Solid Know How™

Inventory Management

Supplemental User Guide

For a printable version of this guide; see the attached document at the bottom of this article, 'SolidInventoryMngmt.pdf'.

When new or existing companies begin using Solid Route Accounting business systems, some may feel that at that time, starting proper inventory management is ‘not right for them’. As time draws on, they may feel that implementing inventory management becomes more and more difficult to begin along with it. Thankfully, this is not the case. In fact, inventory management is nearly as easy for a 10 year old Solid Route Accounting company to implement as it is for a brand new company! This is because in both situations, the process is still the same: Count all on hand inventory.

This complete and full inventory count is often the road block that most companies look at and see as a daunting task. Yes, it is a bit of work to accomplish, however as you’ll read below, this doesn’t have to be the weekend long, time consuming process that you might think it is. In fact, by following the suggestions in this guide, you’ll find that your route sales people will have very little extra work to do to implement inventory management, but will be able to see the positive results right away.

How can Inventory Management benefit your company? Do any of the following apply?

• Monitor inventory slippage, including theft
• Know what’s where at any given time, including what’s on the trucks
• Complete stops faster and look more professional by not having to double-check if items still exist in the truck
• Make route sales people accountable for their inventory
• Closely monitor product returns and spoilage
• Allow route sales people to know if there’s still some quantities ‘back at the warehouse’ for sold out items while on the road

If you’d like to see improvement in any of those areas, and more, then inventory management is right for your company!