Besides using a POS system, how can we maintain track of our inventory and make sure it's always replenished on time?

All answers I have read provide some quality information and helpful hints. The easiest way to ensure that stock is on the radar for reordering, is to implement a kanban system at the pick face. This identifies what the reorder point is and alerts the stores person to identify a requirement to the procurement team. This is of course making an assumption that the ERP/MRP driving the POS has limited capability.

Inventory comprises consumption data, lead time from supplier, logistics or freight lead time, corporate policy on stock levels and of course any customer contract impacts on volumes.

Depending on the nature and size of your business, setting reorder points by implementing a kanban system may be the most simple to introduce to the staffs.

Every stock management program should have a stock reordering system. You can always input parameters that will enable the system to calculate what to order and in what quantities. However these systems rely on historical data, so a buyer should be cognisant of likely risks and seasonal peaks in demand, etc. Above all a buyer should be experienced enough to discern trends that may affect demand.

Replenishment of Inventory or maintaining optimal stocks is an acquired skill and that will come with experience.  If you work on ERP/MRP systems or SAP or any other which have inbuilt logic with reorder levels, safety stock etc, it may work for you but not all the time.  The major challenges are erratic sales and variations in the supply chain.

I suggest you to acquire and enhance your knowledge and skills in areas of  Annual Budgeting and Forecasting, lead times for supply, Inventory turnovers, product classification with regard to fast and slow moving products and this will surely  enable you to build and maintain an efficient stock management system driven by your logic and input.

Al the best.

I agree with Mr.Terrence & Mr.Mustafa. I,also,would like to add that a quarterly Inventory cycle count or if your turn- over is high, doing  it monthly can assure on time replenishment.ERP/MRP can assist in making your replenishment system more effective.  

Thank you for the invitation,

Actually I agree with both answers given by  Terrence Walmsley & Sharpstone Garande.

And in I may add the following:

We should always keep our eyes on the following factors:

1.   On hand Stock

2.   Safety stock & reordering point

3.   On hand Requests

4.   Pipe line orders

5.   Ordering cycling period

6.   Delivery lead time

7.   Seasonal Products

8.   Sales Forecast or Production Plan.

9.   Our Storing capacity.

.  Item life time

Inventory is the lifeblood of any business. Not enough of the right product on hand and customers will spend their money at another store. Too much capital tied up in the wrong products, and business owner won't have the flexibility to re-order what customers want. That's why inventory control is so important.

Companies can increase profitability 20 -50 % or more through careful inventory management. Using a point-of-sale system to manage inventory is one of the best ways to know what's selling and what's not.

Here are some tip to have a better inventory control :

1- Treat every customer purchase as a vote on that product:

When a customer makes a purchase, he's telling you that he likes what's available, and he wants that item to be available again.it is like casting a vote. But it's impossible to keep track of that information without a computerized system. Maintaining an accurate, right-size inventory that contains items customers keep buying over time isn't easy. That's why using a POS will tell you how much of each product you should be ordering, how often you should be reordering.

2-Creat Automatic purchase orders:

with the a good  POS this is done automatically .

3-Review the top selling items regularly :

4- Register lost sales:

when a customer comes in asking for a product, it's out of stock.That's when you can enter a lost sale in the POS system. Review monthly reports and you'll see how many sales you missed because a product was unavailable. Then adjust orders accordingly.

5- Routine tracking of special orders:

POS help you to know what you have order in order to remind the customers when it is available.

these are some  inventory control tip that will ensure you have the products your customers want at just the right time.

Adily inventory on fast moving items,and weekly on slow moving items will keep us updated and minimize the risk of getting out of stock

Well in current time POS is directly connected to ERP system that tells you exact inventory status and required action to be taken,therefore.Having said that, it is always advisable to perform PST (physical stock taking) at regular intervals to know the inventory status in your store and you can replenish it as per the demand of the products.

keeping a close eye to sales , and studying sales forecast