It’s nearly that time of the year again — Black Friday is just around the corner. Last year, Americans spent $6,22 billion in online purchases alone, and experts predict this year’s sales will break all retail records. 

What does all of this mean for manufacturers? In the run-up to Black Friday, you need to optimize inventories to cope with the surge in demand. Here are some of the benefits of using software to track your shop floor inventory. 

1. Keep Clients Happy

Happy clients will increase the chances of more work in the future — it’s that simple. These partners might increase their demands at this time of the year because they want to shift more product units, so you should be prepared with a good inventory management solution.

Managing inventory with a manufacturing execution system (MES) will enable you to track products as they move through your shop floor in the lead-up to Black Friday. You can receive notifications when raw materials are running low or when you need to manufacture more products because of increased demand. 

2. Manage Warehouse Space

With more demand, you might need to order extra raw materials to facilitate your production processes. Then, you will probably need to free up some space in your warehouse to accommodate additional materials and equipment. Inventory management tools will optimize warehouse space for you, so you can focus on other manufacturing tasks. 

Unlike manual stock-checking, MES provides you with the latest real-time metrics so you can manage warehouse space more effectively. Track where materials are located in your warehouse so you can access the items you need more quickly. 

3. Create a Bill of Materials

A Bill of Materials (BoM) is one of the most important documents in manufacturing. It lists all the materials, components, and sub-components you need to expedite production in your organization — and the quantities of each one. 

As you order more materials to cope with Black Friday demand, it’s a good idea to create a new BoM and share this document with supervisors. A good MES will help you create a BoM from scratch in just a few simple steps, and this will increase compliance and traceability on the shop floor.

Are you ready for Black Friday? Optimize your manufacturing processes with the Prodsmart MES Solution and improve inventory management in your organization. Sign up now!