Category: News

Barcodes have been part of our lives since 1974 and are now not only used by retailers to organise stock but also by many other industries including aerospace and manufacturing, for a variety of different reasons.

What is a Barcode Inventory System?

Barcode inventory systems are pretty much what the name describes. They are systems that allow you to manage stock in a much more accurate and efficient way using barcodes. The system can help you track and follow items as they move through your warehouse (or warehouses). If you choose the right solution and implement it correctly, it can automate processes to save even more time and transform your business for the better.

 

What are the Benefits of a Barcode Inventory System?

 

The barcode was designed for a reason – to make life easier for retailers, but now, with technology advancing quicker than ever before, there are several key benefits that make life easier for the industries that implement barcode inventory technology.

 

Accuracy

Utilising a barcoding system with inventory management can significantly increase accuracy compared to manual inventory management. By mitigating the risks of human error, barcoding will not only save time for your business but will also offer peace of mind.

 

Efficiency

Implementing a barcode inventory system will significantly increase the efficiency of your processes, allowing you to redistribute the saved time throughout different areas of the business. Making processes more efficient then helps you satisfy your customer’s needs more quickly, which is particularly important nowadays when customers have expectations of immediacy and customers can access products at the click of a button.

 

Simplicity

A barcoding inventory management system will help you keep track of all stock movements electronically. The best systems will also help you keep track of stock even if you have multiple warehouses in more than one location. This helps you simplify your processes as there is less need for manual interference, speeding up your operations without compromising on service delivered.

 

Traceability

The ability to trace stock is a crucial aspect of managing a warehouse. Offering your business functionality including multi-location, batch/serial number tracking, and expiry dates to keep track of perishable products, barcode inventory management systems are designed to make your life easier by helping to create a more agile and efficient business.

 

Summary

To summarise the benefits of barcoding inventory systems, this technology provides four key advantages that include accuracy, efficiency, simplicity, and traceability, with each going hand-in-hand to optimise processes, creating a much more agile business. With a reduced risk of human error, barcoding inventory systems also offer peace of mind that operations run smoothly.

 

It’s challenging to grow a business without a healthy cash flow. Especially if you have customers or sales channels that are slow to pay, you will be required to pay your own suppliers and employees regardless of whether your customers have paid or not.

One of the tools available to a business to achieve a good cash flow is inventory management. Managing your stock to be able to fulfil orders without holding an excessive amount of inventory allows you to keep your finances liquid.

In this article, we are going to be exploring stock management and cash flow and discussing the role of inventory management software. If it’s not something you’ve spent a lot of time thinking about, it might be worth delving a little deeper, because, for many companies, it directly contributes to their ability to grow as a business.

What Is Healthy Cash Flow?

“Cash flow is the amount of money being transferred in and out of a business. It’s usually calculated and presented on a budget sheet that identifies a company’s inflow and expenditures.”

Simply put, when you have more money flowing into your business than flowing out, you have positive cash flow. This should always be an objective for most businesses because by accumulating the net cash flow surplus, you have the resources to scale operations.

Naturally, there is more to finance than just cash flow. You also have to assess a company’s debt, profitability, and other factors to ensure the financial stability of your business. However, if you are ever looking for a snapshot of your financial position as a business, your cash flow is a really good indicator.

How Inventory Affects Your Cash Flow

Most traditional businesses follow a similar model. They buy inventory, which they then hold as stock whilst they try to sell it. When the inventory gets sold, it converts that stock into cash, giving the company the resources to purchase more inventory and repeat the cycle.

However, buying too much stock can impact your cash flow and worse still, it can lead to waste.

Stocking your supply

Poor visibility of inventory can often lead to miscalculating supply. If you don’t have the ability to properly track the supply and demand of your inventory, you can’t predict how much stock you need to hold at any one time. These stocking issues can become even more prevalent if you are in a seasonal industry where sales can swing drastically depending on the time of year.

For example, without accurate stock reporting and analysis, if your predicted supply is significantly too high, your cash flow can be damaged through increasing expenditures. Your cost of goods increase, as well as the costs associated with carrying your inventory and the demand for your goods, isn’t high enough to satisfy the supply amount you’ve purchased.

