Inventory has always been a buffer for uncertainty, and today’s economy has certainly caused uncertainty. At the same time, it is forcing everyone to find ways to reduce costs—including inventory. In short, inventory is a balancing act, and the economy now has us walking on a tightrope. Successful companies will be leaders in both reducing costs and providing customer service, a tough inventory equation to solve without software.
Forecasting, warehouse management, transportation management, production planning and scheduling, requirements planning, replenishment and distribution software, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications such as materials requirements planning (MRP) all affect inventory. But let’s focus on inventory-specific software that might complement those applications for direct materials inventory (not MRO or indirect).
Inventory management: Inexpensive software for inventory management includes AdvanceWare’s AdvancePro, Archon’s InFlow, NCH’s Inventoria, and ePhiphony’s Phitch. Some bar-code and other automatic ID companies, such as Wasp Barcode, also have inventory software. But you are usually better off using your ERP system’s inventory management capabilities, which rest on production, inventory, and distribution planning.
Inventory planning: Most supply chain planning software helps plan inventory. Some of the strongest players in this market include Infor, JDA, John Galt, Kinaxis, Logility, Manhattan Associates, Oracle, SAP, Smart Software, Supply Chain Consultants, and Valogix. These programs are part of a larger suite of supply chain management (SCM) software that can help coordinate inventory with functions such as procurement and capacity planning. IQR International’s inventory planning software, which uses the inventory quality ratio, integrates with an array of ERP and SCM products.