Articles, Glossary Terms, Discussions, and Reports to expand your knowledge on Inventory Control Software
Resource pages are designed to give you a cross-section of information we have on specific categories. You'll find articles from our experts, feature definitions, discussions from users like you, and reports from industry data.
The COVID-19 pandemic permanently altered the fabric of society, and the supply chain is no exception. Throughout 2020 and 2021, inventory management tools dominated the industry to combat chronic stockouts due to surging demand and international discrepancies in COVID-19 safety protocols.
I recently attended the Tableau Conference, where I indulged my nerdiness for four days. As a self-described data science evangelist, I was thrilled to see autoML, natural language generation, and other advanced automation features be added to Tableau, one of the world’s leading data visualization and business intelligence platforms.
In G2’s 2022 Digital Trends, I discussed the difficulties facing the global supply chain and business strategies to overcome them. I identified international discrepancies in health regulations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions as major obstacles toward achieving a stable supply chain and economy.
Radio frequency identification technology (RFID) tracks and identifies objects, animals, or people using electromagnetic fields. Learn more about types.
LIFO stands for Last In, First Out and is an inventory method where the last unit in is the first sold. Learn when to use it and how it differs from FIFO.
Inventory forecasting is how companies calculate inventory needed to fill future orders. Learn about types of inventory forecasting, benefits, and more.
Inventory tracking plays an essential role in the inventory management planning process. Learn more about inventory tracking, how it can benefit overall company organization, and how to implement it in a business structure using various techniques.
Materials management plays a valuable role in a company’s supply chain management process. Learn more about materials management, how it can benefit production flow, and how to implement it in an inventory structure.
Inventory reporting plays a valuable role in the inventory control process. Learn more about inventory reporting, how it can benefit inventory management, and how to write reports to support a business structure.
To use MRPeasy for manufacturing operations, you can follow these steps:
Overview of MRPeasy:
Familiarize yourself with MRPeasy by reviewing the overview section. This will give you a broad understanding of the software's capabilities and how it can be applied to your manufacturing operations.
Play with demo data:
Before entering your own data, you can play with the demo data provided to get a feel for how the system works. This step is crucial for understanding the functionality without affecting your actual data.
Remove demo data and prepare a test task:
Once you're comfortable, remove the demo data and prepare a test task to start using the system with your own information.
Enter parts and products:
Input the details of the parts and products you will be manufacturing. This includes creating your Bill of Materials (BOM) and setting up your inventory items.
Plan and report production:
Use MRPeasy's production planning tools to schedule and manage your manufacturing operations. Report production progress and track the use of materials.
Buy parts and materials:
Manage procurement by creating purchase orders for the parts and materials needed for production.
Sell products:
Handle customer orders and sales processes within MRPeasy.
Stock management:
Keep track of your inventory levels, plan material purchases, and manage stock movements.
Usage tips:
Explore additional tips and best practices for using MRPeasy effectively.
To bring your manufacturing operations to a new level of efficiency with MRPeasy, start your free trial today and explore these steps in more detail.
Answered: Karl Heinrich Lauri on November 15, 2023
Hello,
I have a question about inventory movement within Katana. It was our impression that operators would be able to pull materials from inventory to construct products and allocate them in the app, but that's proving to be difficult. We had planned for there to be a tablet (signed in as an operator) in each inventory room. The Tasks would be a list of products. When operators go into the inventory room they could click on the product (task) they were constructing, and then add the materials/ingredients they were pulling.
I realize that the ideal method would be for we (the office folk) to make this material list before hand, except we don't always know what the operators use because each product is customized. And there are so many materials used in each product that it would be impossible for us to get it right. So our thinking that there must be a way for operators to specify what they use.
This is the problem. Once operators add a material to the products (tasks) ingredient list, they can't edit the quantity that they're pulling, or delete it to try again.
Is there a way within Katana that operators (people on the floor actually building our products) to be able to specify what they're using, how much, and for which product, in the app? How do other businesses that create custom products allocate which materials go into which product without needing someone trained with Katana to walk around to each products and count what was used? And if Katana can't do something like this at the moment, are there any integrations we can use with Katana? We still like all of the other features.
Sorry for the long question. I hope it makes sense and if not I can answer any questions. Thank you!
-Ryan
Hi Ryan,
Thanks for the question - I understand where you are coming from and it sounds like you are referring to floor-level pick lists functionality which would enable operators to take items from inventory when they are going from the storage to the shop floor.
At the moment, this functionality which would be considered a floor level inventory control feature and hasn't fully been built but would be something likely on our roadmap.
Current floor functionality allows operators to choose what they consume in the manufacturing process based on the materials required for production in the MO.
Custom make to order manufacturers normally need to edit the specifics of the manufacturing order prior to release to production floor, and this would require a Katana back office user to facilitate that workflow, so that the material list is up to date when the Operator pulls materials from inventory.
In the future please feel free to ask these types of questions inside of the Katana app so our customer consultancy teams can guide you best. They will be more than happy to document your use-case and also share it with our internal teams for feedback as well. Cheers!
We're in the process of implementing Katana and would like to utilize the barcoding feature. We are planning to have some sort of tablet and scanner in our inventory rooms, but are wondering which device works well, specifically the type of tablet and scanner. Any recommendations would be much appreciated!
Hi Ryan,
Any USB or Bluetooth scanner will do nicely. Usually, the best choices tend to be in the €/$ 80-150 price range. The scanner brand ‘Datalogic’ is a safe choice as an example.
A fancy scanner is not required with Katana (a scanner that looks more like a smartphone with its own screen and software), as we don't support these smart scanners currently.
Our team here is using a corded Zebra DS2208 scanner specifically for testing, but any similar model with Bluetooth can be even more usable with a tablet.
For tablets we would suggest something with screen size more than 9 inches in diameter and sufficient performance. Anything from Samsung and Apple is good, but also other manufacturers if it’s new and not on the cheap end will be fine.
For futureproofing we recommend latest models, there you can be sure that all the software updates are available for multiple years, so no foreseeable need to change the tablet.
As an additional tip, if you'd like to futureproof even more we suggest getting a scanner that can handle QR codes as well. Barcodes in Katana are 1D, but one day whatever you’re scanning might use QR codes (2D) — which are becoming increasingly common. Such a scanner will read all regular barcodes, but also QR when/if needed.
Hope that helps!
