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Four inventory systems identified within an organization that each team member is familiar or researched. Four years of inventory data is collected from each organization. Members of Team B collaborate to compare the inventory systems. Inventory Four inventory systems are compared over different organizations. An inventory system as part of practice management software for veterinarians, inventory system, and winter and summer seasonal inventory for University of Phoenix with descriptions are provided and four years of historical data compared. Familiar Inventory Control
Familiar software is for a veterinary practice that has an inventory control module. This inventory System receives inventory into the software via purchase orders and then deducts the medical supplies while creating the billing and medical record for a patient. The system is FIFO and has purchase order capabilities; reorder lists, expiration dates for drugs and supplies, bar code scanner integration and reporting capabilities. The positive features identified were ease of use from within the program and good easy graphing capabilities. Product pricing, price variation reports, and categorical reporting re all available.
The inventory data is not stored historically. The help files ask the user to print an inventory valuation report at the beginning of every year and an on screen pop up warning displays until the user physically prints the report. So when trying to obtain the data requested for this assignment the historical data is not available on the report parameter screen to reproduce four years of data in one report. To get representative data for this project I selected one drug in a category of commonly used drugs in small animal medicine called heartwood prevention. I generate an on hand report for this category.
The results are displayed in exhibit A. The cost of the item was not entered. Table one displays the data entered from exhibit B to represent one drug out of thousands that a typical veterinary practice would carry. In conclusion, this is not a good inventory system and I would not recommend it to a veterinarian to use for management of historical inventory data. Wall-Mart inventory System Wall-Mart uses the SMART system. SMART through Telethon is a tracking system that keeps track of all of the inventory on-hand. Telethon is a 900 Much airless handheld terminal equipped with a barded scanner.
When a barded is scanned, almost instantly the item number, a short description, on hand count, and an order is displayed. The technicalities are a mystery to me but I can only assume that the Telethon is linking to the SMART database to retrieve all of this information. All of this comes from the scanned bar code on each product. The database is enormous because every item stocked in Wall-Mart is scanned into this database. Another strong feature of the SMART system is that it is linked to the cash registers. When a product is sold, inventory is updated automatically.
On hand counts are updated and on some products they are reordered automatically, based on minimum and maximum levels for each product. The data from Wall-Mart is displayed in table 2. Seasonal inventory system In sales there are many factors that affect how much inventory needs to be maintained and how much product must be manufactured to keep inventory at a required level. One such factor is seasonal demand. Swimsuits sell better in the spring and summer months, whereas, snow shovels sell better in the fall and winter months. Recognition of this factor helps management avoid ender and over estimating stock requirements.
Knowing how much inventory is needed requires historical data and mathematical forecasting equations. The seasonal inventory system fills this role and provides management accurate seasonal inventory requirement forecasts. The seasonal inventory system uses historical data to reveal trends that show the heaviest and lightest demand periods. The data is entered into mathematical equations to predict future stock requirements. To meet the calculated requirements production is adjusted to produce as many widgets as necessary to ensure here is enough stock to cover the forecasted requirement.
Hertz and Schaffer (1960) made an excellent point in regard to the difference between a standard inventory and a seasonal inventory. They stated that the major difference lies in the character of seasonal merchandise; meaning when stock is left over at the end of a season there is a high cost to the company because the sales price must be reduced to a point in which the out-of-pocket loss per unit is greater than the profit per unit (p. 1). Businesses want to avoid overstocking and the seasonal inventory system is design to help prevent this from occurring. University of summer data provides an example of seasonal demand.
After calculating the yearly averages, it is obvious that months four, five, and six have the highest demand over all four years, and months 11 and 12 are below the average. These five months are peak periods of high and low inventory requirements, and are crucial data points to forecast the next years busiest and least busy periods. Typical seasonal demands for summer highs are displayed in table 3. University of Phoenix Winter Books An inventory system is a system that keeps track of what stock a business has available. Stock of the item is kept and available to a customer in which the customer is seeking the product.
Winter Historical Inventory Data is displayed in table 4. For the purpose Of this assignment, these units will be books used by University of Phoenix students during the winter months. The inventory of the books is easily known because of the system the company has decided to incorporate to keep track of the books. The books are stored in a warehouse and all have a barded. When the book is purchased, the barded will be scanned and it will immediately be shown as not in inventory. When the book s sold back to the company, the book will be scanned and will immediately be shown in inventory.
At no time will the inventory show a book available when a book is not in stock. Using a computerized system makes tracking inventory easier. Management can go into the computer system, pull up a specific book and immediately known if it is on the shelf or not. Additionally, if a book is not in inventory the system reports where it can be purchased. Another capability is the system can provide information on how many books are expected to be returned after a specific semester of school. The company may not need to order more and the computer system will be able to tell management that information.
Pros and Cons of Computerized Barded System All of the inventory systems had the use of a barded or handheld device to identify inventory Skies. Some of the benefits of a scanner and computerized system are they provide efficiency and accuracy. A con of using a barded system is that the equipment is quite expensive. The scanners and software, along with preparing all the books with Barbados are not only costly but also time consuming. The majority of the cost is the upfront, initial cost, but once the system is up and running the costs will decrease.
This is an advantageous system for businesses that have a warehouse in which back inventory is kept. Comparison of Inventory Systems CSS inventory system is one tool this superior company incorporates to establish its signature low The system provides store managers data reporting which products are selling and which ones are taking up too much space on the shelf both in the store and in the warehouse. Inventory management systems are the statute for such enterpriser, but smaller businesses and vendors use them as well. These systems help businesses ensure that customers have enough of what they want and need.
Simultaneously, the systems meet the financial need to maintain as little stock as possible. Mismanaged inventory can lead to disappointed customers and loss of profit for the company, both highly undesirable. The manifestation of this problem comes from too much cash tied up in the warehouses and weak sales because of items not getting to the shelves in a timely manner. Modern inventory management systems must have the ability to track sales and available inventory, communicate with suppliers in near real-time and chive and incorporate other data, such as seasonal demand.
The systems must be flexible, allow for intuition, alert management when it is time to reorder items, and provide details about how much merchandise to purchase. In contrast Familiar inventory control is a module to complement the rest of the veterinary practice software such as billing and medical records. The biggest downside is that the software was not made to store historical data so comparing one year to another is not easily accomplished. The inventory control would be useful if viewed each month ND then printed out and compared year-to-year for forecasting inventory needs in a veterinary practice.
The seasonal inventory system in both winter and summer displays peaks when inventory consumption is highest. In the summer data, over all four years, the highest need was in months four, five, and six as displayed in table 3. In the winter data the highest demand for stock was in months 10, 11, as displayed in table 4. For the Familiar data for the product Sentinel Brown (a CSS first dose) the peak was in months four, five, and six. Only the change from one year to another was available for Wall-Mart data and the inventory increased over one year.
Conclusion Four inventory systems were researched and evaluated for different industries from veterinary practice, University of Phoenix summer and winter seasonal data and a very large, successful retail outlet. Data to compare was more difficult to attain in the Familiar veterinary practice software in comparison to the summer and winter book seasonal data provided. Data for Wall-Mart on specific individual products was not available.