Inventory Operational Assessment Can Identify Areas for Improvement

Keeping an accurate record of supplies and materials each day is a key part of effective inventory management. But with your hectic schedule, this work can be taxing on you and your busy staff.

When you’re pulled in many different directions managing your facility, you may find yourself making errors that could result in operational inefficiencies, affecting your bottom line. You may find it hard to pinpoint where things go wrong when handling inventory.

That’s when you should consider conducting an inventory operational assessment.

An inventory operational assessment can bring inefficiencies to light by identifying problems within your facility’s existing inventory management procedures. Then you can see what needs to be corrected to keep plant productivity high.

One of the common problems with inventory management is the failure to maintain an updated catalog of items, where they are stored within a warehouse or facility and how much you have on hand. Without such a detailed record of inventory, it becomes more likely that certain items will run out of stock or your employees will struggle to locate items.

Here are ways inventory operational assessments can help you reduce your inventory costs and save money:

Keep Important Items in Stock

If you are constantly running out of highly consumable items while retaining old or obsolete materials, you may be in need of an inventory operational assessment to optimize the number of supplies needed each day.

An assessment can also determine the percentage of important items for the facility’s perpetual inventory system and make sure tools that may be out of service or in repair are properly accounted for.

Eliminate Time Spent on Low-cost Items

Evaluating how much time you spend on high-volume and low-cost items can free up time usually spent on managing inventory. If you are spending too much time organizing or tracking down low-cost items like fasteners, you have less time for checking on expensive equipment or ensuring such equipment is returned properly and on time.

Control Tool Usage With a Tool-control Procedure

What percentage of your tool checkouts, returns or repairs are in need of a tool-control procedure?

It might be beneficial for you to establish a tool-control procedure to ensure all necessary tools are available, especially if those tools have the habit of leaving the work site or disappearing altogether.