Items which are maintained in inventory are known as stocking parts. The control of these items is vital for the financial stability of a company.
There are several key rules to determine what items to stock, and how many to maintain in inventory at any given time.
•Print a sales history for the previous month. Look for the non-stocking items that have been used more than once in that period. These are items you paid extra to special order, and which you may be using on a regular basis. You can probably purchase these at a savings if you buy a quantity.
•Print a report for items not sold in the past 30 days. Be sure to not retain stock on these items known as slow movers
•Beware of sales representatives with "special purchases". Often they are offering specials on items their company has found to be overstocked due to poor turn around. You won't find that accepting their dead stock will be of value, no matter what the price, unless the items are ones your sales history shows that you use in quantity, and on a regular basis.
•Be sure that your stocking inventory is located where it can be found easily. Use the location codes to properly place each part. Be sure to check the computer before making a special order.
•Never let the sales representative for a company make the determination of what parts you need to stock. They get a commission on everything they sell, and your computer knows far better what items you will actually use.
Enter your stocking parts using the Inventory Editor, with particular attention to the information discussed in this section of the manual.