Inventory Management
The Softrader 7 stock system has been perfected over nearly 30 years of use by some of our biggest clients. Though mostly handling industrial equipment for the oil and gas industry it is ideal for any company trading industrial materials due to its focus on traceability. An extensive suite of functionality now exists to help our clients handle all aspects of their stock from stock takes, value uplifts, certification, servicing etc.
Stock System StructureThe structure of the stock system in Softrader 7 is both practical and elegant. It works on 3 levels:
Stock Codes: Each unique stock code contains a standard description, and much more information besides. You may save MESC numbers against it. It could have standard weights. Notes can be added. You can even upload technical drawings which can be produced every time you ship the product to a customer.
Shipment Records: Of course there may be many different shipments of a stock code. The shipments database holds a record of each of these, along with all the information from the incoming stock order.
Location records: For every shipment record, you may need to split the quantities of the shipment across many locations in the warehouse. Similarly, there may have been several different heat numbers on the shipment. The locations database is where all this detail comes in. Sales orders allocate directly against these location records, allowing you to choose in detail exactly what item is shipped to your customer. - Stock Coding SystemSoftrader 7 has a coding system unique to our software that allows your staff to build extensive or simple item descriptions and codes for pre existing lists that can be managed easily:
You begin with the ‘Group Menu’. This is the first click your users make when coding a product. Perhaps they would choose from ‘Pipe’, ‘Fittings’, ‘Valves’. From that point on, the system will offer them a menu to fill a particular part of the specification for the product. For example, the valve menu may take you through the following options: Valve Type > Body Material > Trim Material > Bore Size > Ends. In this way, the system builds up a unique stock code and stock description for your product which can then be traced on it’s way through your system, from enquiry, to quotation, to stock holding, to shipping and eventually to invoicing.
The beauty of this system is that you can report on stock items along with traded items that you never brought in to stock.
- Warehouse And Location ManagementIn Softrader 7, every stock item has a location in the warehouse or warehouses. Each unique combination of shipment, location, heat number and certificate number is identifiable to an exact point in the warehouse. Of course from this information it’s corresponding certificates can be found, and even any documentation relating to the original incoming shipment job.
When your staff produce a pick list, it provides them with all the information about where to find the product. It can even draw them a map of your warehouse showing exactly where the particular item is located.
- Consigned StockIf you are storing stock at your customers’ premises you can create a consigned stock warehouse, this allows you to limit the sale of that stock to a particular customer or customers. You can then report on stock movements and stock quantities and values in that warehouse. Existing stock can be relocated to a consigned warehouse using a ‘Stock Relocation’ job. This allows you to produce documentation for the move of the stock.
- Stock ReportingWhether it be a detailed Movement Report, or a report of all the stock in the warehouse, Softrader's detailed stock reporting capabilities will mean you are always on top of your stock's value, it's age, and what needs reordering in time for you never to run low.
Stock location reporting allows you a detailed overview of every individual location in the warehouse and what it contains. The value, age and quantity of each item you hold can be found from this report. Like all the other reports in Softrader it is hugely customisable and can also be automated. Of course it can also be downloaded as a spreadsheet.
The Stock Movement Report tells you about every time the quantities in the system change. Whether it be a sale, a purchase, or even a stock take or manual amendment, all the details can be found in this report.
Because of the details stored in the stock movements, Softrader 7can also achieve accurate, to the minute, historic stock valuations. Every change being recorded means that you can look back in time to a specific point in the past, and see exactly what your stock holding was.
- Stock TakesThe Softrader 7 stock take system was designed with practicality and ease of use paramount. It usually works based on a count of location records though you can also search the stock by product code if you wish. Most of our clients break the task down into sections by location record and perform it gradually, making regular rolling stock takes easier.
Once the range of locations is chosen, the system moves from ‘selection mode’ to ‘count mode’. Counts sheets are printed (or the data presented on a handheld, see below), with or without existing quantities, and your staff can begin the count.
Once the count has been entered back into the system either manually or using a handheld (see below) you produce a ‘Stock Take Report’ breaking down the quantity and cost changes. The changes are of course held as stock movements making it easy to report on the changes in the future.
Every stock take you do is saved in the system with its own reference number. It can be looked at again, and the Stock Take Report reprinted at any time.
- Stock Management On Handheld DevicesMobile tech is more accessible than ever not just to our cloud clients but to clients using the server based Softrader 7 system as well. Using the Softrader Handhelds Module warehouse staff manage the stock on the move without needing to go back into the office to inout data. Barcodes against stock locations mean that anything from Picking, to Stock Relocation, to Stock Takes can be done without the need for them to return to the office. The handhelds system is hugely valuable to getting the best efficiency out of your warehouse staff.
- Heat Numbers, Test Certificates And TraceabilityEvery item in the warehouse is assigned heat / cast and certificate numbers when it comes into stock. If you upload PDF files of the certificates into Softrader, you can produce them (or any other related documentation) at the click of a button. You can even email these documents to your client as soon as the delivery note is produced.
Client logins can also be provided. These allow your customers to log in to Softrader and download their certs for themselves.
