Storing stock is essential for most businesses, whether you run a small store, an office, or a large warehouse.
But while it is essential, managing your inventory and moving it around is often a challenge. If you don’t have a good inventory management system in place, complete with demand planning solutions so that you can make sure you have enough of what you need in stock, this can have a big impact on your business, so it’s always important to ensure you stay organized.
Here are some tips to ensure you store your stock more efficiently to make it easier to find items and move them around to save time and effort for everyone in your place of work.
Use Mobile Storage Solutions
One of the simplest things you can do when improving your inventory management is to change the way you store your stock.
It can often be a good option to choose a mobile storage solution to provide you with greater flexibility. You can then move things around whenever you need to, and you can arrange your stock in the best way for you.
You should consider investing in some sturdy racks, particularly rolling racks that you can move around. Rolling shelving units and rolling wire shelving racks can be a useful option, especially in smaller businesses.
One of the main considerations when investing in shelving will be the ball casters that you use. These are ideal for portable shelving, but make sure you choose ones that provide good resistance and are long lasting.
Save Space with Smart Storage
You should also look into smart storage solutions to save more space, which is especially important if you don’t have a large area to store items.
Things like mobile shelving can be great in the office for storing documents while taking up less space. These comprise shelving units that close together leaving just one aisle free to access the shelves rather than having separate aisles between each row of shelving.
You can then move each unit when you need to get to a particular item by sliding it along, and this can help you to save a considerable amount of space and stay organized.
Keep Your Space Tidy & Organized
Whatever stock you have in your inventory room, make sure you keep your space tidy and organized because this will make things a lot easier for you. It can also help to prevent stock from going missing, so make it a regular weekly task to tidy up the area.
You should also introduce a smart organization system to keep on top of everything. This is one of the most important things you can do and it involves labeling your stock clearly. You might even want to use colors to make it easier.
Also be sure to stock particular items in specific areas and make these clear, this can help to save time searching.
Keep Track Electronically
Unless you have a small amount of stock, you will probably want to keep track of it using specialist software.
This will help you to keep track of everything with much greater ease and you can ensure that every single item is accounted for. It will also help you to order new stock in good time so you don’t run out, and this will really help to make your life easier.
Protect Your Items
You will also want to look after your stock to prevent it from getting damaged. That means storing items in suitable conditions, so be on the lookout for problems like damp and clean the room regularly. You don’t want to take an item to a customer only to find that it is dirty.
Only Buy What You Need
It can be very easy to have excess stock, no matter what type of business you run, but this can have a negative impact on your business. Stock that stays in the stockroom too long may become damaged, and older inventory can be harder to shift so you may end up having to sell it at a discount.
This comes down to managing your business well and having accurate projections in place. Have a detailed system in place so you know how much you need and when you need it, and take account of seasonality if that applies to your business.
Take Control of Your Inventory Management
These are some of the main things that you can do to improve your inventory management. Perhaps you are doing some of these already, but if not, it could be time to make some changes in your system to optimize it. Then you can enjoy all the benefits of having a more efficient system in place that will help to save you time and money.
Stephan Reed is the digital marketing partner for Hudson Bearings, a ball caster manufacturing company in Columbus, Ohio.