory visibility to focus on maintaining the quality of products when stored in warehouses. It allows you to set minimum and maximum stock limits to help you improve inventory accuracy. You can also set automatic reorder points for the most valuable raw materials to avoid stockouts.
2. Enhanced Demand Forecasting And Order Fulfillment
A sales and inventory management system helps you improve demand forecasting by analyzing customer preferences, market trends, and historical data. Accurate demand forecasts help you purchase the right raw materials in the right quantities to achieve your production targets. It helps you manufacture products on time and improve the efficiency of order fulfilment.
3. Increased Inventory Turnover Rates
The number of times you have used certain raw materials or sold finished goods in a year is called the inventory turnover rate. Real time inventory management software shows you the most valuable products so that you can focus on them to increase turnover rates. It also helps you avoid excess stocking of low-value products and reduce storage costs.
4. Optimized Sales Order Processing
A sales and inventory system allows you to use different features based on your unique requirements. If you are dealing with multiple enquiries and transactions, then you can add more users to operate the software. It helps you create accurate sales quotations for your customer enquiries.
It helps you conduct inventory analysis in real-time when you receive new orders and make quick decisions to improve your sales order processing. It also creates the required documents to improve your dispatch process and supply chain efficiency.
Inventory Control Techniques And Methods For Better Supply Chain Management
Using different inventory management techniques and methods based on your requirements helps you improve supply chain management. It helps you to use inventory control techniques and methods to reduce holding costs. Here are some inventory control methods and techniques you can use to improve accuracy in your manufacturing business.
- FIFO (First-In-First-Out) - It helps you focus on selling or using the products or raw materials you purchased or manufactured first.
- LIFO (Last-In-First-Out) - It helps you sell or use those products or raw materials first that you have purchased or manufactured last.
- ABC Analysis - It helps you categorize inventory items into three categories (A, B, and C) based on their value.
- Economic order quantity - It helps you analyze your production data and sales orders and purchase the right products in the right quantities.
- Just-In-Time - It helps you order raw materials after making your production plan to reduce inventory holding costs.
- Safety Stock - It helps you identify your most valuable raw materials and keep their safety stock to avoid disruptions in production and fulfil orders on time.
A sales and inventory management system helps you with inventory management strategies to improve demand management. You can use these strategies to improve your supply chain performance.
Sales Process Automation
A sales and inventory system supports sales process automation by creating and tracking documents like sales quotations, purchase orders, goods received notes (GRNs), and invoices. It helps you track the status of new orders and payment details of delivered products. You can use any document to access all details of customer orders and make decisions accordingly to improve your supply chain performance and efficiency.
Best Practices For Implementing Sales And Inventory Management Systems
Many types of sales and inventory management systems are available in the market that offer different kinds of features. You need to adopt sales and inventory management best practices to implement the right system in your business and gain maximum benefit from it.
Here are some steps to successfully implement sales and inventory management systems.
- Analyze your current processes to identify your specific requirements.
- Make a list of several sales and inventory management systems.
- Analyze their features and how easy they are to operate.
- Figure out if they can integrate with other tools in your business.
- Find out their installation and maintenance costs.
- Implement software that offers your required features and integration at affordable costs.
Below are some of the best practices to gain maximum benefit from your sales and inventory management system.
- Provide training to your employees to properly operate the software.
- Integrate the software with your existing systems.
- Use different techniques and methods to improve your inventory supply chain management.
- Analyze previous and real-time sales and inventory data to make better decisions.
- Regularly update your inventory tracking software to the latest version.
Maximize Your Supply Chain Efficiency With TranZact
A sales and inventory management system helps you convert enquiries into sales orders, improve inventory accuracy and order management, and maximize supply chain efficiency. TranZact is an easy-to-use cloud-based tool specially designed to help Indian SME manufacturers to manage operations in one place. TranZact‘s sales and inventory management system supports the automation of all processes from enquiry to dispatch. It allows you to manage multiple enquiries and automatically convert them into sales quotations and order confirmations.
TranZact also allows you to manage multiple warehouses and track stock levels in real time. It allows you to set and get updates for min/max stock limits on WhatsApp and email. It helps you easily create and track all the required documents, such as sales quotations, purchase orders, and invoices to save time.
Implement TranZact in your manufacturing business now to improve supply chain efficiency with real-time inventory tracking to meet market demands.
FAQs
1. What is a sales and inventory management system, and how does it work?
A sales and inventory management system is a tool to manage enquiries, inventory levels, and payments. It automates sales processes, monitors stock levels in real-time, and provides reports and analytics to make informed decisions.
2. How can a sales and inventory management system improve supply chain efficiency?
A sales and inventory management system improves supply chain efficiency in the following ways:
- Improving Inventory Accuracy
- Creating And Tracking Documents
- Increasing Visibility And Transparency
- Providing Data And Analytics
3. What are some key inventory control techniques used in inventory management systems?
Some of the key inventory control techniques used in inventory management systems are as follows:
- FIFO
- LIFO
- ABC Analysis
- SOS Analysis
- GOLF Analysis
4. How does real-time inventory tracking benefit supply chain management?
Real-time inventory tracking helps you order raw materials at the right time to avoid disruptions in production and improve supply chain management.
5. What role does demand forecasting play in improving supply chain efficiency?
Demand forecasting helps you identify high-value products so that you can focus on their stock levels to improve supply chain efficiency.
6. What are the best practices for implementing a sales and inventory management system?
Some of the best practices to implement a sales and inventory management system in your business are as follows:
- Identify your requirements.
- Learn about the features of the software.
- Find out its integration capabilities.
- Compare costs with others.Implement an easy-to-use software with your required features.
