With the hustle and pace in business, efficiency combined with accuracy forms the core of any profitable organisation, especially when it’s in manufacturing. Managing inventory, monitoring the quantity of stock, timely productions, and orderliness can all become too much to handle if the business doesn’t have the appropriate management tools. That is where Zoho Inventory comes in. Zoho Inventory is a cloud-based inventory management software designed for manufacturers to streamline their operations and reduce errors in lieu of better productivity.
In this article, we’ll explore the unique needs of manufacturing catered for by Zoho Inventory, its key features, and why it can be a valuable asset for manufacturers looking to optimise their inventory management.
About Zoho Inventory
Zoho Inventory falls under the suite of business applications that Zoho provides to help businesses inventory better. Although useful for all kinds of industries, it particularly finds application when an organisation has a mass variety of items, raw, and other finished goods to be managed. While hiring a reliable Zoho Consulting Partner can help you setting up this.
The system encompasses everything from order management and warehouse management to stock tracking, shipping, and reporting. It also integrates seamlessly with any other Zoho applications and third-party popular applications like Amazon, eBay, and Shopify, which makes it versatile for every size of business.
Challenges Faced by the Manufacturing Industry:
But let’s take a general view of the problems manufacturers normally face while running an inventory management system first.
- Demand forecasting: Managers should forecast the demand to avoid overproduction and stockouts.
- Complex chains: Chains that are involved in coordination with various suppliers, the lead times, and the production flow are very logistical.
- Inventory Visibility: Let it be known when things are available, being produced, and not, so bottlenecks in production do not occur.
- Reduced Waste: Minimise waste from materials and manage product expiration to ensure profitability.
Compliance and Documentation: Several manufacturing processes are subjected to compliance regulations, which require detailed documentation and tracking.
Given these challenges, a good inventory management system will be key for manufacturers to stay competitive.
How Zoho Inventory Solves Manufacturing Issues:
Now that we have discussed the most important issues, let’s find how Zoho Inventory helps resolve those problems:
A. Stock Visibility in Real-time
Real-time inventory tracking also occurs over any number of warehouses or locations with Zoho Inventory. Manufacturers will then be able to gather accurate information about raw materials, work-in-progress, and finished goods, which will aid in better choices, avoid stockouts, and enable just-in-time production scheduling.
For instance, a manufacturer can track the availability of raw material in each warehouse and adjust the quantity to be produced accordingly. The option is rather useful when dealing with several locations of productions.
B. Demand Forecasting and Order Management
Zoho Inventory lets manufacturers manage their purchase orders and sales orders in a streamlined way. The system lets users have reorder points where the system will automatically send an alert or a purchase order in case the stock reaches the predefined threshold. It minimises the possibility of running out of critical materials.
Furthermore, it connects to your sales channel where it can trace demand patterns of customers. According to such information, the manufacturers will plan their production better and reduce excess inventories.
C. Multi-Warehouse Management
Usually, manufacturers operate from several locations. At any point in time, each location may have different inventory and raw materials. Stock management between multiple warehouses is, thus, challenging. Zoho Inventory simplifies this for businesses by letting them track their stock levels across all locations from a single dashboard.
You could transfer stock among warehouses, set a unique reorder level for every location, and build reports that help you have a clear view of the performance of each warehouse. It ensures the problem of delay in production doesn’t arise at all due to stock mismanagement at one particular location.
D. Batch and Serial Number Tracking
Many manufacturers work with products tracked through batch or serial numbers, especially in items with an expiration date or particular regulatory compliance requirements. Zoho Inventory facilitates the tracking of products’ batch and serial numbers to help track and trace product or component history.
This is useful in food and beverage, pharmaceuticals, or electronic manufacturing companies, where a need would arise to recall the products or trace faulty pieces. Manufacturers will be in a position to ascertain the specific lots affected and take prompt action.
E. Bills of Materials (BOM) and Assemblies
Often, assembling products from raw materials or constituent parts is a common activity of any manufacturing operation. Zoho Inventory helps create Bills of Materials and manages product assemblies by manufacturers.
A bill of materials is simply a list of all the components that one needs to build a certain product. In Zoho Inventory, you can define required components; track the amount they have been consumed during the assembly process; and automatically update the stock levels once it has been assembled. This step guarantees accuracy in stock levels every time it runs through by eliminating all manual work.
F. Integration with Accounting and other tools
Its biggest advantage is its integration feature with Zoho Books, which is their accounting software, eCommerce platforms, and shipping carriers. That way, this would really make financial management so much easier since all transactions are reflected in your accounting system.
For manufacturers, having inventory, sales, and financial data all at one location makes reporting easy and accurate. You can track your profit margins, cost of goods sold, and prepare your financial reports without having to toggle between multiple systems.
What Makes Zoho Inventory Special to Manufacturers:
The complexity of manufacturing businesses is reduced by the Zoho Inventory. Here are a few reasons why:
A. Easy to Use
Zoho Inventory may be rich in features, but it is even more user-friendly. Its easy interface makes even a first-time user and minimal training start inventory management smoothly.
B. Scalability
Scalable to grow with your business It is scalable enough to grow with your business. Be it a small manufacturer or a big enterprise, Zoho Inventory offers flexible pricing plans and features fitting your needs.
C. Cloud Accessibility
Zoho Inventory is cloud-based, hence accessible even outside its operating location. Such a facility may be beneficial to companies that may have teams or production facilities elsewhere in the world.
D. Low Price
Zoho Inventory is highly cost-effective compared to other similar inventory management softwares. This can be seen through different plans of charging money. One of them is free, and that’s for very small businesses.
Real World Example: A Success Story
Let’s think of a mid-size electronics manufacturer using Zoho Inventory. There were several issues with tracking components for product assemblies, and managing multi-location warehouses was another before adopting Zoho.
Through the help of Zoho Inventory, the company was able to:
- Accurate tracking of stock levels to prevent overproduction.
- Components purchase orders should be automated.
- All these warehouses will maintain a live-time view.
- Streamline their production process by integrating BOM and assemblies.
The company thus reduced delays related to stock, minimised waste, and maximised its overall production efficiency.
Conclusion
Zoho Inventory proves to be a great solution for manufacturers to simplify the management of their inventories and make operations more effective while offering features specifically aligned with the manufacturing industry in all respects, starting from real-time stock tracking to BOM management and integration with accounting tools.
Manufacturers can save much time and minimise the potential for errors through the help of Zoho Inventory, which goes on to ensure that production runs out well. Whether it is a small business or large-scale manufacturer, Zoho Inventory helps anyone take control of their inventory and even smoothes their bottom line.
