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Inventory Management

slippery_gypsy

Plastic
Joined
Aug 23, 2021
Gday all,
Is anyone using any inventory management software? We deal with aluminium profiles for commercial windows and doors.
We have 7 suppliers for aluminium which all have slightly different products for copyright purposes so NONE of them work with each other. Each of them has over a 1000 different profiles with a metric sh*ttonne of colours. We cant keep "stock" as we wouldn't be able to keep the cashflow for such an endeavor, so we need to order the material for each bespoke project. But our fabricators love to rob from Peter to pay Paul, the issue there is by the time we get the replacements who knows which job it is for. Or the piece might get delivered and put somewhere, then get re-ordered because it cannot be found. I have ordered some stackable stillages but due to the current lockdown situation on this side of the world the ETA on that is unknown and even then it still wouldn't help with this problem.
The only true solution I have come up with in theory is to QR code every single item on hand (over 10,000) and then scan them "out" as each one gets cut, but the moment our cutters don't scan one out then the whole system is up sh*ts creek. I have attached an image which is about 10% of the current materials we have on the premises.



Cheers,
Gypo
 
At the shop I used to work at, we ran into a very similar problem. One thing we started doing, which was required by our AS9100 certification anyways but was very helpful, was to use a paint-pen and write down the order # on every piece of incoming material. Everything we ordered was for a specific order, so by writing the order number on each piece of stock we could later find it. However, there were certainly cases where the material was placed elsewhere and we would have to spend an hour looking for it; but with this we knew for a fact the material had arrived as we had excel spreadsheets to say [Order name, Order number, Material certification number, Material lot number, delivered on XX-XX-XXXX] etc. So if it ever came to not finding stock we could refer to the excel file to determine if it had arrived and when it arrived (helps in determining where it may have been placed).

As far as inventory software, the ideal would be qr codes or barcodes, HOWEVER, it is very easy for these to not be updated and suddenly it's way off as you mentioned. Scanning in/out is the most efficient inventory process I've come across as long as your guys always follow the process. If they don't I'd recommend starting to implement consequences and write-ups for instances where your guys don't follow the process.

The nice thing with inventory software is that many of them also allow you to tie in products with their manufacturers so when you run out of something you could set it up to automatically order more.
 
Gday all,
Is anyone using any inventory management software? We deal with aluminium profiles for commercial windows and doors.
We have 7 suppliers for aluminium which all have slightly different products for copyright purposes so NONE of them work with each other. Each of them has over a 1000 different profiles with a metric sh*ttonne of colours. We cant keep "stock" as we wouldn't be able to keep the cashflow for such an endeavor, so we need to order the material for each bespoke project. But our fabricators love to rob from Peter to pay Paul, the issue there is by the time we get the replacements who knows which job it is for. Or the piece might get delivered and put somewhere, then get re-ordered because it cannot be found. I have ordered some stackable stillages but due to the current lockdown situation on this side of the world the ETA on that is unknown and even then it still wouldn't help with this problem.
The only true solution I have come up with in theory is to QR code every single item on hand (over 10,000) and then scan them "out" as each one gets cut, but the moment our cutters don't scan one out then the whole system is up sh*ts creek. I have attached an image which is about 10% of the current materials we have on the premises.



Cheers,
Gypo

Can you get them pre-cut from the supplier ?
 
Can you get them pre-cut from the supplier ?

No, Unfortunately not. Our suppliers only provide them in 6.5m lengths. and to top it off projects are split into multiple Manufacturing orders due to the fact that not all of a project is ready to be installed at once,. and the Logikal software optimizes cutting so you may cut a length but need the offcut for another part of the project in a later Manufacturing Order.
 
At the shop I used to work at, we ran into a very similar problem. One thing we started doing, which was required by our AS9100 certification anyways but was very helpful, was to use a paint-pen and write down the order # on every piece of incoming material. Everything we ordered was for a specific order, so by writing the order number on each piece of stock we could later find it. However, there were certainly cases where the material was placed elsewhere and we would have to spend an hour looking for it; but with this we knew for a fact the material had arrived as we had excel spreadsheets to say [Order name, Order number, Material certification number, Material lot number, delivered on XX-XX-XXXX] etc. So if it ever came to not finding stock we could refer to the excel file to determine if it had arrived and when it arrived (helps in determining where it may have been placed).

As far as inventory software, the ideal would be qr codes or barcodes, HOWEVER, it is very easy for these to not be updated and suddenly it's way off as you mentioned. Scanning in/out is the most efficient inventory process I've come across as long as your guys always follow the process. If they don't I'd recommend starting to implement consequences and write-ups for instances where your guys don't follow the process.

The nice thing with inventory software is that many of them also allow you to tie in products with their manufacturers so when you run out of something you could set it up to automatically order more.

Thanks for the response,
We currently do use paint pens for identification but only after the piece has been cut. I am trying to find a way that takes away the human factor as much as possible, and to top it off we currently dont have an inbound goods/storeperson so its a bit of a free for all out there :S
 
Thanks for the response,
We currently do use paint pens for identification but only after the piece has been cut. I am trying to find a way that takes away the human factor as much as possible, and to top it off we currently dont have an inbound goods/storeperson so its a bit of a free for all out there :S

Got it. In that case, your best bet may be to setup some software with QR or Barcodes to track inventory and get a wireless barcode scanner or inventory software that would allow your employees to use their phones for scanning codes when they check in/out material. Something where they can check out an entire piece of material, but also check back in the remaining offcuts so the offcuts stay in the inventory as well. And simply implement levels of consequences for your guys (i.e. First Time not following procedure, second time not following procedure, and finally third time not following procedure within X number of days/weeks/months). It may take a bit for the guys to get used to it, but eventually it'll be as habitual as measuring stock with a tape measure.
 








 
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