An effective inventory management is crucial to maintain constant the service level, even during critical periods which entail disruptions or changes in the supply chain. “Inventory management – Slim, a company that manufactures light signaling products, explains – refers to the process of planning, controlling, and monitoring the amount of products or materials an enterprise holds in its inventory. This process is essential to ensure the right amount of components is in stock at the appropriate time, in the right place and at the lowest cost possible. The aim of this service activity is to strike a balance between maintaining an adequate level of products on stock to meet customer demand and reducing to the minimum the costs associated with warehousing and inventory management. As a matter of fact, efficient warehouse management helps avoid situations of surplus or shortage, optimising the availability of products. Using an inventory management system (such as a management software) may simplify and automate the warehouse control process. These systems allow us to monitor in real time the level of products in stock, manage orders and shipments and generate reports. At Slim we use an inventory management model that is based on monitoring a set of variables, aligned to events, that makes it possible to keep track of the various quantities and identify any surpluses or shortages. This is a business process that seeks to safeguard production as well as customers and makes it possible to calibrate inventory volumes”.
As regards to maintain a constant level of products in stock, this means that customers, following specific agreements, will be able to find what they need when they request it, without having to wait indefinite or excessive lengths of time. “Over the years – the company adds – we have developed a fairly clear view of available inventory, which has allowed us to guarantee the products requested, with relatively short delivery times. This service has been built into the company’s very essence and today we can offer various conditions for warehouse management. If the customer requires it, we can set up specific procurement schemes, such as collecting the goods within a given period of time. In addition to being flexible on the storage of customers’ finished products, we manage the production components inventory. This strategy entails having semi-finished products in stock (standard and high runners) which are available for the final customisation step, in order to reduce delivery times. In conclusion, this ad hoc service that we provide to our customers offers certain advantages: from operational continuity to the reduction of procurement costs”.
