Follow the steps in the video below to deduct items from inventory when you scan them on the shop floor. When manufacturing products, you want more than just time tracking. Standard Time® is primarily a time tracking product. But if you’re working with inventory or bill of materials, you’ll also want to scan them.
The steps in this video will help deduct items from inventory when you scan inventory items or BOM’s.
Add or subtract from inventory
It turns out that you can add inventory items back into stock. Let’s say you receive items on your receiving dock, and want to put them into stock. Or, you pull too many items for a pick list and don’t use them, and want to put them back into stock. In any case, you can scan a special barcode that adds to the “Quantity in stock” for any inventory or BOM.
BOM’s don’t have Quantity in stock
True. BOM’s don’t have quantities. Instead, each item on the BOM list has a quantity used for the bill of materials. When you scan a BOM, you are adding or subtracting all the inventory items on the list. And, you the quantity in stock is adjusted by the quantity on the BOM for each item.
For example, if you use 35 screws on a BOM, and you scan the BOM name, you are subtracting all 35 screws from inventory.
Automate the shop floor by reordering inventory automatically using barcodes. Standard Time® is a time tracking app. Employees can start timers with barcode scans. But they can also add and subtract from inventory with barcodes too. Just scan an inventory item, and the quantity in stock is deducted. (scroll down for a video)
Wonderful! But what’s all this stuff about automatically reordering inventory?
It turns out that after the quantity in stock is deducted, the software can automatically reorder or replenish using special scripts. A script is kicked off when the quantity in stock drops below the reorder quantity. In other words, there a level at which an inventory item should be reordered. And when the quantity in stock drops below it, a script is run that can perform that reordering task.
How to reorder parts with scripts
There are a lot of ways a script could reorder parts. It could simply send an email to a buyer (which is still sort of a manual process). Or, it could automatically contact a website and perform the actual purchase without any human intervention. The script could be given access to an order website, complete with login credentials, and be authorized to make automated purchases. Other methods of automated purchases might include database scripts or inserting database records. All these are in the realm of possibility for automated scripts.
Scanning BOM’s reduces quantities for all inventory items on the list
Not only can you scan individual inventory items, you can also scan a Bill of Materials (BOM). And when you do, all the inventory items on the BOM list are deducted. A BOM may use large numbers of each inventory item. When the BOM is scanned, those large quantities are all subtracted from inventory. For instance, a BOM may use fifty screws. Scanning the BOM would reduce inventory for the screws by fifty, but by scanning once.
Reorder verses Replenish
Some inventory items are not reordered; they are built in your own manufacturing shop. You might refer to this as replenishing inventory rather than reordering. But the same principles hold true when running automated scripts for inventory. A script could create a new work order that requests a certain number of items be manufactured. The script is run when inventory falls below a certain level, the work order is automatically created and sent to the shop floor. Workers fulfill the work order quantity, and scan the new items back into stock.
Scanning new items back into stock
Inventory can also be added to stock, not just deducted from it. There are special barcodes, as shown in the video below that instruct the software to add items back into stock. Once your parts arrive at the receiving dock, or are manufactured on your own shop floor, they can be scanned back into stock using special “ADD” barcodes.
Barcode scanners start at $20. Get a copy of Standard Time® and a twenty dollar barcode scanner, and you’ll immediately see the status of your jobs on the shop floor.
Right now, you’re probably yelling status across the shop floor, writing instructions on post-it notes, retyping hours into payroll, and only guessing how long your jobs take.
This little video may inspire you to try a better way. Watch the video, and then go here to give this a try.