Ask any warehouse manager about inventory counts and be prepared to see them glaze over as they recall what has to be among the most tedious and mind numbing tasks in the construction trade. Counting is so unpleasant that many companies only do it once a year if at all. For the general contractors and trades that require limited inventory consider yourself lucky and maybe move back to my last post on Social Media… For the HVAC folks, plumbers and other contractors that carry stock I have a quick suggestion that may save you money and the sanity of your warehouse team; invest in bar coding and a couple of inventory scanners to help you cut back on the amount of hand counting that you need to do.

Bar coding and scanning technology has been out there forever so I am always surprised to find how few contractors use it. Before implementing it you need to ensure that you cover off a few technology-related prerequisites

• Ideally your inventory system needs to be able to store bar codes for each item. If it does not it is still possible to scan inventory but you are going to have to add a step in the process to convert the information from the scanner (summarized by bar code) to summarize by product name or number to input into your inventory system.
• Your inventory system needs to either have a scanner option or needs to be able to upload from Excel. Some inventory products (especially if you are using an integrated package) may not offer a scanning option but almost any package will have an upload facility.
• If all your parts are not bar coded by the manufacturer or you want to use your own bar codes then you need the ability to print bar codes. Again, if you are not sure how to do this ask the provider of your inventory system.
• You need to purchase a handheld scanning device (we recommend the MC3000 series from Symbol but there a bunch of other devices out there) and scanning software. For software the best place to start is your inventory software provider but if they do not have anything there are a number of standalone solutions out there that will provide an Excel file that you can upload into inventory.

Assuming that your inventory system provides the above functionality your cost to implement this solution will be minimal. The cost of the scanner guns will likely be a little over $2,000 per device. Software prices range considerably but $500 to $1,000 per device will certainly get you what you need. Your best starting place is your inventory software provider but failing that a hardware provider can suggest a solution that combines hardware and software. Jonas sells scanning devices with a simple scanning software solution that is integrated to our inventory package but that can also run standalone.

Once you have the technology in place getting set up to scan your inventory is fairly straightforward:

• Start by recording the bar codes of your parts in your inventory system.
• If you have small parts (say copper 90’s) that you do not want to bar code individually print your own bar code and put it either in a book of like codes with pictures or on the bin holding the pieces
• When it comes time to count your inventory you need only scan the bar codes and the device will keep a count. For small items scan the bar code from the book or bin, count them by hand and enter the amount into the device.
• If your device is connected to your inventory system you are likely done at this point. If it runs standalone you should have an Excel file that you simply need to upload.

That’s it. The time consuming part of this is getting the bar coding set up but this is a onetime process. I have had clients tell me that implementing scanning software has cut anywhere from 50% to 80% from the time it takes to do a hand count. More importantly, scanning is much more accurate and because it is not nearly as monotonous and time consuming you can count more often. For some construction businesses (again HVAC and Plumbing come top of mind) the working capital associated with inventory can be very high. Counting with the use of scanners combined with effective management of reorder points and can significantly reduce carrying cost and shrinkage and free up some time.