Spotlight On...
Inventory Management
By
Nov 9, 2005, 20:01

Inventory management is a core competency of MDF Systems. The proper storage and management of your materials is key to processing orders correctly and sending out material.

Even though your inventory may arrive on skids, MDF will assess the items on each skid and the anticipated activity of your account. Our objective is to place the material in our warehouse for maximum in and out movement, not for long-term storage. For an additional layer of quality control, we do not put mixed items onto the same skid. We remove items from skids and put them onto shelves whenever possible. If there is a lot of one item, the skids are stacked for maximum use of warehouse space.

MDF counts each item, either physically, by scale, or by box count (as long as the box has the quantity on it). If a box is opened, we will always check the contents. If the box is sealed, then we will use the quantity on the box. We will notify you if there is a difference in the packing slip than what is in the shipment, if we receive less than we are expecting, or if the material came in damaged. We can make a digital image and e-mail it to you if need be.

Premium items are put into a locked area which has additional precautions, such as a security system, one person responsible for receiving and pulling the items, and more frequent count verification.

When a project is completed, we will fax or e-mail you that the material has shipped, how much was used, how much is left, and ask what to do with leftover material - keep, destroy, or return.

MDF has on-line inventory reporting for our web-based fulfillment clients. Here are some of the reports that are available:

• Product Backordered – shows only products are on backorder, how many pieces are backordered, reserved, or expected. Also shows reorder points

• Product Detail – shows all products with balances, plus version, expiration date, sort groups & status

• Product Summary – shows all products, with balances, reorder points, number backordered, expected, and average monthly usage.

• Product Transaction Summary – material movement over a defined period, including what’s been received, shipped, returned, disposed, adjusted, and on hand.

• 12 Month Component Usage – product usage over the past 12 months

• Understock – balances under predefined reorder points and target balances

• Inactive Products – products with no activity over a defined time period




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