Spare Parts Inventory Management Software: The Future of Parts Inventory

• By Prat Gupta
• 23-01-2024
• Software

Introduction

How often has it happened that you are simply not able to locate crucial spare parts you need the most on time?

And how many times have you ended up feeling highly frustrated due to unnecessary equipment downtime?

If you have faced the aforementioned situations more often than not, you need to fix your poor spare parts inventory management system.

How to do it? It’s simple.

Invest in on-demand spare parts inventory management software that gives you complete visibility and control over your inventory, which further enables you to save time, increase productivity, and reduce maintenance costs.

That said, it’s not that straightforward of a task to choose the best parts inventory software when you don’t know which one is the right solution for your business.

How to make an ill-informed decision when there are so many options to choose from?

Relax. We’ve done the heavy work for you.

This blog provides you with valuable information on the importance of next-gen spare parts inventory management software for field service businesses and how you can choose the right one.

Alright. Here we go!

What is Spare Parts Inventory Management?

Spare parts inventory management is the process of procuring, organizing & storing, tracking, issuing, and managing a wide range of spare parts used in a business. Some specific aspects of the process include identifying and determining the replenishment of certain spare parts in precise quantities, at the definitive time, to ensure operational efficiency.

Stat Fact: Approximately 34% of businesses struggle with unavailable products and delayed shipments.

What to Expect from a Parts Inventory Management Software?

Imagine one of your crucial machines breaking down, bringing an entire operational procedure to a halt, and you are not able to find the required replacement parts in time.

Cannot get more agonizing than this!

Now imagine the same scenario but with a different equation. Your machinery breaks down and you use your mobile device to get information on the location and availability of required spare parts, and you can fetch it without any delay. So, you get to save downtime and loss of productivity.

This is one of the many functions that you can perform by using an easy-to-use parts inventory management software.

Let’s get a peek into some noticeable benefits of this software.

• Inventory accuracy. Smart parts inventory management software helps you prevent tricky situations like spare parts running out of stock and overstocking of certain parts. In other words, the software allows you to maintain just the right amount of inventory that is required.
• Accurate expense tracking. Investing in a parts inventory management system can help you create automated financial reports that provide real-time visibility into crucial details such as total sales, taxes, maintenance cost, real-time inventory values and much more. Having easy access to such figures helps you make informed business decisions that eventually benefit your company in the long run.
• Accurate stock count. Nothing is more important for businesses than an accurate stock count as it helps them determine the right quantities of future orders to be placed. This feature prevents over/understocking of spare parts and you know exactly what parts you require, when, and in what quantities.
• Reduced wastage of spare parts. Using the parts usage information available on your device, you can identify and categorize parts as “most used”, “rarely used” and “never used.” This information helps you finalize your replenishment requirements and discontinue parts never used.
• Improved customer satisfaction. Achieving high customer satisfaction is quintessential to any business’s survival and growth in today’s competitive market environment. Parts inventory management helps you improve customer experience and satisfaction as you can provide accurate information on the availability of spare parts, which leaves a good impression on your customers.
• Better equipment uptime. One of the main catalysts of better productivity and efficiency? It’s equipment uptime. With all your inventory parts stocked up and replacement parts readily available, you experience a seamless operational flow that drives business growth. Parts inventory management software reduces downtime while paving the way for maximum uptime, which can convert potential losses into profitable uptime.

Stat Fact: By addressing overstocking and understocking, businesses can achieve a 10% reduction in inventory costs.

How To Optimize Parts Inventory Management Process

Do you know that merely using a top-rated inventory management application won’t deliver the desired results if you fail to do basic things right? You must optimize your spare parts inventory management process so that the software solution can further enhance operational efficiency.

Here are some tried and tested ways to do it.

• Correct labeling. The first and the most essential step towards good inventory management is correct labeling. You don’t want your employees to stay confused and spend precious work time locating required parts just because the labeling was incorrect. Incorrect labeling of critical parts can also lead to substantial equipment downtime.
• Make a standard workflow. A proper workflow must be created and practiced by all team members to ensure well-organized and seamless inventory management. The entire process should have well-defined steps and a chronology of events.
• Employee training. Train your employees about the nuisances of parts inventory management and how to tackle different stressful situations that may arise. This will not only widen their knowledge but also improve efficiency at work.
• Achieve balanced inventory stock. Another crucial aspect of inventory management is maintaining a balanced inventory stock which is easier said than done and many businesses often struggle with. The sawtooth diagram, when well understood, can help you get the hang of your inventory activity and take stock of its exhaustion and replenishment over some time.

6 Tips to Choose the “Right” Parts Inventory Management Software

Significant benefits of using spare parts management software apart, it’s crucial to choose the “right” platform that meets your business requirements. If you think you will get results through a random choice, the chances of failure are as likely as that of success.

However, by carefully thinking, you can make the right decision to turn the tide in your favor.

Here are a few tips that will help you when choosing the best parts inventory management software.

1. 360-degree inventory visibility

Any good inventory management software should be able to provide 360-degree real-time parts inventory information to users across multiple devices. Make sure that your chosen SaaS platform offers this feature, which makes it easy for your field technicians, managers, and backend office staff to easily locate any part stored within a warehouse or a vehicle.

2. Inventory balance optimization

Achieving optimal inventory balance is not easy when you rely on manual inventory management. It’s easy to overstock or understock spare parts due to mismanagement and inaccurate inventory prediction. Inventory balance optimization utilizes Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to calculate the right number of inventory to store in your warehouse.

