Preview

Inventory Management Systems

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
973 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Inventory Management Systems
In today's business environment, even many smaller businesses have come to rely on computerized inventory management systems. Automated systems can replace the cost and time consuming processes that were once completed by hand while providing companies with more accurate data. Inventory control is important to ensure control in businesses that handle transactions revolving around consumer goods. Without proper inventory control, a store may run out of stock on an important item. A good inventory control system will alert the retailer when it is time to reorder (www.barcodesinc.com). It will also aid in the prevention of theft and product loss. Overall, a good inventory system will increase the value of your business, satisfy your customers and create more freedom in your life. In this paper, I will describe all the necessary equipment for a low-cost automated inventory system for a small clothing store. I will also explain the costs involved in the creation of the system, describe the ongoing maintenance that will be required and provide a workflow diagram to illustrate how the system will work.
An inventory control system that I feel best provides the need of a small clothing store consists of a PC (laptop), backup/recovery and archive device, wireless router, inventory control software, mobile scanning device, and barcode printer. The system shall provide versatility and reliable performance application demands. This system will make tracking inventory simple and intuitive. This system will allow for flexibility to scan and track inventory away from the PC, enabling inventory records to be updated and perform transactions on-the-go. Updates and changes made are instantly shown in the main database, providing real-time visibility of inventory levels. The necessary equipment needed is a PC (laptop), system requirements, (32-bit or 64-bit Windows 7 Professional, Windows Visa Premium, Windows XP (SP3) Professional, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB disk, DVD), backup/recovery and



Cited: Inventory Control System. Retrieved April 11, 2012, from http://www.barcodesinc.com/articles/inventory-control-system.htm Linksys E3200 High Performance Dual BandRouter (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=254148). Why is Preventative Maintenance Important? Retrieved April 11, 2006 from http://www.ehow.com/about_5374887_preventive- maintenance-important.html.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    I was recently asked to design an inventory control system for my sisters clothing company. She has expressed that it is hard to keep up with the tracking and ordering of the more popular items. To design this system I am going to explain the equipment needed for implantation of a tracking and ordering system as well as provide a list of expenses that she will incur to launch the system and hopefully remain in her budget. I will also provide recommendations for maintenance of the system.…

    • 755 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Currently inventory and control is a paper based inventory management system that has become outdated and obsolete. The system is a seven step process that includes a separate document for each step. These steps or processes are expensive and time consuming, and hinder future growth toward expanding into a global organization. The seven steps are; 1) Receiving documentation; 2) Scheduled orders documentation; 3) Orders received documentation; 4) Raw materials/sub-assemblies documentation; 5) Sub-assembly/final product documentation; 6) Sales order form documentation; 7) Shipping documentation. Along with each of these steps an inventory technician is responsible for putting the information into a computer, which could conceivably be seen as 14 separate steps.…

    • 841 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    My sister owns a small clothing store. During a conversation at a family dinner, she mentioned her frustration with having to manually track and reorder high demand items. She would like an automated system but has a very small budget. To accomplish I propose an inventory management technology. Inventory management technology is a mix of hardware and software designed to add reliability to inventory accounting, reduce incidents of theft and facilitate inventory audits. Individual inventory items or batches of items could be equipped with RFID tags that identify the item type, cost, price, shipment number, date of shipment and virtually any other useful information. Software inventory management solutions replace pen-and-paper systems, reducing the time required to account for inventory additions and subtractions (2002-2006, Kenneth Hamlett). Due to the low availability of funds, I will buy only one laptop, wireless router, barcode scanner, barcode printer, printer and the internet service. For startup we will begin with the use of the inflow inventory system from Archon Systems. The software will help my sister to take orders and deduct out of the inventory with one click. This software will also generate reports one of which will show the demand for a given product. We will also setup the laptop with wireless internet access which will enable her to conduct sales and do inventory with the same equipment using a wireless barcode scanner. We will add or upgrade the system in future as soon she is financially capable.…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cis 210

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The system will be user-friendly and provide reliability and versatility in performance of application. It will make tracking inventory simple and flexible. It will allow tracking and scanning inventory away from the physical computer. The automated system will update the inventory records and perform transactions on an instant basis. The system…

    • 312 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Small business is a tough business and more than 90 percent of the small businesses fail every year because of poor accounting and bad inventory management. The neighbor grocery store, Wow Grocery is a small business that is lacking inventory management system. Since the inventory control was updated manually on paper, the inventory would run out or over stock its ice creams which cause customer dissatisfaction. Since this is a small business with the budget constraints, I would try and look for cheap but reliable inventory management systems that are available out there over the shelf. After doing some research, I should be able to implement that is suitable for your business that would increase customer satisfaction and reduce waste by limiting the amount of ice cream that may expire and increase sales. During the cost and benefit analysis, the business will be realized that the benefits will exceed the cost of having an inventory management system in long run. The system will be able to quickly create purchase orders or generate them automatically once inventory falls below minimum stock levels. The Fishbowl inventory management system comes with barcode printing and scanning, automatic reordering and many other features. I did not choose this because the cost was too high for this business. The managers will be able to generate detailed sales and inventory reports every night. It eliminates double data entry; improve data accuracy by scanning barcodes instead of typing product information. It will save time and money by simplifying complex tasks. Instead of taking down inventory by hand which is time consuming and error prone task, by having this automated tracking system that can generate almost all the essential reports and place orders automatically from vendors that are entered into the system. It is convenient and reliable for business operations. There is a product that I would recommend is from RyTech Software which…

