Inventory Management without Inventory Management

Accidental Inventory Managers

Many of our clients are 'accidental' inventory managers. By this, we mean entrepreneurs focused on a completely different business who, by the very nature of their business, have to manage some inventory.

Examples are abundant across different industries:

• Imagine a technical service provider or heat pump vendor that needs to acquire technical components, spares, utilities, parts, tools, etc., both in their shop and on the road at their clients.
• They might have a small local storage and ordering system based on their own accounting system.

The Challenge for SMEs

There's a sizable group of companies that do not want to invest in:

• Warehouse mangement systems
• ERP extensions
• Inventory control procedures
• Barcode/QR scanners
• RFID labeling

While these have proven their value in keeping track of inventory and managing goods flow, they also require a significant investment. Many SMEs simply cannot afford this investment or the time and effort to get this up and running.

Typical SME Approaches

They would typically resort to:

• Old-fashioned procedures or golden rules, like 'always restock the van at the end of a shift'

• Accepting occasional hiccups in their inventory control:

  • Stock-outs
  • Misplacement
  • Search costs
  • Rush orders
  • Shipments or shifts waiting to be executed due to missing items
  • Driving back and forth for supplies

Additional Complexities

They might also be hindered by:

• High risk of theft (just as prevalent in technical operations as in retail)
• Breakage or perishability of goods

The failure costs add up significantly, potentially making the difference between healthy and struggling SMEs.

MOOS: A Solution for SMEs

No need to despair anymore... MOOS can help professionalize your inventory management.

The MOOS Approach

• You don't necessarily need a professional inventory system to boost your degree of control over your inventory.
• You simply need an extra pair of eyes on critical items.
• Not all inventory is equal. Some parts or supplies are more crucial than others to keep track of.
• Placing extra controls on critical items can make a world of difference.

How MOOS Works

• Place sensors for the most critical items
• Power them up
• Get the insight to control your stock

MOOS Benefits

• We can help make diagnostics with a simple set of screening questions
• We can help size the business case
• If you have no scanning and QR/barcode tracking in place, payback times are almost immediate for an initial set of critical items
• Can grow to a larger set of items as your business and operations grow

Example: Heat Pump Vendor

A heat pump vendor can place sensors to ensure they don't run out of:

• Critical spares: valves, coils, capacitors, pressure sensors
• Consumables: filters, refrigerant, gaskets/seals, lubricants, batteries

Benefits:

• Avoid extra trips back and forth
• Prevent disruption of installation & maintenance schedules
• Increase critical part availability
• Boost productivity
• Improve profitability

Get in touch and we're happy to run a quick scan to help determine where and how you can benefit from the MOOS system to get control of your inventory.