In contrast, if your predicted supply is too low, decreasing revenue can also dent your cash flow. If you only have a small amount of stock to sell, you might not be able to keep up with demand. In most industries, if you don’t have the stock available to supply to your customers, they will be buying from your competitors.

 

Inventory Tips to Improve Your Cash Flow

The ability to control your cash flow demands forward-thinking. The best way to achieve this is to employ technology, which can track your inventory trends helping to predict the flow of your cash and avoid costly mistakes.

Track your Inventory Trends

Keeping meticulous records of the quantity of products ordered and sold helps your business to forecast demand and supply. Bit Systems inventory management software simplifies inventory tracking to provide insights into whether you are overstocking or understocking. In creating greater visibility, you can better regulate orders and continually meet customer demand.

 

• Continual tracking allows you to measure seasonal changes.
• Adjust supply orders to accommodate demand fluctuations.

 

In precisely measuring inventory flow, you will be better able to match your supply to the demand. You maximise your revenue by meeting customer demand and not tying up cash in additional stock.

 

Summary – cash flow management

Managing your cash flow is essential for any business wanting to scale for two primary reasons. Firstly, available capital provides opportunities for companies to expand into new areas and scale their operations. Secondly, by having visibility over cash flow and stock quantities, you are better able to meet the consumer’s demand and predict future demand patterns. The absence of technology would make the task of managing inventory extremely labour intensive and leave a huge margin for human error, neither of which are useful to a growing company. Bit Inventory management software automates stock control to enable your business to grow through improved cash flow.

 

Growing a business can be tough, and you’ll no doubt encounter many challenges, one of which is inventory management.

As with any business, as you expand, the micro-tasks that seem insignificant during your business’ infancy turn into more critical tasks that, if not kept in check, can lead to serious operational issues.

It is still a common scenario businesses face. They increase sales; order volumes start to skyrocket, but they are still manually managing inventory and delivery. It leads to products being out of stock, late deliveries, and ultimately, unhappy customers.

When you are inundated with orders and “chasing your tail”, it can feel like it’s the worst time to be implementing a new system or taking on staff because you’re overworked and now have to find the time to onboard and train the new staff members.

The Solution: Inventory Management Software

Inventory management software is pretty self-explanatory. It helps you to manage your inventory. In fact, if you choose the right software (and it’s implemented correctly), it can automate and streamline most processes and, in some cases, revolutionise a business. 

We recently spoke with a bespoke manufacturing company that had been manually ordering and managing stock. As the company runs 24 hours, it was difficult to complete a full inventory check. 

When they were able to complete a full check, they found they had over £7 million in steel that was for discontinued product lines. Fortunately, they were able to capture 40% of the cost by reselling the steel, but it was still a significant loss.

There are a variety of business cases to be made for inventory management, from manufacturing to online retail. We have extensive experience working with a wide range of businesses helping them to implement industry-leading inventory management software, which saves time, money and enables the business to offer a better customer experience.

 

Introducing Bit Inventory

Our stock control management software for Sage 50 and Sage 200 provides simple solutions for inventory and warehouse management. Bit Inventory is a GS1 compliant barcoding stock control solution that integrates seamlessly into your existing Sage software to create a fully integrated barcode stock control system. 

Using Sage at its core, it extends and enhances the functionality of Sage 50 and Sage 200 to provide seamless integration with barcode scanning technology to offer a feature-rich, efficient, and easy to use stock control solution.

Bit Inventory for Sage 50

From the moment you take delivery of your goods, right through to the point of dispatch, our barcoding inventory management solution for Sage 50 manages, tracks, and controls your stock inventory.

You gain complete visibility of your stock to provide pinpoint accuracy and control. The advanced technologies Bit Inventory 50 takes advantage of, means that no matter what stock your business holds, how it is utilised, and where the stock is held, even if it is multiple locations, this system can comprehensively manage your inventory for you.

Simply integrating into Sage 50 and using the latest GS1 compliant barcoding solutions, our solution makes your whole stock management process seamless.

Bit Inventory for Sage 200

Bit Inventory 200 is a robust and reliable barcoding inventory management software that integrates into your existing Sage 200 software to create a fully integrated inventory system.

Using Sage at its core, Bit Inventory 200 extends and enhances the functionality of Sage 200 to offer a feature-rich, accurate, efficient, and easy to use stock control management solution that enables your workforce to consolidate data quicker as well as enhancing cash flow throughout your business.

