SFA: What's the Answer?
Inventory Control
mattj34
I am looking for ways for our shop to become more-efficient in the world of inventory. Right now we manually measure and convert measurements on a monthly basis as part of our inventory. I'm sure there are but I'm going to ask this anyways. Are there programs out there that will perform an electronic inventory? We use Slabsmith for our counter layouts and I've been told that will perform an inventory. Is there a bar-code type system or something I can do to help with this overall? We seem to come up short in inventory month after month. Thanks in advance for any and all answers.
Ivey 103 SFA Member
Matt, we aren't there yet but it is my understanding that Actionflow has an inventory control system with a bar-code system. We are like a bunch of old dogs trying to learn new tricks in switching from our old systems to doing everything in ActionFlow but I have hope that we can ultimately do it all electronically. You may want to give Reece at Actionflow a shout. Pete Lane Ivey Lane Inc.
GraniteBusters SFA Member
Hey Matt, Slabsmith does have that. It's the scan module. I think it's like 2k or something for the module. You'll also need a Zebra printer, labels and stuff. It's not too bad. Works well. Alex Owen Granite Busters Arnold, Mo.
johno@ainteriors.net SFA Member
We use Slabsmith coupled with Moraware. The bridge between them has been a bit frustrating for us, as they needed a somewhat customized bridge to communicate with each other, but most of our issues have honestly been user error. We're still trying to perfect our inventory, but its way closer than it has ever been by a longshot. Send me a message if you want any more details. Sam Casares AI Inc.
Alex DiPietro SFA Member
Slabsmith may be able to give you a count, but inventory is a function of accounting. The only software I know of that truly can give you a valuation of your inventory at any moment in time, put partial slabs back into inventory so you can accurately calculate use tax, all while managing back-end general ledger/journal entries, is Stone Profits. Everything else as far as I can tell is fluff. We use Slabsmith for layouts (for now but thats another story of obsolescence) but not for managing inventory. We do use it to manage pictures but a library of images is vastly different than an inventory. Alex DiPietro
GanassaWMG SFA Member
Alex, how do you guys manage your remnants? lots of singles racks and grouping (quartz stored inside)? I am trying to clean up my yard without loading up A-frames to the point where I don't know what's there. Mike Ganassa Washington Marble & Granite Co.
Rock Solid SFA Member
We use Slabsmith and have all of our inventory pictured and last year I went through our rem rack and marked location of every rem and pictured ones that were not. It was some work on the rems but holy cow not wasting your time looking for a rem is such a time-saver. And you end up using way more of your rems. Old money making new money. 👍 Chris Evans Rock Solid Granite and Tile Inc.
crobb SFA Member
Same as Alex, StoneProfits and Slabsmith. StoneProfits inventory works wonders for us. We have around 1,200-1,300 slabs/remnants on site. Slabs are labeled upon delivery. Slabs are allocated to jobs, remnants are generated and labeled as they come off the saws. We scan once or twice a month to update "bin" locations and reconcile inventory. It takes someone about 2 hours to scan all our inventory. Makes our sales-staff lives' so much easier to see what has been quoted, where it was last scanned, seeing if we have matching material. Cecil R. Elegant Surfaces Newman, Ga.