10 Steps to a Healthier Business

Over the past 10 weeks I have shared 10 steps to build a healthier business. Those 10 steps mainly involve sound inventory management principles. It has been a long journey, but we have come to the end. Now it’s time to look back and review everything I’ve covered and reveal the point of this exercise.

1. Inventory Management

It’s important to keep your inventory under control. This leads to long-term health by keeping costs down and increasing a company’s flexibility to meet customers’ needs.

2. Cycle Counting

Instead of shutting down your operations once a year, you can check some parts of your warehouse(s) on a rotating basis to achieve the same results. No more closures, but much more accurate information.

3. Supply Chain Management

Knowing how your vendors are performing, what shipments are in transit to and from your facilities, and how much lead time to give products can have a major impact on your business’ success.

4. Warehouse Management

Having a warehouse is a good start, but it takes a powerful warehouse management system to organize it and make it operate at full capacity.

5. Inventory Tracking

It sure is helpful to know exactly where to find specific items in a big warehouse. Inventory tracking involves much more than that, as well.

6. Software Integration

Save time and prevent potential errors by integrating your inventory software with other programs so they share data and eliminate the need for double data entry.

7. Pick, Pack, Ship

Picking, packing, and shipping get products out of the warehouse and into the hands of customers. The faster and more accurate you can do these three things, the better off you’ll be.

8. Barcodes

Barcodes are pretty standard issue nowadays. Barcode scanners allow employees to get a lot more done than they could if they tried to write everything down on paper or do many tasks from memory.

9. Multiple Locations

Having parts and products in multiple warehouses and/or retail stores adds to the complication of managing your inventory. But it is definitely doable if you have the right inventory management system.

10. Multi-currency

Many businesses have vendors, customers, and other people/organizations they do business with that are found in a variety of countries. Thus, they need to convert multiple currencies into their home currency for tax and revenue purposes.

The Point

The point is that healthy businesses aren’t defined by how much money they take in, but by how well they use the resources they have. Even the biggest company can collapse if it runs into cash-flow disruptions and fails to pay attention to the details that get business done. Conversely, a small business can grow swiftly by controlling costs and using the right tools to help them compete with larger organizations. Inventory management plays an important part in the success of companies. By following the 10 steps listed above and using advanced manufacturing and warehouse management software, like Fishbowl, you can see dramatic results. Sign up for a Web demo of Fishbowl today to start enjoying greater health as a business.