In this week’s edition of Field Service Trakker Feature Review we will be talking about:
Field Service Inventory Control
This is a topic that most businesses typically fall into one of two camps on.
Camp 1:
We have a pretty good overall idea of what the inventory is and that’s really good enough for us. If we are off a little bit, it’s not a major concern. Besides we have been doing it this way for (x) years and we don’t really need to change that now.
Camp 2:
It is vital to know exactly what our inventory in the warehouse as well as on each truck is at all times. This helps us keep our costs down by keeping a tight inventory, know if items are ‘disappearing,’ and prevent us from running out of critical inventory items.
Both camps have strong feelings on their position and as with most areas of Field Service Trakker we do not dictate how a business should be run. We regularly have discussions with companies in both camps and have seen more than one company, over time move from one camp to another. Yes, usually from Camp 1 to Camp 2, but occasionally from Camp 2 to Camp 1. We have even seen some camping out around Camp 1.5 where some items are important for them to keep inventory control over while others are not.
What Inventory Method does Field Service Trakker Support?
Field Service Trakker’s Inventory Control method supports all of these approaches.
For those in Camp 1 (Inventory Control is not that important to us), our Field Service Management Inventory can be set up with just a large/default number that is replenished each day so that the Android user is never troubled with an out of inventory message. While at the same time this allows for easy reports of what was sold/used off of each truck each day if the office management is interested in such information. We have found that even though a company may fall into Camp 1 and overall not really care about the specifics of the inventory, some still would like reporting mechanisms of what items were sold off of a truck to have an idea of what needs to be replenished.
For those in Camp 2 (Inventory Control is crucial to our business) we offer real time inventory for each truck as well as your warehouse(s). If something is sold from a truck, upon completion of the invoice it is immediately depleted from inventory and the office can see the inventory counts. There is an overview of every product where the total on hand count between the warehouse(s) and all trucks. Of course the individual inventories for each truck and warehouse can be seen as well.
Easily see what needs to be replenished on each truck
At the end of each day each, (some, one, all, none) of the trucks can be set to restock to minimums and a report is generated in order to pull the items for restock. Some companies have an warehouse person go out and pull the stock and place it on pallets/boxes for each tech to put into their truck when they arrive. Others have the reports ready for the techs to pull themselves. Others have a warehouse person pull the items and ship them to the rep. Or a combination of these.
We even offer the ability to fully track inventory on some trucks and not others, or track specific items only, or even specific items only on specific trucks.
Have a different need? We can do that too.
Again our belief at Longwell Technologies is that though we can provide insight to suggest possible processes that may improve productivity, efficiencies as well as your bottom line. You know your employees, customers, and overall business better than we do. So we work to provide maximum flexibility and customizations to your specific business needs. After all the things that make your company different are your competitive advantage.
There are lots of Field Service Management Solutions out there. Our competitive advantage is that we work with our customers to do what they need. For some the built in flexibility of Field Service Trakker is enough, for others they have special customized needs. We can customize form layout, data fields, required data, we can even custom code the Desktop App or Android App.
To find out more and set up a free demo, contact us today
Or learn more about Field Service Trakker.