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Ordering with ProffittCenter introduces a number of unique ideas to generate orders with an uncanny intelligence. After using the system for some time, one really begins to believe that the system knows best. Before that time, there is ample opportunity to modify and adapt generated orders, so you never loose control. The first innovation is the estimation of the stock level required. It is best to think of this with the aid of a concrete example. I will base one on my own experience; collecting goods from Booker Cash & Carry, three times a week. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, and also, occasionally, on Saturday morning. Sunday was our busiest day of the week. Clearly, a fixed level for re-ordering a product might have worked, but it would be sub-optimal. The best answer has to be to look at the past sales record to determine future requirements. The way this is done is explained here. Consider going to Bookers on a Wednesday. The program knows the stock level when generating the order, and the day when fresh stock will be fetched (Friday), after this order is collected. It needs to calculate the number that might be sold between Wednesday morning and Friday morning, and to order a fresh case if this exceeds the number in stock. The best estimate of this number to be sold is obtained by looking at how many were sold in the same time period during the previous week. As this might have been exceptional, the number sold in the same time period two and three weeks before is also calculated, and the worst case (the maximum) selected. This alone would not have any predictive qualities, so in addition to this, three weeks from the previous year are selected, centred on the current time period, but sticking to the same days of the week. As a result of this, items that are seasonal will magically be re-ordered in time. The second innovation is the integration or stock-checking with the ordering process. It was found in practice that a major reason for errors in orders was errors in stock levels. The worst of these is when a case has not been entered into the system on the previous delivery. In this situation, a second case would be collected, which is not only needlessly expensive, but creates shelf-life problems. To avoid this, each time an order is created, the stock levels of all ordered items should be counted. These levels can be corrected on the order form, and if necessary, the item can be deleted, or a fresh order generated with the corrected values. This has an added benefit in that the levels of stock for items that are ordered are generally low so that counting can be done quickly, and accurately. Once the levels are checked, the stock levels are time stamped, and so will not be included in the next regular stock take, so no additional time is taken. The third innovation is the calculation of yield, or return on capital invested (roci). No other EPOS system that we know of will provide this vital figure. Yield is the effective return on investment obtained by investing in a particular line of stock. If you are ever in the position of being limited with the amount of cash that you can invest in stock, then common sense dictates that it should be invested in stock with the highest yield. This can be easily done with ProffittCenter. The fourth innovation is the calculation of a sell by date. This allows for the rejection of any stock at a cash and carry that will not be sold completely by it's expire date (sell by or use by date in UK). This has all been explained with just one example. The process is just as applicable to daily milk deliveries, or monthly biscuit orders. Set up the supplier defaults correctly, and all situations are dealt with correctly. Understanding the ordering system is more complicated than with other systems, but is no more complicated to use once defaults have been correctly set up. So persevere and you business will benefit greatly. [Previous] [Main] [Next] |
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