    • 494 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Best Essays

    Inventory System Analysis

    • 2114 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Inventory systems are something in which practically every business needs to properly function. From the small business of just a few employees to the large corporations, inventory systems are a vital part of a business 's success. The types of inventory systems will vary with the number of businesses that use these different kinds of systems. Team C will present findings on the research of various businesses and how those businesses use inventory systems that pertain to a specific industry. The organizations of research include companies, such as Infigen Energy, T-mobile, Wal-mart (RIM - Retail Inventory Method), Weis Markets (Demand-Driven Replenishment Solution) and Target (RIM - Retail Inventory Method). A summary of objectives, followed by a description and comparison of each system will describe the advantages and disadvantages of each system. A conclusion will follow that will summarize the collective findings of all systems listed above.…

    • 2114 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    Despite what many data processing salespeople will tell you, computers do not provide solutions to inventory management problems. Computers are tools. They must be used in the proper business environment in order to work effectively. This environment is comprised of several elements. All of them must be present in order for your new inventory management system to live up to its potential. If your system is not performing up to this potential, be sure you have implemented each of the…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Inventory Systems Paper

    • 1366 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Advanced Tracking System, or ATS, is a system that operates standalone or front-end that interfaces with almost any company’s information system. The ATS automates data collection and provides a fast and easy place to view important and critical inventory activity in real time. ATS have been designed to help improve customer service, boost productivity, and provide accurate management information. ATS automate data collections tasks and provide accurate inventory status, bar code labeling, put-away, picking and kitting, shipping, cycle counting and physical inventory, and historical data. The collection of data is fairly fast and easy. Depending on what type of ATS is used, transactions are quickly and accurately captured in real-time without hand writing out forms and manual keyboard entry (Business By Design).…

    • 1366 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Inventory Management Systems

    • 9724 Words
    • 39 Pages

    Introduction: The growth of small business is fast and their impact on the economy is becoming bigger. How to manage the inventory effectively and efficiently often is a challenge for these small businesses. The study took place at HEM-SOL FORSALJNINGS AB, a company involved in gym sports equipment wholesale. For HEM-SOL two inventory problems, stock-out and overstock occur frequently. The company wants to improve its efficiency and is considering a change in the inventory management. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons behind the inventory management inefficiency in HEM-SOL, and then the proposed managerial suggestions will be presented to deal with the issues. Method: The study is considered as qualitative single-case study. Data collection is mainly through the interviews with the top manager and other staff involved in inventory control operations. Secondary data is retrieved from the information system to provide the annual purchasing and sales report about twenty items using a purposive sampling approach. Data analysis follows the theoretical framework. Conclusion: Small businesses have limited financial resources and bargaining power. Long-distance suppliers, big fluctuation of demand and lack of formalized inventory control system result in HEM-SOL bad performance on inventory management. The authors analyze the collected data and establish a…

    • 9724 Words
    • 39 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Inventory System

    • 4145 Words
    • 17 Pages

    Since manual inventory consumes a lot of time and is susceptible to errors, it would be helpful to build a system that will automate the transactions from acquisition of the product description to updating the inventory database. The automated inventory system will improve employees’ work efficiency by automating routinely and time consuming tasks such as the time spent in taking down product information. As a result, the time can be used in more productive activities. The accuracy of the current system will also be improved, since the automated inventory system would eliminate the need of constantly encoding lengthy details of products by having an inventory database.…

    • 4145 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Inventory System

    • 4294 Words
    • 18 Pages

    In today’s growing market many businesses are turning toward automated systems to perform their everyday tasks. Automated systems can replace the cost and time consuming processes that were once completed by hand while providing companies with more accurate data. One automated system that is becoming more popular is the automated inventory system. This system is used…

    • 4294 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The purpose of this memorandum is to report the progress in my research of possible inventory management systems to implement into a manufacturing facility. As I proposed, I have been gathering information by reviewing technical literature on inventory management solutions and software used in similar manufacturing facilities. My objectives were to define which supply and planning software provides the greatest reduction in production time, how similar facilities use and implement these systems, and what would be the advantages and disadvantages to implementing a new system.…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The objective of this research is to develop a Software as a Service web application and…

    • 9729 Words
    • 62 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    With this management inventory system, this software can be set up to automatically notify her when it is time to order more inventory, such as when certain stock falls below a set amount level. By keeping the hottest items in stock, she will not miss sales or revenue due to items being out of stock. The retail software package will also generate purchase orders, which will help to streamline her inventory management. In addition to increasing her sales, the retail software with the inventory management system can also reduce her operating cost, which will help reduce the amount of time that she spends counting inventory and creating purchase orders for her clothing store.…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Billing Management

    • 2641 Words
    • 11 Pages

    To attend to their needs, the study focuses on the development of comprehensive computer based inventory management system that will helps the company save time, effort and manage properly their products. Also, the proposed system provides an easier communication with their customers.…

    • 2641 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays