If 2020 was the year that exposed businesses’ weaknesses, 2021 is the year when they are transforming those weaknesses into strengths. Fishbowl’s own Robert Lockard put together a breakdown of the inventory management trends that are helping many companies accomplish this while continuing to grow.
Here are the highlights:
1. Local Sourcing Supply Chain Management – Increasing energy costs, shrinking international supply chains, and COVID-19 travel restrictions are making local vendors more reliable and cost-effective than ever.
2. Rethinking Inventory Forecasting – Instead of looking at past years to forecast current inventory needs, businesses are taking a three-phase approach:
1. Respond to immediate threats with temporary extreme measures 2. Recover by reopening, resupplying, and returning to some normal activity. 3. Renew by creating new policies to guard against future disasters and adapt to the new situation.
3. Automating Warehouse Processes – Businesses can reduce touch points with barcode scanners, batch picks, warehouse optimization, and other advanced tools and best practices.
4. Using Inventory Management Software – To make these strategies work, SMB’s are turning to affordable inventory management software like Fishbowl rather than an expensive ERP.
