AutoPowerBI Inventory Analysis Improves Profitability With Data-Driven Inventory Management

Profitability for independent HD parts and service companies is driven largely by how well they meet inventory management challenges, including:

• Minimizing stock-outs, which can occur when inventory is out of sync with customer demand, leading to backorders, lost sales, and dissatisfied customers.
• Avoiding excess and obsolete inventory, which ties up capital, decreases turnovers, and erodes profits.
• Avoiding high inventory costs with the wrong mix of inventory items.
• Knowing exactly what’s in inventory: Often, what’s actually on the shelf does not match the on-hand quantity in the existing computer or manual systems in use.
• Being able to locate products in the warehouse: Your personnel may know it’s in the warehouse somewhere, but not exactly where.
• Accurately forecasting future demand: essential for setting correct minimum, maximum, and safety stock levels, and properly serving customers’ needs.

In today’s fast-paced, competitive market, overcoming these challenges is becoming increasingly difficult for distributors who are still using manual processes or outmoded computerized systems for determining what to stock, in what quantity, and when to order.

Fortunately, AutoPower leads HD distributors further into the digital workplace with the power of data. It starts with the comprehensive and proven AutoPower system, which integrates the Inventory Management function with the company’s other essential operations, including Accounting, Warehouse Management, Sales, and Service/Reman. The AutoPower system automatically captures, stores, and correlates data from all these areas of the business.

AutoPowerBI Inventory Analysis adds the dimension of data analytics to this mix, providing dramatically greater inventory insight and control. AutoPowerBI is AutoPower’s cloud-based data analytics and advanced reporting platform designed specifically and exclusively for aftermarket warehouse distributors, heavy-duty service & repair shops, and assembly rebuilders.  AutoPowerBI Inventory Analysis provides instant clarity and key performance indicators on stock quantities, part-level demand, and inventory value across vendors and warehouses. It empowers users to make smarter, more timely decisions in inventory management—to ensure improved efficiency, profitability, and customer satisfaction. 

AutoPowerBI Inventory Analysis incorporates a variety of powerful tools that can help streamline and optimize inventory management. It enables such valuable functions as:

1. Sales forecasting and demand prediction

• Use historical data to predict future sales and stock needs, enhancing the accuracy of your inventory.
• Identify and manage unusual sales, extended stock-outs, single customer-dominated sales, and low sales/year items to avoid large prediction errors.

2. Inventory Planning and Replenishment

• Automate clerical tasks and perform detailed analyses to provide well-planned, profit-based replenishment recommendations.
• Handle the complexities of usage prediction and inventory control to minimize stockouts and optimize stock levels.

3. Order Frequency and Lead Time Optimization

• Manage order frequency, replenishment lead times, prepaid shipping considerations, and embedded holding costs to keep stock levels optimal.

4. Inventory Utilization Optimization

• Implement strategies to optimize inventory utilization, balancing the needs of upstream vendors and downstream customers.
• Leverage inventory to generate new revenue streams and expand profit margins by addressing inefficiencies and optimizing stock placement.

5. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI)

• AutoPower supports VMI through integration with Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), allowing seamless communication between distributors and parts manufacturers.
• This integration enhances the ability to manage inventory levels more efficiently by providing real-time updates and notifications regarding incoming and outgoing transactions.

The ability to know what to do and when to do it is all about having the right information at your fingertips with you need it. You can finally stop wrestling mountains of paper and relying on static information. Most importantly, you can stop waiting weeks to unlock answers. AutoPowerBI Inventory gives you access to accurate, near-real-time information that allows you to make decisions when you need to make them. 

Contact us to schedule a complimentary demo to learn how this powerful strategic system can significantly improve your inventory management, reduce carrying costs, and ultimately increase profitability.