Asset intensive companies dealing with inventories face struggles managing and controlling inventory. Misplacement of parts, product movement without approvals, or disappearance of parts without any clues can occur in manufacturing processes. Not having real-time inventory data adversely affects the organization’s performance.
Companies typically tackle these issues by conducting audits and reconciling recorded stocks with actual inventory on their shelves. In this article, we will address the importance of going mobile with inventory cycle counts app, which makes the product counting process less painful.
What is Inventory Cycle Counting
In order to ensure the accuracy of individual item counts throughout the year, inventory cycle counting is a widely used technique for performing inventory checks. Cycle counts differ from traditional physical inventory in that a facility may cease operations, while all items are counted simultaneously. In a typical warehouse, inventory personnel manually collect the data on paper and submit the data into ERP. However, the lack of real-time and accurate information in the business makes this process complex and costly for companies.
Mobile Inventory Cycle Counts
To get past these challenges, and to enable quicker audit checks, organizations using ERPs should embrace and move towards mobile technologies. Smartphones and tablets are priceless when it comes to inventory management. Working with Desktop to enter and submit product counts will result in longer processing times, higher transaction costs and human errors. Furthermore, mobilizing the cycle counting workflow provides an ongoing measure of inventory accuracy, faster order fulfillment and can be tailor-made to focus on items with higher value, higher movements, or that are critical to business processes. Here are some benefits of this mobilization:
- Time saving
- Faster order fulfillment with improved speed and efficiency
- Higher return on investment (RoI)
For instance, the cycle counts mobile app enables the user to complete the product count using any iOS, Android, or a Windows device. The app provides real-time access to inventory status and helps avoid over-stocking/under-stocking of inventory. This application integrates seamlessly with existing or modern ERP and allows users to scan items directly into their ERP system via the mobile device.
Benefits of Using the Inventory Cycle Counts App
- Select the inventory organization and sub-inventory
- Enter the counted quantity
- Count inventory for a specified cycle count, material number, and location within a plant.
- Work on both physical and warehouse inventories
- Perform cycle counting rather than complete physical inventory counts
- Generate daily, weekly, or periodic count requests and lists based on your schedule
- Perform cycle count for the organization or sub-inventory level
- Fulfill its orders quicker
- Make physical count process easier, faster and less painful
Conclusion
To sum up, enterprises not going mobile are at a disadvantage and have to face difficulties serving their customers, ultimately leading to a drop in market share. Thus, to avoid this and stay competitive in the market, use Propel Apps’ Mobile SCM platform for cycle counts and to manage your inventory. To learn more about the mobile supply chain management software, request a demo today.