By integrating Bit Inventory 200 into Sage, you can automatically update entries to help drive efficiency and improve performance. You get so much more than just a stock control solution.

 

Key Benefits:

 Accurate inventory management

 Bit Inventory provides you with a solution to capture stock transactions in real-time, with automatic updates and dynamic entries into Sage which leads to increased efficiency and performance. 

 Any movement, adjustment, or change is tracked and updated automatically, so you don’t have to. This dynamic and innovative addition eliminates the duplication of tasks, increases accuracy, and can even validate data in real-time to reduce errors. 

 Improve Your Process

 Any business that is looking to thrive and be successful in today’s competitive market must understand how important it is to have efficient processes in place to support growth. Or at least not to hinder any potential growth. That’s what Bit Inventory offers, a solution to improving processes that currently may be causing errors, consuming too much time and money, or simply something that needs to be in place to support growth.

 Whether you require Bit Inventory 50 or Bit Inventory 200, the running of your business will have never felt so smooth and seamless.

Product Visibility and Make More Profitable Business Decisions

 Product visibility and sales data are vital when it comes to making more data-driven business decisions. Unfortunately, many businesses just don’t realise how much data they’re missing until they implement the right system.  

 With Bit Inventory, you can have the data you require to make more profitable business decisions at a click of a finger. Track current stock levels, compared with forecast, and analyze seasonal peaks using historical stock data. 

 Alternatively, as the example I used earlier highlights, having stock sat in the warehouse can hurt cash flow and ultimately increase wastage which in today’s economic climate is a sin. 

 

For more information on how our inventory management software can benefit your business, please get in touch today.

Benchmarking within your organisation is a critical step in evaluating performance efforts across your business. This is especially true for manufacturers for them to be able to grow and thrive in competitive markets. With manufacturing software solutions, you can develop best practices and then benchmark against those best practices as well as against competitors to formulate plans of action on how to move forward.

In this article, we are going to look into why benchmarking is important for the success of your manufacturing business, the different benchmarking types, and how manufacturing software solutions can help with keeping your manufacturing processes consistent.

What is benchmarking?

Benchmarking is a common practice that many industries utilise. It is a way for businesses to compare the best practises across the industry to discover areas of improvement and to gain a competitive advantage. Benchmarking can be applied to any process, approach, function and department; however, it all relies on accurate information. The process of benchmarking primarily focuses on measures like quality, time, effectiveness, and efficiency. With a manufacturing software solution, you can benchmark successfully by gaining an insight into your manufacturing processes in real-time. With accurate and up-to-date information, you can distinguish where the problems are and identify areas that need improving. Without accurate and reliable data, you cannot benchmark efficiently and can end up losing a lot of time and money in the process.

What is the goal?

Different businesses use benchmarking for different reasons. The main reasons are usually to improve product quality, increase sales and improve business performance and efficiency. The core of benchmarking involves looking externally from your business and examining how others are achieving a high level of performance and the processes they implement to maintain a continued success. The main goal before you can start benchmarking is understanding how your business is performing first. With more and more manufacturers relying on technological advances within the manufacturing industry, investing in an intelligent software solution that is specifically engineered towards your needs, will help to increase operational visibility, boost throughput and allow your business to become more competitive.

Benefits of using manufacturing software solutions to benchmark

There are four primary types of benchmarking that you can consider for your organisation:

Internal – analysing measures and improvements that can be made to your business, processes, and functions internally.

Competitive – compete with your competitors directly and compare your results to theirs. This can be anything from specific products, services or methods and operations.

Functional – This involves comparing your results with a business outside of your industry with similar functions. This is particularly useful to identify ‘best-in-class’ processes.

Generic/Combined – Comparing standard metrics or unrelated business processes and functions that can be practiced in the same or similar ways independent of industry.

Regardless of type, benchmarking is achievable and can help your business to become more successful. The initial, yet most important benefit is establishing baselines and being able to compare them with actual results. By using a manufacturing software solution, you can set clear goals and with accurate insights and infrastructure, you can mitigate risks to help move your company in the right direction.

