THE PHANTOM INVENTORY MENACE

In light of the upcoming Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens movie, I’ve shamelessly used a Star Wars reference to garner the attention of readers. I don’t want to alienate Star Trek fans, so maybe a “Beam me up, Scotty.” would be prudent. It could be me, but have you noticed that there does seem to be some animosity between Trekkies and Star Wars fans, I’m not sure why? Is it a Coke-Pepsi thing, Team Edward vs. Team Jacob? Who knows? This Phantom Inventory Menace blog is concerning the customer service stifling, head scratching, expensive on many levels- Phantom Inventory. Phantom Inventory is an expression used to describe inventory that shows up in your ERP software, but doesn’t actually exist. The goal of this blog is to explain why that happens and hopefully give some helpful advice. What causes Phantom Inventory? Replenishment errors I don’t want to spend a lot of time on this one because Sage already has this one covered with The Sage Inventory Advisor. http://na.sage.com/us/sage-inventory-advisor please contact your Sage Partner for more information. A dynamic, graphical projection engine assists in forecasting and planning for future replenishment orders—including listing top under- and overforecasted items for further analysis and action. In addition, Sage Inventory Advisor provides early warning of stockouts, potential stock-outs and surplus orders, as well as critical and detailed information to help optimize inventory. Employee theft According to the United States Chamber of Commerce, 75 percent of employees steal from their workplace and most do it repeatedly. Last year, Security Magazine reported employee theft statistics showing an upward trend. Here’s some statistics- http://www.securitymagazine.com/articles/84347-report-reveals-highest-rate-of-employee-theft-in-5-years Here’s a great blog on how to stop employee theft- https://www.sba.gov/blogs/6-tips-preventing-employee-theft-and-fraud-workplace Here’s a teaser of the blog. Use Pre-Employment Background Checks Wisely Check Candidate References Proactively Communicate Conduct Guidelines Don’t be Afraid to Audit Recognize the Signs Set the Right Management Tone Customer shoplifting In the five minutes it takes to read this, 2,500 items worth $125,000 will disappear from U.S. retailers’ shelves. The gift-buying madness between Thanksgiving and Christmas is a prime time for shoplifters, who are a more diverse and richer coalition than you might expect, but retailers are finding their own creative ways to counter the five-finger discount. Here’s great blog on tips to help eliminate shoplifting. http://retailminded.com/ways-to-avoid-retail-theft/ Here’s a teaser of the blog. Research shows that communicating with your customers decreases theft. Make sure that you are aware of the inventory in your store Install video cameras in your store. The floor plan of your store can increase or decrease your chance for theft. Signage can be used to reinforce security messages. Imperfect inventory audits The data supplied by an inventory audit is most beneficial when inventory counts are performed in a legitimate and constant manner. The accuracy of an inventory count can be increased by performing an on-site audit. It is valuable to install redundant procedures that ensure proper counting for all the types of inventory held by the company. If you reviewed the tips on how to stop employee and customer theft, you noticed that taking inventory stock on a regular basis is recommended. We have a customer who was conducting their year-end physical inventory counts and discovered that their employees had stolen thousands of dollars of merchandise. They are using Sage 500 and purchased The CertiPro Automated Inventory Cycle Count Module and it fixed the problem since they are counting small portions of their inventory daily. Please see my previous blog that gives further explanation http://erpvar.com/blog/bid/108758/dreading-year-end-physical-counts Do you have phantom inventory? How trustworthy is your inventory? If you are a business owner or CFO, COO, this subject is very important to you. Consider customer satisfaction, loss prevention and profitability. These are all serious barriers to a successful business. More CertiPro Demos – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa9W3riBn_FMT9yDbO66RfA Call 323-316-9777 Visit Website – https://certiprosolutions.com Integrates with ACS MultiBin and Sage compatible scanning software. CONTACT US, CALL US 323-316-9777 or EMAIL US at info@certiprosolutions.com if you have questions about Sage 100 and Sage 500 Automating Inventory Cycle Counts. A member of our team will help evaluate your ERP options. Based in Los Angeles, CertiPro Solutions is ready to take on the challenges you face on a day to day basis. We are dedicated to providing not only the best solutions, but the right solutions designed just for your business. CertiPro has certified developers and consultants with years of experience with Sage 100 ERP, Sage 500 ERP, Sage ERP X3 and Sage CRM. We help you by understanding your unique requirements to offer you implementation assistance, training and ongoing support that you need. References Kang, Y. and S. B. Gershwin (2005). Information Inaccuracy in Inventory Systems: Stock Loss and Stockout. IIE Transactions 37: 843-859. Rainey, Clint and Hobbs, Allegra Quote: Citing Sources: http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/topic/shoplifting-2013-12/: para. 1: Dec 8, 2013)]