5 signs it might be time to rethink the way you manage feed inventory
It’s no secret feed and commodity purchases make up a big portion of a dairy’s expense sheet. Still, in many cases, managing them involves stacks of paper tickets, formula-heavy spreadsheets, back-and-forth communication and manual data entry. While these processes work, they often add extra time and labor and create more room for error.
If any of these scenarios sound familiar, there may be an opportunity to improve the way inventory moves through your operation.
1) You’re still collecting paper tickets
Have you ever misplaced a delivery slip, or discovered the rain got the best of it before the delivery made its way into your inventory records? While paper tickets have served dairy operations well for years, advancements in technology now make it easier than ever to keep deliveries accounted for.
Systems like WeighComp capture a digital record of every load the moment it crosses your truck scale. Sold corn silage to a neighbor? Noted. Received a delivery from the feed mill? Got it. Harvesting corn? It’s all captured.
For most dairies, automating inventory tracking will not only give you peace of mind knowing everything is being recorded, but it will also help make more informed purchasing decisions.
2) The same information passes through multiple hands
A common workflow on many operations is; one employee collects the tickets, another enters the data and someone else reconciles inventory transactions at the end of the month.
While each step is important, every additional touchpoint creates another opportunity for error. In other words, the more manual your processes, the more time your team spends on something that could be automated the moment the load enters your driveway.
3) You have no way of quickly verifying deliveries and shipments
Using your current inventory tracking system, how long does it take you to answer these questions?
When was the last load delivered?
How much was delivered?
How much inventory is currently on hand?
How much is left in our contract?
If finding the answers requires digging through stacks of paperwork or sifting through spreadsheets to piece together information, your inventory records are not giving you the visibility you need. When transaction history is easy to access and understand, you no longer have to wonder if a delivery arrived on time or whether you’ll have enough inventory to get through the weekend.
4) You dread inventory reviews
Inventory reviews should confirm what you already know, not lead to more questions.
When shortages, overages or mismatched records show up at the end of the month, managers often find themselves chasing old tickets, invoices and drivers to pinpoint where the discrepancy came from. By the time the root cause has been identified, valuable time and money has been lost.
WeighComp makes it simple to approve loads in real-time and ensure inventory records always reflect what’s sitting in the commodity shed, so there’s less surprises later on. Feed contracts can also be managed within the same system, with deliveries automatically applied against contract quantities, keeping information organized in a single source of truth.
5) You’re updating inventory in more than one system
If you’re using a feed management system, you shouldn’t have to manually enter the same inventory information more than once. When your scale data and feed management software work together, inventory updates happen behind the scenes as deliveries are received or feed is used – all visible in one system.
If tracking feed inventory feels like a task you’re constantly chasing or ignoring altogether, rather than a process that runs smoothly in the background, it may be time to reevaluate how inventory data is being logged.
Fill out the form below to talk to a member of our team and explore how WeighComp gives you greater visibility and creates a straightforward approach to inventory management.