If you are running a global supply chain, there are many reasons why should know how to efficiently manage your business. The inventory management is by and far the most intriguing and interesting trend for your import & export business. You must fine-tune your inventory management to favour your supply chain business.
Balancing between Demand and Supply
The most important factor is the right balance between supply and demand. This will allow your enterprise to stay as lean as required in the import and export industry. Inventory is no doubt an asset, but it is an asset which should neither be too much nor too less. This is where a balance is required. Be it cold supply chain or any other business, you must maintain a balance between demand and supply.
Using the right technologies for capturing the point-of-sale data can make this balance easier to achieve. It works by providing real-time data to find out the specific time required to refill stocks, complete customer orders and at the same time not indulge in any sort of excesses.
Inventory Forecasting
Inventory forecasting is a scientific method of predicting the needs of your orders and demands. These predictions allow you to determine the right quality of goods that needs to be stocked and place orders on time.
All sorts of inventory management systems need adjustments when they are used in the international domain. While aspects such as base demand stay constant, the re-order points and economic order quantity require adjustment for customs approval and other costs.
The Holidays
Seasonality is important for international shippers. For instance if your enterprise is New Zealand based and your supplier is based in Malaysia, then Christmas and Id-ul-Fitr both have to be taken into consideration. One festival could be the busiest season for your business while the other could be a busy time for your supplier. It is important that you are ready with right inventory quantity whenever it is required, especially during peak seasons
Understand Lead Times
As a supplier, you should understand the importance of lead-time. Lead time is the time taken from order placement of your inventory until the actual time of receiving of the product. This factor should be inclusive of supply delay as well as the reorder delay. As you might know, lead-time for international deliveries is way higher than that for local deliveries. This increase is an important factor in inventory control as well as supply chain.
Research
The more research you do on the ground level the better will be your control on import and export management. For instance, extensive research is required before the selection of the warehouse locations and for understanding the market trends.
The Cloud
With a business that involves many people and time zones, updates, shares and manual operations, cloud is the easiest and precise way to function.
A cloud-based system makes it easy for inventory amplitudes, purchase information, which can be updated in real-time. This ensures that you do not end up with an inventory shortage at any stage, or take an order that cannot be delivered.
Tax and Industry
Most of the time, it is the custom clearance support and the tax policy which decides the actual costs of supply chain business on the global scale. Thus, you need to stay abreast with the amendments in tax policy, so as to get maximum benefit &minimize your costs.
Gati has extensive expertise in export import policies, transportation and centralised distribution systems. This is why we manage our inventory so effectively.