These baselines might include:

• Understanding how your business compares to your competitors
• Improving company efficiency
• Tracking the progress of business goals, aims and objectives
• Identifying areas for improvement
• Discovering new opportunities for growth
• Motiving employees and analysing personal performance
• Improving products and streamlining operations

How can manufacturing software solutions help your business?

Manufacturing software solutions help you to use key benchmarking dimensions like quality, time and cost to gauge your metrics, for example manufacturing cycle time, unplanned machine downtime, costs to manufacture and deliver, plus many more. You can collect data, track results and implement new operations quicker and more successfully.

Bit Manufacturing offers a solution that automates time-consuming and repetitive tasks and can help to determine how your business is performing at any given time. By maintaining a consistent level of benchmarking, along with having right manufacturing software solution in place, manufacturing companies can implement continuous lean manufacturing improvements to gain better insights into the effectiveness of their processes.

Bit Manufacturing can:

• Meet delivery deadlines
• Reduce manual errors
• Manager every stage of production
• Accurately track deliveries
• Record and track warranties
• Manage minimum stock levels
• Improve cash flow
• Reduce waste
• Record returns and write offs
• Improve quality control

 

For more information on how to get a full picture of your factory processes from start to finish, get in touch today.

Managing inventory requires a high level of accuracy and foresight. Any errors in inventory tracking, data entries and forecasts can result in serious issues such as depreciation, unnecessary purchases, inadequate stock levels and inaccuracies across your warehouse as a whole. Fortunately, we now have automated inventory management software systems that operates through a barcode stock control system designed to eliminate the need of managing your inventory manually.

Inventory management software was built to facilitate different types of companies of all sizes to track their inventory electronically. In order for a barcode stock control system to fit seamlessly into your operations, it’s essential to find a barcode stock control system that suits your specific needs so you can get the most from your software.

In this article, we’re going to discuss some factors to consider when finding the right inventory management software for your business.

Determine what you need from a barcode stock control system

The first step is determining what you want the inventory management software to accomplish. In order to achieve this, you need to understand your requirements first. Identify the challenges you are facing currently in managing your inventory and what you are looking for in a solution to remedy those challenges.

Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I want to save time on inventory tracking?
• Do I just need to keep track of my stock levels?
• Do I need to improve on budget planning?
• Am I getting accurate insight on my warehouse?
• Is it solely about saving costs?

Businesses who don’t track their inventory or use a manual method to track stock, can end up taking a loss due to overstocking, under-stocking or wastage. Fortunately, with a barcode stock control system you can pinpoint surplus, wastage and low levels of stock for you in advance. When you achieve clarity on your inventory, you save both money and time.

Is the barcode stock control system relevant to your industry?

Depending on the industry you are operating in, you may have complex specifications and a customisable inventory management system may be required. To distinguish if the inventory software can meet your specific needs, ask your vendor and how long it will take to customise it.

It is also important to consider the barcode stock control system integrations with existing programs or processes. From accounting, to logistics, your company may use a variety of software solutions to handle your operations. For maximum efficiency, it is good to identify whether they are compatible. Your business will benefit immensely if your inventory solution can work with your existing programs.

These platforms should sync together so they can work in unison to streamline your daily operations and save you time. For example, Bit Systems, offer a Stock control for Sage, a simple solution for inventory and warehouse management. Bit Inventory at its core, extends the functionality of Sage 50 to provide seamless integration with barcode scanning technology to offer a feature-rich, efficient and easy to use stock control solution.

Will your inventory software scale?

Another element to consider when choosing a barcode stock control system is the flexibility and scalability. You want a software solution that will grow with your business and if the software does not scale well, it could impede growth in the future. If your business is growing consistently, you should find out if the software you are considering is suitable for multi-devices, how many users you can add, whether it is a web-based or an on-site system. Flexibility is a pivotal factor to consider, especially if you have multiple sites or warehouses.

What data can you access?

Your barcode stock control system should never limit your access or insight into your processes and operations. You should be able to access your data, import and export when you need to and find exactly what you are looking for when it comes to your inventory. If the inventory management system you are considering only offers periodic updating, you will only be shown what items were in stock at the time the count was done (whether it was performed a few hours ago, a week ago or a month ago). Our Sage solutions are dynamic so you can monitor stock with precision, recognise and act upon trends in real-time and you can access it any at time, from anywhere. This means you can deliver more of what your customers want, when they want it. Data-supported analytics allows you to pursue your next business opportunity with confidence.

