Warehouse and Inventory Management in Central America

Today, an operation that encompasses warehouse and inventory management in Central America should be viewed as a profit center in which a series of related processes are executed.  These activities can range from planning, receiving and storing, to light assembly, product delivery and inventory control. 

Adequate investment is needed for effective warehouse and inventory management in Central America

In a warehouse, in addition to inventories, adequate investments should be made in facilities, human resources, and technology for the purpose of maintaining and handling materials in the most effective way possible. 

It is in the context of warehouse and inventory management in Central America that the treatment and use of information, which guides the flow and storage of materials, is vital to making such facilities successful. 

Management can choose whether to keep the functions of managing warehouses and inventories in-house by automating its operations with costly technological systems and solutions, or it can choose to outsource this function to a third-party service provider such as the Central American Group’s member company, Loginter.  Loginter provides timely, flexible, reliable, and competitive service, and has the technological capabilities in place to perform all required functions. 

The Central American Group’s member company, Loginter, provides solutions

Loginter works with the clients of its solutions for warehouse and inventory management in Central America to avoid negative scenarios such as:

• Frequent depletion of stock;
  
  
• Investment of too much capital in frozen stock;
  
  
• High storage costs;

• Loss of sales due to a lack of adequate stock;
  
  
• Retention of obsolete, duplicate, and deteriorated stock.

The Central American Group, through its member company, Loginter, works with firms that are doing business in the region to solve the problems that often affect warehouse and inventory management in Central America. 

Because each of the Loginter’s clients faces a different set of circumstances and challenges, the company’s staff of supply chain professionals works with each individual customer to identify problems and to maximize conditions that bring about their efficient resolution.

One important key to successful warehouse and inventory management in Central America is to have effective and reliable demand forecasts.  Remember that the sales budget is the starting point of the entire customer services process and also affects not only the results in the area of sales but also those of production, logistics, and finance among others.  In essence, an effective and reliable demand forecast is critical to the success of the business as a whole. 

After studying demand behavior, the characteristics of products that are being handled should be analyzed in order to determine the level of stock that will be required to be available.  Possession of this information will enable a company that is involved in warehouse and inventory management in Central America to determine the most suitable design and organization for the facility.  Good design and the use of appropriate technology will prevent over and understocking the warehouse.

In order to improve warehouse productivity, management must take measures to make the most of the resources that are available to and between existing facilities.  One way of ensuring this is to calculate required storage capacity by estimating the rate of turnover of products. This will depend upon the greater or lesser flexibility of the sourcing and production processes. 

As regards adequate and optimized sourcing, it will be necessary to work with reliable suppliers that are willing to collaborate in the delivery of orders that can be adjusted in order to meet actual demand. 

Concerning production, flexible systems must be put into place that are capable of providing small batches.  This will result in a reduction in the coverage rate of the products and, therefore, will create a greater turnover of inventory.

When contemplating warehouse and inventory management in Central America, it is important to note that the capacity of a warehouse is measured by the physical storage units that it is able to keep within its facilities.  The physical storage unit can be a product such as a television, a set of products gathered in a single package such as ten-unit boxes, a pallet that houses several products, or also containers, barrels or drums. 

Considering the sales budget ratio and product rotation, the next step will be to determine the number of boxes, packages, pallets, or containers that will be needed to store the products.  It should be noted, however, that the calculation of the required storage capacity should not exceed 90% of the storage area that is available.