Inventory Management: How Businesses Can Protect Their Products

In a perfect world, it would not be necessary to worry about the chance of your inventory being damaged or stolen. Unfortunately, human error and theft are quite common. It can be difficult to determine if a shrinkage in inventory is because of theft, waste or breakage. Inventory management is how businesses determine the sources of any inventory shrinkage, and it is how they curb these problems and determine courses of action. Here are some aspects of inventory management to give you a clear picture as to how loss is prevented. Protect Fragile Products with Your Management Team Aside from loss prevention, one of the biggest responsibilities for an inventory management staff is to simply protect the inventory from damage. Sometimes this can be a very difficult job. For example, a business like Schilling Graphics is responsible for a large inventory screen-printed glass which allows designers and architects to create subtle and bold looks for a building using patterns, images, and color. This can be difficult to store because glass is often very fragile and easily damaged. Preventing Shoplifting Inventory management in a physical store with inventory that is easy to steal is a stressful and important job. This can kind of loss prevention of inventory requires constant observation and additional measures quite often. Frequently, extra efforts like camera installation and educating regular employees is both necessary and part of the job. Employee Awareness Some of the biggest thieves end up being employees. An excellent way to curb employee theft is letting them know you are watching. They are less likely to steal if they know they are constantly being watched. Get More Tech Savvy with Inventory It is possible to protect certain kinds of inventory with technology. You can protect your inventory by equipping the tracking software with password protection. Next, simply give the password only to employees engaged directly with the supply chain or inventory management. Finally, make the password and user identification singular to each person with access. The most effective inventory management techniques will prevent a good portion of theft, which is one of the biggest reasons for inventory loss. Accidents usually come in next depending on the type of inventory, and pests can be a major reason for a loss of food products. Also, no matter what your inventory consists of, arming yourself with an experienced inventory management team is the best course of action. Finally, give your business and inventory management staff an organized inventory management set of guidelines and system.