What key features are available

Checking for key features is something to keep in mind researching for inventory control software. The best inventory management software systems have an easy to use dashboard that provides both robust functionality and a complete view of your inventory.

If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask your vendor which features will best help resolve your inventory needs. Below are a few but essential features that you should expect from any high-performing inventory control system:

Multi-device Inventory Count – Using multi-devices that will sync automatically will simplify inventory tracking and eliminate any inefficiencies.

Inventory Movement Tracking – You should be able to view all inventory by item almost instantly to see what’s selling and what isn’t.

Product categorisation and stock alerts – By getting updates in real-time ensures you always have the items that your customers want available to maximise your sales and increase customer experience and loyalty.

Robust analytics and reporting – Gain the insights you need to improve profit margins and compare your budget to reality. You can then forecast and stay agile in your industry.

Does your barcode stock control system have a user-friendly interface?

This point is most often overlooked by business owners, while in fact, having a user-friendly interface determines how effective the implementation of a barcode stock control system in your business. It is no good having an inventory management system that ticks all the boxes when it comes to features and functionality but is too complex for your warehouse operatives to use. If it is difficult to navigate operational processes and inventory functions, it might be better to find a more user-friendly software. Remember to also ask about the available support options. Most vendors offer a range of documents, demos and support measures. If these are not readily available, it could be a red flag.

If you are interested in learning about integrated inventory solution that always keeps your products updated—whether they’re in-store or online—contact us today.

Business is competitive, no matter what industry you are in, so staying ahead of your competition means having the edge over them. Refining your processes or making business alterations is vital in ensuring success; this has been highlighted even more so with the current pandemic we are all going through. So, if your business is adapting, how can you ensure success? A barcoding inventory system uses the utilisation of barcode labels to transform your warehousing business. The benefits of a dynamic and flexible Sage barcoding solution is something businesses may often overlook and underestimate in regard to the true impact they can have in your warehouse.

In this latest blog, we are going to explore how a barcoding inventory system can help your business and give you a better understanding of how they can improve customer service effortlessly.

1 – Accurate Inventory Management

Manual inventory management can take up time and resources, and more often than not, leaves ample room for human error and data inaccuracies. By using a barcoding inventory system that is packed with features that minimise manual labour and data entry, it will help employees to complete stock related tasks quickly and easily but most importantly, accurately.

This means much more for your business than just a linear benefit, as your organisation will save money in the process by increasing productivity. On top of this, you will also benefit in regard to stock security, as you are able to track and monitor your inventory in real-time with a Sage barcoding inventory system.

 

2 – The ultimate goal: satisfy your customers urge for immediacy

Consumers can get almost everything on-demand now – from retail to hospitality to manufacturing. We are living in a digital age whereby users are getting accustomed to accessing products at a click of a button. This sense of urgency is a common theme that many businesses, especially warehouses, are still trying to adjust to and learn how to manage. A Sage barcoding inventory system that uses barcode scanning technology means you can simplify processes without compromising on service; one of the most considered elements when conducting internal reviews. Being able to electronically keep track of all data and stock levels means you can provide your customers with products, faster. The less time you spend on manual inventory management means the more time you have to meet the demands of your customers.

3- Abolish process delays with a barcoding inventory system

High-speed scanning will give you instant access to real-time data at the touch of a button. You can be at the heart of your warehouse accessing one centralised hub of communication. Insight is a powerful thing when it’s done correctly, with Sage barcode scanning you can identify weaknesses and eradicate them. It also gives your employees tools to help do their jobs more efficiently and more accurately. By facilitating your workers, they can then deliver to the customer with the highest level of productivity and efficiency.

 

4- Don’t settle for limited functionality

Our barcoding inventory system allows for both linear and 2D barcodes for every type of business, allowing you to track and monitor different types of barcodes. 2D codes are becoming increasingly popular in many sectors and by implementing barcoding technology, your business will easily capture barcodes codes. All of the labels printed are GS1 compliant, to ensure standards of business communication.

5- A barcoding inventory system that can do it all

Our barcoding inventory system can provide your business with a wealth of functionality, from batch and serial number tracking to multiple warehouse locations and expiry dates for perishable products. With a modern user interface and flexible options for adding functionality, customer service automatically achieves the highest standards.

