Do you sometimes feel as if you live in a state of frustration when it comes to inventory control? We hear precast manufacturers and infrastructure contractors tell us that inventory management is the source of greatest inefficiency for their operations; both for the time that it consumes and the costs of mistakes that are made. Fortunately, lean manufacturing practices and technology developments are converging to offer solutions that address this.
See if you recognize any of the issues we hear about:
- Too much time locating inventory in yard
- Customer calls for production status, we have to send someone to count
- Management has to perform physical inventory counts for bank
- No accurate accounting exists for inventory between physical counts
- Profit from job can be lost from cost of shipping error
- Manufacturer can be held accountable for issues after delivery
Problem is, the exact extent of the costs of managing inventory are generally more felt than actually known. Manufacturing productivity solutions allow you to capture the right information and quanitfy these costs, usually with a barcode or RFID tracking system. (See Concrete Tracking for Cost Savings.) Product tracking systems have been available for years in other industries, but they have been available only recently for concrete tracking and construction inventory control.
If you are considering a productivity solution, the best place to start is by determining the facts... understanding the costs that you are actually incurring in managing your inventory. Using this as a base, you can determine the savings you can expect from a new productivity system.
We have developed an inventory management cost calculator that you can download to start your research. If our experience holds, you will find that the costs of not using a manufacturing productivity solution are actually much greater than you think, often up to $100,000 per year.
