July 12, 2024
Summary: This write-up talks about Business Central Inventory Management, its features, the need for Inventory Setup in Business Central, and the way an accredited and acclaimed Business Central Solution Provider can let you make the most of this inventive inventory functionality.
Inventory management is often a tedious and time-consuming task for most of the production or retail businesses. Finding your inventory can be night terrors if you have to do it alone—Right from working off multiple spreadsheets to manually tracing serial numbers and tracking systems.
Moreover, this ever-evolving global economy marked by lightning-speed transactions, demanding consumers, and the competition for the best supplies at the lowest prices demands that businesses optimize their inventory management and ensure keeping pace with the advancing landscape.
Business Central Inventory Management Features
Oversee Aged Inventory
With Inventory SetUp in Business Central, businesses can better understand what isn’t selling and identify what items are off the rack in minutes. These capabilities deliver precision in the inventory data and help gain insight into your aging inventory for adapting to strategic business activities.
Check Vendor Lead Time
Microsoft Inventory Management in Business Central lets you monitor your vendor lead times to assist you in data-driven decision-making across the purchase of new inventory. Also, it helps you minimize order delays and ensure supply of shortages before they take place.
Optimized Storage
Production planners or Inventory heads can easily map and organize their storage facilities. It helps them know the items they have along with their location. With Business Central, you can efficiently plan your storage based on size, weight, type, and shelf location—all from one system.
Data-driven Recommendations
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Inventory Management generates smart recommendations on inventory movement with time for efficient space utilization, and streamlined pickup, and delivery processes. Additionally, Business Central Inventory GL Reconciliation calculates the inventory value and the amounts of Received Not Invoiced and Shipped Not Invoiced. Also, it determines if the amounts in the Value Entry Table are posted to the General Ledger.
Why You Should Go for Inventory Setup in Business Central?
Many businesses anticipate the need for an automated software solution to manage inventory and miss the opportunity to take a competitive lead. Here are the top signs to let you know the right time to get Business Central Inventory Management and upgrade your inventory operations.
If You Have Too Much Obsolete Inventory
Obsolete inventory stands for the product one cannot use, or sell because it is purchased or produced in too high a quantity. Here, Business Central helps track every time a product is brought in and taken out of inventory. This extensively orchestrated inventory management solution considers the lead time of their products, the cycle time of their business, and the projected demand for their products.
Rescheduling Work Due To Missing Required Items
Rescheduled work means it is not too disruptive or it could mean a machine cannot run due to missing raw materials. Hence, one should check that all the items needed for a project are present before starting production. Here, leveraging Business Central can help you track every time work is rescheduled and categorize it.
Delivery Performance on the Rim to Fall Out
Stockouts are anxiety triggers for you, your employees, and definitely for your customers. Also, it can lead to missed opportunities for business growth and this is probably the biggest and most dangerous problem of them all. Here, ERP software like Dynamics 365 Business Central and Business Central Inventory Reports could help you avoid stockouts as they deliver a real-time view of your inventory levels. Additionally, you can see when you need to reorder products, and will always give you an exact representation of your inventory levels.
If You Are Receiving Unexpectedly Low Inventory Turns
With the deployment of Dynamics 365 Business Central, you can measure your inventory turns by item category. You can check how much inventory you use over a year and the amount of inventory available in the stock. For instance, you can check your finished goods, raw materials, or even different sub-categories of raw materials.
Case Study: How NavisionIndia Let A Renowned Electronics Manufacturer Ensure Product Traceability with Microsoft Business Central's Lot and Serial Tracking?
Client Profile: Our client is a reputable consumer electronics manufacturer known for its high-quality products. Facing stringent regulatory requirements and a need for enhanced product traceability, they sought a solution to efficiently track lots and serial numbers of their electronic devices throughout the supply chain.
Challenge: Our client faced challenges in complying with industry regulations that mandated the tracking of lots and serial numbers for electronic devices. Manual tracking methods were error-prone and time-consuming, making it difficult to respond quickly to regulatory audits or product recalls. They needed a robust inventory management system that could automate lot and serial number tracking while providing real-time visibility into their supply chain.
Solution: We implemented Microsoft Business Central’s Inventory Management module with advanced lot and serial tracking capabilities in his company. The implementation involved the following steps:
- Lot and Serial Configuration:
- Configured Microsoft Business Central to enable lot and serial number tracking for electronic devices, allowing each product unit to be uniquely identified.
- Defined specific attributes for lots and serial numbers, such as manufacturing dates, batch numbers, and unique product identifiers.
- Integration with Manufacturing and Distribution:
- The integrated lot and serial tracking with the manufacturing process ensured that each unit produced was assigned a unique serial number or lot ID.
- Extended tracking to the distribution network, enabling real-time monitoring of product movement, from the warehouse to retailers.
- Quality Control and Compliance:
- Implemented quality control checks tied to lot and serial numbers, ensuring that products with specific attributes (such as manufacturing defects) could be easily identified and isolated.
- Facilitated compliance with regulatory requirements by generating accurate reports showcasing the history and origin of each product unit, simplifying audits and recalls.
- Supplier Collaboration:
- Collaborated with suppliers to incorporate lot and serial numbers at the raw material level, enabling end-to-end traceability from component suppliers to the finished product.
- Real-time Reporting and Analytics:
- Utilized Microsoft Business Central’s reporting tools to generate real-time analytics and reports, offering insights into product movements, sales patterns, and compliance status.
- Leveraged predictive analytics to forecast demand for specific product lots, optimizing inventory levels and reducing carrying costs.
Results: By leveraging Microsoft Business Central’s Inventory Management module with lot and serial tracking capabilities, the company achieved the following outcomes:
- Enhanced Product Traceability: Accurate tracking of lots and serial numbers enabled to trace the entire lifecycle of each product unit, ensuring compliance with industry regulations and quality standards.
- Improved Quality Control: The ability to tie specific attributes to lot and serial numbers allowed the company to identify and address quality issues promptly, minimizing the impact on customers.
- Streamlined Recalls: In the event of a product recall, the company could quickly identify affected lots or serial numbers, streamlining the recall process and minimizing potential damage to its brand reputation.
- Efficient Inventory Management: Real-time visibility into product movements and demand patterns allowed the company to optimize inventory levels, reducing excess stock and associated carrying costs.
- Supplier Collaboration: Collaborating with suppliers on lot and serial number tracking improved communication and transparency in the supply chain, fostering better relationships and ensuring consistency in product quality.
In conclusion, the implementation of Microsoft Business Central’s Inventory Management module with lot and serial tracking capabilities transformed our clients’ supply chain operations. The enhanced product traceability, improved quality control, and efficient inventory management positioned the company as a leader in the competitive consumer electronics market.
At NavisionIndia, you can connect to our accredited and adept Business Central Consultants, who can guide you with inventive capabilities and let you drive unrivaled growth. Our experts deliver rich expertise and industry standard-based practices to help you steer business efficiency and lead the competitive edge, unlike your fellow businesses.
For more details, write to us at info@navisionindia.in Or Schedule A Demo