Inventory Success: 4 Steps to Optimize Your Supply Chain

A wise VP of Operations once told me that the primary reason someone in his position loses his job boils down to one thing – Inventory. Blame gets placed by having either too much or too little inventory. Too much inventory will tie up cash and could result in partial or total write-offs if the material needs to be scrapped or liquidated at fire sale prices. Too little inventory may result in lost or delayed sales which will have a detrimental effect on a company’s cash flow.

Maintaining the optimal inventory levels is a complex problem. This is particularly true for manufacturing companies that need to procure components and assemblies to create a finished product. You may have an assembly that includes 100 components in the Bill of Materials (BOM). When one of those components is missing, building and selling products are stalled.

A Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) module can help an operations team figure out what items need to be ordered, and when so the needed material comes in at the optimal time; not too early and not too late. Kechie™ ERP has a module that can configure and manage this process with ease. Kechie’s MRP module performs the needed calculations in the computer that would be onerous and mistake prone for a human to do.

1. The first piece starts with a BOM that is created for each individual item a company wants to sell. The BOM will specify all the components that are needed to build the item. In some cases, the same component can be used many different BOMs and in others a particular component may only be used in one BOM.
2. The second piece needed is data on the expected sales volume for each item. This data could include current backlog, as well as additional data reflecting expected new customer orders. The data needs to include the number of pieces needed by a specific time frame. Many items will have recurring sales volumes month after month – you may not want to purchase immediately all of the requirements for the next 12 months. An MRP system can provide you with the visibility you need to split up the procurement of a component into multiple pieces so you don’t have too much inventory all at once.
3. The third piece needed is data on the vendors as well as the vendor’s lead time. This can help provide guidance on when a company needs to place the order for component in order to receive it on time.
4. The final piece is data on your own manufacturing cycle time. If it takes you a certain number of weeks to manufacturing an item, you will need to add that to the component lead time so that you will have enough time to order the component, build the finished good and ship it out by the customer request date.

With all this data, the MRP system will grind through the calculations and provide the operations team with guidance on what components to order and by when. For companies with a large number of items for sale and with items that may have hundreds of components in their BOM, this could require thousands of calculations. By having the speed and precision of a computer program doing this, accuracy and time savings are delivered. An added advantage is this capability will add to your flexibility and significantly improve your response time for changing conditions. If a new order comes in, or a BOM is changed, or a vendor changes lead times, it is easy to rerun the MRP module to calculate the new requirements and get the answer back quickly.

So a good MRP capability can substantially improve your company’s efficiency and sales level with the right amount of inventory at the right time. This module is an example of My Office Apps commitment to incorporate innovative features using smart algorithms and A.I. technology in our Kechie™ ERP solution to help make our companies more efficient and profitable. Our goal is to provide the best solutions for small and medium-sized businesses using the latest techniques in order to contribute to the success of our customers. For more information, you can visit www.myofficeapps.com or better yet, call us at (949) 486-1947 and ask us to schedule a demo so we can show how we can help solve your business issues you face, both today and tomorrow.

Laundry Between Emails: Making the Most of the Coronavirus Pandemic

The Coronavirus is putting remote work to a gigantic test, and at a totally unprecedented scale. While China, Italy, Japan and South Korea are on lock-down, the same thing is happening at large and small companies in the states. Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft and Google all told employees they are to remain at home and Human Resource departments everywhere are making contingency plans for their workers.

The decision to shift thousands of workers to a telecommuting work schedule could also be an experiment that’s teaching companies a lot about how well they function when they’re not all together. Remote working, or the practice of working for an extended period outside the formal office, is growing steadily in popularity. It is enabled by a whole host of digital tools of virtually every description, from Web conferencing and email to mobile collaboration applications and virtual event platforms.

As the government urges social isolation to reduce the spread of the Coronavirus, Software as a Service (SaaS) business models continue to gain more traction across the globe. Companies of all sizes are now embracing SaaS as the next best alternative to the on-premise hardware and software development.

Companies using cloud-based apps with the SaaS business model are increasing in number. At My Office Apps, Inc., we have designed and developed a transformative business tool with Kechie™. Kechie is a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning Software as a Service (SaaS) platform with a simplified user experience and the latest in cloud technology. Kechie users have a step-up on their competition during this pandemic. Here’s why …

1. Cloud-based System: Kechie employs a cloud-based system that is accessible over a secured internet connection. The software itself runs on a remote server platform that is accessible 24/7 with any internet-capable device from home or office.
2. Flexibility and Scalability: As a business owner, adjusting to changes in the business and other external factors is critical. Thanks to our subscription-based licensing, Kechie is flexible, scalable and rises up to meet you where you need it.
3. Ease of Use and Speed: With Kechie, the cloud applications deploy faster. The growth in high-speed data lines, the falling cost of storage, the advent of wireless high-speed networks, the proliferation of handheld devices that can access the web – eases access to your data from anywhere.
4. Performance and Time Management: Application and network performance is top concern. Kechie employs the philosophy that in every aspect of your business processes, you are managing time, money and information to grow your business. Kechie can help improve performance because it addresses an expected range of availability and performance.

“If you’re a decision maker at your company, even in an area without confirmed cases of the Coronavirus, please take all steps you can to help prevent the spread of this,” says Mariam Komeili, CEO of My Office Apps, Inc. “Even if your team is in a relatively low-risk demographic range, their families, neighbors and community members won’t all be.”

The health and safety of our partners has always been a top priority and continues to be as this virus has become a rapidly evolving situation that we continue to monitor. However, all kinds of studies show that when employees work at home four to five days a month, you get a full days’ worth of productivity back. Let us know when we can schedule a Kechie demo for you … and please take care of yourselves, follow all the guidelines, and do your best to remain healthy.

About My Office Apps, Inc.

My Office Apps, Inc. (MOA) is a leader in business improvement software solutions to automate your organization. Building on three decades of software design and development, MOA delivers Kechie™, a transformative business tool. Kechie is a fully integrated Enterprise Resource Planning Software as a Service (SaaS) platform with a simplified user experience and the latest in cloud technology. It is quick and easy to implement without the expensive price tag. Sold in separate packages – inventory and warehouse management (CRM, Sales, Procurement, Logistics included), manufacturing, finance – or a fully configured ERP system to include all of these individual tools. Kechie is easily configured to the scalable needs of your growing business. For more information on managing your business processes more efficiently and effectively, visit www.myofficeapps.com.

###