Have you ever wondered if there are tools that can make your company's inventory management easier? Methodologies like FIFO allow you to organize storage processes, ensuring that losses are reduced and that customers receive high-quality products.
Before implementing this method, however, you need to investigate whether it's adaptable to your business model. This will make it easier to implement it with the best strategies. To help you with this, we'll explain the concept of the method, present its benefits, and provide tips on how to implement it effectively. Read on to find out everything in detail!
Find ways to improve inventory management is crucial for increasing a company's profitability. In this sense, the FIFO method can help. This name comes from the acronym First In, First Out, which means "first in, first out."
In other words, FIFO is a system that helps organize stored products, through queues in which the first items added are the first to be sold and removed from stock.
This way, you avoid having products in inventory for too long, selling them to avoid expiration or obsolescence. Additionally, you can reap several other benefits from using FIFO. Learn more.
The benefits of implementing FIFO go beyond just reducing losses; they can also help a company achieve increasingly better results. Below, we explain some of them in detail.
Losing products due to deterioration or missed deadlines can lead to waste and considerable losses for the business. This can be common in companies that sell metal products if there is no adequate management regarding aspects such as adequate humidity and storage.
With FIFO, this risk can be minimized, as there's no accumulation of products and no time to cause rust or other similar damage. As a result, you reduce waste, preserve product quality, and contribute to consumer satisfaction.
Want to gain a better understanding of your inventory and cost of goods sold? Adopting FIFO can be helpful. Since older products are typically purchased at lower costs, selling them sooner means real prices are closer to ideal and costs are more accurate.
In countries with higher inflation, such as Brazil, this advantage helps to overcome financial distortions and maintain a management appropriate costs and revenues. With this, data More accurate data can be obtained, contributing to making the right decisions for the success of the business.
Having an organized environment and a logical flow for moving goods is crucial for inventory management. With FIFO, this is a benefit because you can build an inventory more easily and update it constantly, reducing the incidence of forgotten items.
Furthermore, audits and counts are easier to perform, as turnover has a more predictable pattern. It's also important to explain that the method simplifies the adoption of automated inventory control systems, as they can be incorporated using a "first-in, first-out" approach.
Now that you know the benefits of effectively adopting FIFO, follow these tips that can be essential when incorporating this feature into your company.
The physical side of the warehouse must be designed for FIFO to work perfectly. Therefore, it's advisable to adjust everything to utilize the oldest items first.
For example, you can position older products at the front of the shelves for better visibility. This makes it easier to remove them in the correct order, as per the method. Using labels with entry dates and expiration dates also allows for optimized product control.
If your inventory is very large, opt for flow racks (inclined shelves) to automate the process. Besides being practical, they ensure access in the order established by FIFO.
An inventory management system, such as an ERP, makes all the difference when applying FIFO. This is because this solution allows you to track product inputs and outputs without wasting time, avoiding common mistakes in human operations.
Additionally, the use of barcodes or RFID allows you to record each item as it arrives in stock. This makes it easier to ship them first, avoiding the accumulation of products that have been stored for a long time.
With the data generated in the software, it is still possible to predict the need for new purchases replenish stocksThis way, there's no excess product, and there's no shortage for customers in stores. If you have products that might spoil, alerts can be set up to run promotions that will help you sell more and avoid losses.
The inventory management team plays a key role in the successful implementation of FIFO. Therefore, employee training is essential.
This need includes everything from good storage practices the oldest products, until date verification and appropriate use of systems that will be adopted.
Audits must also be conducted regularly by qualified professionals. To this end, meetings and training sessions should be held to reinforce the importance of the technique and the need to correct any errors.
Therefore, by understanding the FIFO method and how it can benefit your company's inventory management, it becomes easier to incorporate it into your iron and steel store. This creates a competitive advantage that makes your business more profitable.
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