3. Check and compare different options

Don’t just buy the first spare parts inventory management software solution just because it markets itself as the “best.” Remember, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, so it’s important to evaluate different inventory management software solutions. This will help you know which software offers the best value for money while aligning with your business goals.

4. Go For a cloud-based parts inventory management system

Always go for a cloud-based parts inventory management software platform that offers easy accessibility to all your crucial data without costing a fortune. Choosing a SaaS platform for inventory management and control is not only cost-effective and easily accessible but also easy to use as there’s no need to download and install. You can use the software straightway.

5. A great customer onboarding program

One thing that makes a leading parts inventory management software stand out from others is a smooth, hassle-free customer onboarding process. You would need a software provider that offers excellent customer support service in deploying, testing, and maintaining the SaaS platform.

6. Cost

For most businesses, budget plays a crucial role in determining what parts of inventory management they will invest in. You don’t want to pay extra for features that your team does not need, right? You must set your budget first and then look for options within your reach.

Top 7 Spare Parts Inventory Management Software Worth Your Consideration

We have conducted in-depth research on different parts inventory management platforms available today, tried them for their functionality and usability, and narrowed down to five SaaS solutions that stand above others in terms of features and value of money offered.

1. Facilio

Facilio is a property operations & maintenance (O&M) platform that smoothly integrates inventory with work orders, which further ensures that the availability of stocks is directly related to the successful completion of preventive maintenance programs, or on-demand work orders. Facilio automatically resets inventory levels and technicians can raise inventory requests easily from a mobile app.

Main features include:

• Work order management
• Inventory management
• Remote multi-site monitoring
• Fault detection and diagnostics
• Asset management
• Inspections

Pricing: Contact vendor for pricing

2. eMaint CMMS

eMaint CMMS is considered one of the finest software solutions for manufacturers due to its ability to track assets, optimize inventory, and implement preventive maintenance programs. These intelligent features help manufacturers to minimize parts maintenance costs. eMaint has an intuitive, user-friendly interface, which allows managers and their teams to access real-time parts inventory information.

Main features include:

• Preventive maintenance
• Work order maintenance
• Mobile CMMS
• Integrations
• Regulatory compliance

Pricing: The pricing plans start from $69 per user, per month and there’s also an option for a custom price plan, depending on your unique requirements.

3. FieldEquip

FieldEquip is an on-demand field service management SaaS platform that helps businesses across various industries achieve comprehensive digital transformation through a suite of innovative features, including but not limited to parts inventory management software. The software easily integrates with ERP software and provides complete visibility on all parts inventory on a single platform, which saves time, reduces operational costs, and easily locates the required parts stored in a warehouse or parts inventory vehicle.

Main features include:

• 360-degree inventory visibility
• Automatically purchase order generation
• User-friendly mobile app
• Real-time reports
• Automatic alerts
• Parts location tracking

Pricing: Contact vendor for pricing quote.

4. Fishbowl Inventory

Specially designed for growing businesses, Fishbowl Inventory is a customizable software that allows users to customize interfaces to ease navigation further and manage parts inventory management. You can use custom reports to calculate any rush or decline in demand or supplier performance. This scalable parts inventory management software easily integrates with Quickbooks and offers an intuitive experience to users.

Main features include:

• Add and Track parts
• Easy purchase order generation
• Reporting options
• Quickbooks integration
• Customizations

Pricing: Contact the vendor for a custom pricing quote.

5. Zoho Inventory

One of the most widely used spare parts inventory management software, Zoho Inventory offers a suite of advanced features on a single platform. Businesses looking for a cost-effective parts inventory platform can use Zoho Inventory to automate different workflow processes to improve efficiency and bring much-needed organization to spare parts inventory management.

Main features include:

• Item, customer, and vendor management
• Multichannel sales
• Build vendor relations
• Integrations
• Barcode scanning
• Reporting and Analytics

Pricing: The Pricing plans start from $29 per organization, per month and end at $249 per organization, per month.

6. Katana

Katana’s live inventory management software is designed for small and medium-sized businesses and gives businesses comprehensive control over their inventory management with accurate details of raw stock, work-in-progress, and finished goods. This automated software solution enables you to track your inventory movement and adjust workflows accordingly.

Main features include:

• Multichannel sales and production management
• Complete traceability
• SKU management
• Multi locations and Integrations
• SKU management

Pricing: The pricing plans start from $99 per month when billed annually and end at $799 per month when billed annually. Custom pricing is also available.

7. Ordoro

Ordoro is counted as one of the most user-friendly spare parts inventory management software available today especially designed for scaling e-commerce retailers. The software equips you with all the tools required to compete with bigger e-commerce giants. You can integrate different sales channels to enhance your fulfillment workflows with the help of several useful features built into the app. You can get started for free with this software.

Main features include:

• Handling dropshipping inventory
• Shipping management
• Advanced analytics
• Open API
• Omnichannel inventory management

Pricing: The pricing plans start from $59 per month to $149 per month.

The Final Word

Using a feature-rich and scalable parts inventory management software solution has become imperative in the complex inventory management landscape. As businesses strive for more efficiency and optimal resource utilization, achieving this goal without incorporating technology is next to impossible.

Using a top-rated parts inventory management platform can help businesses easily manage their inventory while ensuring maximum equipment uptime and preventing overstocking/understocking of spare parts.

We hope this blog will help you make an informed decision to take your inventory management to the next level. Thank you.