As manufacturers and distributors should be well aware, careful management of inventory is essential to business profitability. A significant portion of a company’s assets can be invested in inventory. Knowing how many, where, and in what condition that inventory resides can be a daunting, and labor-intensive, task.

Effective inventory management encompasses all of the following skills:

• Inventory “visibility” in management systems
• Error reduction in counting and storing
• Efficient searching techniques
• Sales and purchase order accuracy
• Reduction of stock outages and backorders
• Managing warehousing and labor costs

The Sage 50 product line offers strong inventory management capabilities “out of the box”, but there are a variety of electronic devices which can augment those capabilities. These range from relatively inexpensive bar code scanners to very high-end warehouse automation technologies.

We have had some experience with various bar coding applications for Sage 50. We are particularly impressed with Scan for 50 (www.scanfor50.com) from Exceliware, a comprehensive set of tools designed to augment Sage 50’s native inventory management capabilities to take warehouse automation to a higher level.

Another technology which is starting to make inroads with small business manufacturers and distributors is “Radio Frequency”, or RF, device readers. These hand-held devices are extremely flexible, not outrageously expensive, and allow for quick and easy updates to inventory items.

Two higher-end technologies that are beginning to enter the mainstream:

• Pick by voice – warehouse personnel wear headsets which allow them to create voice-activated lookups for specific items, and then direct what to do with those items when found;
• Pick to light – sensors employ digital light displays to direct warehouse staff to specific stock locations, and then display digital readouts of quantities on hand.

These latter systems remain very pricey at this point, ranging from $100,000 to $400,000 and up, and are therefore not a very effective “fit” for Sage 50 at this time. Widespread adoption of new technologies tends to create a “trickle-down” effect regarding both pricing and availability, however, so these high-end automation aids could become much more ubiquitous in the coming years. Who would have imagined receiving email messages on their phone 20 years ago?

If you have questions about technological aids for inventory management, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 610-941-2116 to discuss your needs, or email us at [email protected]. We are always happy to share our knowledge.