Want to find out more?

Bit Systems offers a suite of solutions that can cater to different sectors. We pride ourselves on being able to offer solutions that are tailored towards your needs. From the moment you take delivery of your goods, right through to the point of despatch, our barcoding inventory system manages, tracks and controls your stock. For more information on how this could be implemented within your business, feel free to get in touch.

Are you a manufacturer that has ever been in a position where you were fulfilling an order only to realise that you are out of a necessary component due to a sudden increase in demand? This could mean you need to wait to complete your order, delaying the delivery and resulting in an unhappy customer. If this has ever happened to your business, it may be time to consider Sage warehouse management.

What is safety stock?

Safety stock or buffer stock, as it is commonly referred to, is the level of extra stock that is kept in your warehouse or centre to reduce the risk of running out of inventory. There are many reasons as to why you may need this extra inventory such as uncertainties in supply or demand. Take Covid-19 as an example, there has been added pressure for warehouse inventory management to meet demands in the movement of consumers ordering online.

The purpose of holding such stock is to ensure that once you have run your cycle stock, you are still prepared in case there is a sudden change in demand or even in the supply.

Is keeping safety stock a waste?

When running a warehouse, there are many inventory costs to consider. However, to ensure you meet high levels of customer service and at a high quality of service, accurately calculated inventory and safety stock is a necessity. Like many organisations, you may look at your own demand fluctuations and assume there is not enough consistency to predict future variability. With Sage warehouse management software, you can use a combination of data information to predict accurate levels of stock-based upon historical average demand initially then calculate how much safety stock you may need. This means that safety stock is not a waste, as the levels you order will be accurately forecasted ensuring you don’t waste time and cash.

If you are managing your warehouse manually including data entry and tracking movements of stock, you will find it extremely difficult to forecast inventory trends. As a result, managers can get inventory imbalances that result in excessive inventory costs, impeded cash flow and poor and/or inconsistent service levels all at the same time.

In this blog, we are going to explore some key reasons for carrying safety stock, and how Sage warehouse management can eliminate a lot of waste and errors.

Stay streamlined with Sage warehouse management software

The purpose of having safety inventory is not just for the benefits of your consumers. Though it is high on the priority list, your employees, especially those who manage your warehouses and distribution centres can also take advantage. Sage warehouse management solutions do more than just forecast demands of items. It allows you to have an insight into your warehouse like never before. With minimum and maximum stock level alerts and automatic reordering, your employees know where the stock is, it eliminates the need for your employees to constantly locate and reorder parts, allowing them they will able to stay committed to fulfilling orders to your customers.

Your customer service levels can go untarnished

The ultimate goal of safety stock? Keeping customers happy. By providing a service where your customer service levels can go untarnished, where your consumers aren’t aware of any changes or disruptions to your processes or supply chains. Perhaps you have a consistent demand for a certain item of inventory which has been highlighted by Sage warehouse management solutions but suddenly you sell more than you forecasted. With safety stock inventory in place, you do not sacrifice your customer service level while you replenish. It also helps your warehouse and supply chain running smoothly as it avoids stock-outs.

Sage warehouse management solutions help your warehouse to evolve

The best thing you can benefit from when integrating Sage warehouse management solutions is that you are always learning more. This can be anywhere from learning more about your warehouse, learning more about your inventory and learning more about your employees and their processes. Identifying the importance of holding safe stock is just one element to ensure a healthy supply chain and well-organised warehouse. Sage inventory management allows for you to learn about the best practises for calculating stock levels, having accurate data entry and real-time reporting as well being able to forecast supply and demand but not having to do any of it manually.

If you are interested in learning more about how Sage barcoding technology can transform your warehouse or distribution centres, get in touch today.

A well-connected warehouse

Being well-connected and having visibility into all of your assets, people, and processes at all times is vital to having an integrated, productive and successful warehouse. Having a Sage barcode scanner as part of your inventory management encompasses computing, scanning and printing solutions in one. It connects each operational area in your warehouse to give you the agility to realise transformational gains and implement them.

In this latest blog we are going to explore in detail how each element of a Sage barcode scanner solution can benefit your warehousing business.

