Inventory Control is not only about making sure that the physical count matches what the WMS or ERP software shows, It is about having the right mix of products to sell, about not having too little inventory or too much inventory, it is about controlling the flow of inventory from the manufacturers.
This article is about the right practices to make sure you have what you think you have in stock.
These principles apply equally to manufacturers, distributors and Even 3PL Companies who handle inventory for other companies.
Whether a shipment is being delivered via Ocean Freight or Air Freight

Necessary Inventory Control Practices

1- Before the product is shipping to the warehouse make sure it is labeled properly. Bar codes are essential. Make sure the vendor or shipper send an SKU list with the complete description.

2- As you receive a shipment, make sure you have a packing list to receive against.

3- As the Inventory is received at the warehouse, verify that the BOL quantity matches what the packing list states in pallets or master cases. Record any discrepancies.

4- Record Damages to the BOL and the Warehouse receipt.

5-Advise shipper of any Discrepancies.

6-Receive product in WMS system and send to Shipper ( Customer ) to verify

7- If the inventory exists in stock, count what you have in stock and indicate on the receiving report

8-Label all boxes or pallets received with Warehouse receipt number. Record the location of the Cargo.

Inventory Control and Shipping

1- The warehouse gets a pick ticket, the items are picked accordingly.

2- pack the products in a way where you know what is being shipped. Avoid Mixing of products as much as you can.

3- Report Insufficient inventory to office immediately. This means a discrepancy. It could be a shipping mistake or you just can’t locate the product. This needs to be taken seriously.

4- As you pick the product from inventory and you notice low levels of inventory, report back to the office using a low inventory level form.

5- As you pick orders, make sure you do a random verification of the quantity available in stock and annotate on the pick ticket.

6- If possible, have one person pick, another pack and another ship. This will cut down on the mistakes.

7- the last step is for a random check: take the packing list and verify that what you have on the doc is what is on the packing list.

8- Make sure order entry department, closes order to deduct from Inventory.

9- Perform random inventory counts on regular basis. That will save hours of doing a total count. Technically within a period of 2 months of doing the random inventory count, you would have counted the whole inventory.

If the above steps are followed, you should not have any issues with inventory discrepancies. Most of the mistakes happen during shipping or receiving.

ProTrac an ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning Software package that is designed for distributors who have to compete daily with larger wholesale operations. Our ProTrac customer needs all of the modern and up to date business features, but do not have the deep pockets of their competitors. To fill this need we developed ProTrac in the early 90’s and today we have 200 plus small to mid-sized wholesalers in 44 states.

Wholesale Distribution Software at its best

Our customer range from 4 to 50 users and have up 12 branch operations.Because we concentrate our marketing in this marketplace, we have kept both the initial investment and on-going software support affordable. We maintain ProTrac at the highest level of technology. We are constantly updating our software. Annual updates are a part of our monthly support contract. You will never need to purchase our next software release. It is a part of your software support contract.

ProTrac is as new as tomorrow morning

ProTrac can be installed in either:

A Server based installation

A Cloud based Installation

As the customer you make that decision. The Cloud is not for everyman. If you feel uncomfortable having your data stored remotely, we are more than happy to install your data on your own in-house Server. If in the future, you wish to move to a Cloud environment, we would move your data from your server to our Cloud environment.

At PDSI, you are the customer and we work for you

ProTrac offers

Accounting and Finance

Business Intelligence and Reporting

Purchasing Management

Sales Management (five levels of commission)

Inventory Replenishment

At PDSI we designed for our customers a simple and powerful replenishment program because we know that Inventory is the only asset that produces a profit.

Inter-warehouse Transfers for multiple branches

Truck Processing – Selling from your Van or Truck

SWOT Customer Relations Management

Electronic Forms for Emailing, Faxing, or Printing Invoices, Quotes, Purchase Orders

Repair and Service Processing for Tools or Equipment

Repairs are tracked for repairs done in-house or sent to an outside repair facility

ProTrac maintains control of both to help you stay on top of all repair orders

Overseas container processing of Purchase Orders

Kits and Assemblies (Large and Small)

Kits can be built at the time of order

Single Level Assemblies can be built and put on a shelf for resale

Assemblies can be Disassembled and the parts, put back on the shelf

E Business

Interface to your Web Site / Store Front

Internet Ordering, by yourcustomersProLinc, ( Does not require a Web site or Store Front)

Customer can search your inventory

Customer can have Favorite Orders

Customer will only see their pricing and their orders (password protected)

They can look up of all open and closed orders

Customer Can see the Aging of their own account

For More information , Call 305-915-8024 | info@international3pl.com