Inventory Management using Bar Code Scanner
If you are searching for this article than definitely you are looking for implementation of Bar code printing and scanning system in your business. Keeping a track of your inventory while it passes through different stages of supply chain is very crucial for running your business seamlessly. In this article we will discuss in detail about Inventory management.
- What is an Inventory management System?
- Why Inventory Management is Important?
- Industries using Inventory management systems
- How does an inventory control system work?
What is an Inventory Control System?
An inventory management is a system that encompasses all aspects of managing a company’s inventories; purchasing, receiving, tracking, warehousing, shipping, and reordering along with other auxiliary records; suppliers, customers, purchase orders and other reports. It is a system that contains hardware and software tools that automate the inventory system. Through inventory control system all kind of quantifiable inventory can be tracked such as garments, food, grocery items, electronic items, books, equipment and many more. In today’s era inventory system exclusively based on bar code system. Though initially Bar Code system was developed for grocery management but its wide capacity of encoding the alphabetic and numeric numbers makes them ideal for merchandise for inventory application. Inventory management system works in real time using wireless technology to transmit information to central computer system as and when a transaction occurs.
Why Inventory Management is Important?
Inventory management is necessary for efficient management of stock and to ensure quality control in business. Without proper inventory control a business may run out of stock which may result revenue loss. Suppose, a retailer orders 10 pairs of socks, but only received 9 pairs, this will be obvious upon inspecting the content of package, but in other case a wholesaler orders 10,000 pairs of socks but receives 10,000 less. Manually counting each pair of socks is likely to result in error. Application of an automation system like bar code system may help in this scenario and help to minimize the risk of error. In retail store, an automated system also provides prevention from theft, an valuable information about store profit and the need for theft prevention system.
Industries using Inventory management systems
Inventory management system are using in wide variety of application, but all revolve around the tracking and movement of goods. Inventory management system is crucial in retail store, especially those with a wide range of merchandise and items for sale. Inventory control is also used in warehouses to track orders and shipments, and for automated order processing. Other important application of inventory control system is in manufacturing, shipping and receiving.
How does an inventory control system work?
Automated inventory management system works by scanning the barcode either on the item. A barcode scanner is scanned the date encoded by the bar code which is further stored at centralised computer system. For Example, a purchase order contains a list of items to be pulled for packing and shipping. An automated inventory management system may serve a lot of purposes in this case. It can help he worker to locate the items in the warehouse, it can encode the information like tracking number and shipping addresses, and deduct those items from inventory to keep an accurate count of stock items. All this date works in tandem to provide the businesses with real time inventory tracking information.
The author of this article is CA Arti Agarwal. She is a practicing Chartered Accountant and a prominent author of Efiling world.