For small businesses, little is as important as inventory. Those goods represent all of the time, effort, and money that went into creating your company and keeping it afloat. While keeping track of inventory in person is already a difficult task, trying to manage and protect it when shipping the goods across the country is even harder.
Luckily for you, modern technology has made protecting your inventory while shipping easier than it ever has been in history. No longer are businesses like the East India Trading Company, sending goods across the Atlantic Ocean and not hearing about the delivery until a year later. If you play your cards right, you will know the entire journey of your goods in real-time and can protect them even while separated.
This can be done by following a couple of simple steps.
1. Store inventory Goods in a Safe Place
The first thing you should do is never ship your goods to a location or warehouse that you do not trust. Small businesses have many options for the transport companies they hire and which buildings they choose to keep their goods in. Instead of letting your inventory be dropped off at a ramshackle shed, you can choose to research warehouses and pick one with high security, climate control, and paper trails.
Companies like American Manufacturing Solutions attempt to create the most secure environment possible knowing it will generate more business. This puts you at an advantage since businesses are competing for your patronage and will make better security systems to try to attract you to their doors. We, for example, currently have two warehouses with digital security and passes required.
2. Make a Paper Trail
Another way to protect inventory is by keeping a clear record of how many goods you shipped, their worth, their weight, and who handled them. Demand updates every step of the way. Who transported the goods? Who did they deliver them to? Which warehouses were they stored in?
If something goes wrong, having the trail makes it easier to see what went wrong and what can be changed in the future.
3. Be Clear About Organization and Labeling your Inventory
A smaller, final step you can take to protect inventory is having a clear system in place for organization and labeling. The simplest way to stop goods from being lost or stolen, besides having records, is keeping your product labeled and organized. Ensure nothing gets lost by having everything weighed and properly marked.
While things can still happen, at least you will have your records and proof of your inventory’s existence if something goes wrong.
4. Find the Right People
A significant portion of running a business is finding reliable partners that you can trust. If you are concerned about who is handling your inventory, make connections with transporters and warehouses. A company like American Manufacturing Solutions offers extra security and paper trails and is glad to make connections to facilitate business and better care for inventory while shipping, contact us today and we’ll help you get started down the right road.