Internal movement of inventory

Receiving goods

Shortages, discrepancies and damages can happen, but they don’t have to impact your downstream processes negatively. With a Sage inventory management solution, you can electronically capture data in real-time to streamline operations and improve accuracy. You can have the capability of sending real-time stock data to your warehouse management system using GS1 information to reconcile order details quickly.

This not only enhances communication throughout your warehouse but allows you to know exactly where each piece of shipment can be located, providing a trail for traceability. For faster processing, you can access, capture and send information directly to your back office with your Sage barcode scanner.

Organising and replenishing stock

To ensure fluid movement of your inventory, you need to accurately document stock and product information during the replenishment and ‘put away’ process. This is imperative for operational purposes like picking, cycle counting and reordering to run efficiently and effectively. With a Sage barcode scanner solution, you will know when inventory is added or replenished; accurately updating inventory planners and databases so you’re continuously seeing the most up to date information.

Flexible working environments

By integrating this solution, you will simultaneously create a flexible working environment whilst driving business growth. Sage stock control allows your employees to streamline their own processes and accurately complete tasks. The Sage barcode scanner devices are handheld and can be holstered when needed making them effortless to use.

Packing and staging

The Sage barcode scanner solution act as the total package for speed and precision. Packing and staging are probably the most hands-on job in your warehouse or distribution centre. To ensure accuracy at this critical point, our Sage inventory solution has technologies that confirm orders with a quick scan, prints a GS1 compliant labels with the correct destination, and allows you to continue tracking each package to the right fleet.

You can capture data from the barcodes so you can continue to develop your warehouse operations, ensuring compliance and traceability at every point resulting in flawless fulfilment of orders.

External movement of stock with Sage barcode scanner solutions

Scanning and loading: Scan, authorise and load. It is as simple as that. Your loading dock is the last touchpoint in your process before your stock is shipped to the customer. Don’t delay in switching from manual processes any longer, because you can have it all automated. Your Sage barcode scanner provides you with all the analytics and data prior to your inventory landing into the loading dock. This means you can have peace of mind with flawless accuracy that you can effectively verify shipping details and confirm your orders, streamlining processes, increase profitability and ensuring traceability.

Cross-docking automation

Organising cross-docking activities require a high degree of visibility of assets to ensure efficient and seamless movement of both goods, equipment, and people. This is especially useful if you run a logistics company. You can gain speed and accuracy with devices built to last for instant verification.

Enhanced insight

You can enhance your warehouse processes where it counts. Performing cycle counts are essential, however, manually counting takes time as well as other resources which can be costly. Sage warehouse inventory solutions manage your inventory in real-time, keeping an accurate count and location of everything from raw materials to finished goods. You will gain a holistic insight into your warehouse with an over-arching view of every process and every movement. You can use this data to identify trends internally and externally to develop and enhance your operations even further.

Need help choosing the right software for your business?

From the moment you take delivery of your goods, right through to the point of despatch, our barcoding stock control solution for Sage 200 or Sage 50, manages, tracks and controls your stock inventory. If you need some more information in distinguishing which is the most suitable solution, get in touch today.

Whether you are starting a small business or already run one, it is reasonable to think it’s realistic to keep track of your stock and inventory movement manually by keeping records in spreadsheets or with a pen and notepad. A monthly audit or tracking movement is straight forward if your business is relatively small and it is manageable, but what happens as you grow?  Sage 50 inventory management is a solution that can cater for all these processes and much more.

As the turnover of stock increases and product lines are extended, variations of products, promotions and plus added other variables can all become too much.

Knowledge is power

As the saying goes, ‘knowledge is power’ and the better insight and knowledge that you can gain over your inventory, the better informed your choices and decisions can be. It is important to keep on top of capital that may be tied up in stock, turnover, movement, wastage and responding to customer trends and demands.

As a small inventory management business, whether you work in business to consumer or business to business, there are several consistent demands and pressures. Finding the time to re-assess your stock control system may be a challenge and can often be an aspect that is pushed further down your priority list.  While this is understandable, it is important to assess how many problems a barcode system like Sage 50 inventory management could solve for your business, including:

• – Knowing how much stock you have
• – Knowing the location of your stock
• – Enabling quick and accurate stock takes
• – Keeping customers informed on stock and delivery

For small and growing businesses, reducing costs tied up in inventory, streamlining processes and improving your customer service are benefits that will directly affect the bottom line and allow you to compete more effectively.  So, what is stopping you using Sage 50 inventory management?

