Inventory/Stock Control

Inventory is a liability.

It costs money to keep stock on the shelves due to storage requirements, future change of requirements, loss of stock, stock handling etc.

Keeping stock on the shelves is often necessary, especially for long lead items.

The aim however, is to keep the stock amount optimized for the works.

This is possible if the inventory system allows booking items ahead of time.

Typical data requirements for inventory items include:

• Lead time
• Minimum order quantities
• Allocated and non allocated inventory on hand
• Booking references for allocated inventory
• For non-consumable inventory (e.g. specialist repair equipment), the date(s) the item is booked.

The inventory system should cover all types of materials to be used for works, including:

• Spare parts
• Maintenance materials and resources
• Plant and equipment
• Specialist repair equipment.

These data can be held in information systems and there are many suitable systems on the market.