Fear, cost, complexity, and time are some of the concerns that you may be facing as a business owner. The good news is, like many SME’s, you will find that using a Sage 50 inventory management solution will improve your business processes, save you time and allow you to have a fully functioning inventory management system that reduces human error, has a simple user interface to get you started in managing your stock effectively quickly and effectively.

How do you benefit?

Sage 50 inventory management software becomes a centralised hub for your business data. Your organisation will be able to barcode your stock over multiple locations and track stock movements. Each barcode will hold its own unique ID, so you can print labels for the shelf edge locations and for existing and received stock items. The best thing about it? No manual processing. It is all at the tip of your fingers and it could not be easier.

Sage stock control is especially useful for warehouse employees who are managing goods-in, put-away, goods-out and stock counts, they can access real-time data and information which facilitates communication and lessens admin time. This will have a natural and positive effect on productivity, accuracy and management visibility which will allow you to progress and grow the business.

Implementing Sage 50 inventory management software

So we can understand your exact requirements, speak to our team so we can discuss the right solution for you. We can show you the product features and capabilities and more importantly, how they can work for you and your business. If you have any questions that need answering, we are more than happy to help. Give us a call today.

Eliminating waste, streamlining and managing costs, maximising efficiency and of course, being profitable are all goals that manufacturing businesses continually work towards. The key to achieving these aims and achieving business growth lies in having the right manufacturing software solutions in place for your business. Having the right resources in place and being able to adapt to changing market conditions can give your manufacturing business a real competitive edge.

One size does not fit all when it comes to choosing manufacturing software solutions for your business. Bit Manufacturing is a scalable and adaptable solution that takes into account your unique business requirements to help you to improve business efficiency and productivity. Bit Manufacturing combines your manufacturing processes with your sales, marketing and operational activities into a single solution, offering a complete 365-degree view of your business improve decision making provide a unified solution across the whole business.

 

It goes beyond supply chain management

When businesses consider manufacturing software solutions, the first thing that often springs to mind is supply chain management. Though a pivotal aspect in manufacturing, there is so much more to consider and be aware of. Supply chain management incorporates sourcing, scheduling, transportation and storage, but it also relates to and affects the other departments. To truly improve on your manufacturing processes others areas of the business needs to be taken into account such as; sales, marketing, production management and IT.

All of these aspects are vital to make sure your whole business is working towards to the same goals and that all of your business processes have the appropriate features that correspond and complement the day-to-day running of your business.

Having the right insights in order to choose the best manufacturing software solutions

When choosing manufacturing software solutions for your business, it is important to start with gathering the right team members to provide a holistic insight into the business. Silo management can be very detrimental when information, insights and data are not shared across the business as a whole. Having the right team on board for the selection process ensures that the solution you choose has the right features to meet the requirements and challenges of the whole company.

 

The crucial role of other departments and change management

In order to stay competitive, manufacturers need to ensure that they are doing more with less. It is imperative that each department works coherently and in harmony together. Whether your processes are simple or complex, Bit Manufacturing can work alongside your current business processes.

Each department plays a vital role in overseeing change management and naturally, there may be some resistance to change to some degree. However, accepting change and more importantly, embracing change is a very important aspect when considering manufacturing software solutions.

Choosing a solution that is comprehensive and scalability brings longevity to the solution. This allows your business to implement a solution that can grow with your business and reduce the likelihood of having to implement a different solution later down the line. No two businesses share the same needs, each business will have their own unique requirements and processes, which is why investing in an agile solution that is specifically tailored towards your businesses key needs is essential and will save your business time and money in the long run.

Choose the right implementation partner

Another important aspect of choosing the right manufacturing solution for your company is selecting the most suitable implementation partner.

At Bit Systems, we have a dedicated team who have extensive knowledge of the manufacturing industry and of manufacturing processes. Our team will work alongside you to understand the way your business works and what your requirements are. Bit Systems will support you right from the initial scoping of your manufacturing solution, through the implementation process and ongoing after go-live.

Our industry-focused suite of solutions ensure control across your supply chain and other departments and meet complex and intricate compliance and quality control regulations. For more about Bit Manufacturing and how it can help your business, contact us today.