The leading construction businesses in India leverage the benefits of adopting enterprise-wide inventory management software. The efficiencies delivered by the software help in streamlining material management, vendor assessment, tender assignment, and other key processes. Key processes within the construction firm are fully optimized when comprehensive inventory management software is adopted.
Premier inventory management solutions offer benefits that empower all stages of stakeholders within the organization, allowing multiple layers of stakeholders to track availability of key resources. From order tracking to automated scheduling, these tools allow managers to make decisions in an agile manner. Through the power of end-to-end inventory management, companies can deliver projects as scheduled, without compromising on quality at scale.
Some of the key benefits of an inventory management software for a construction project are as follows:
• Efficient material planning
• Ascertaining and Maintaining the Flow and Supply of Materials
• Storing and inventory control
• Quality Control of Materials
• Good supplier and customer relationship
• Improved departmental efficiency
Ensuring quality assessment of inventory
By enabling sophisticated tracking mechanisms within the assets available, the inventory can be managed by decision makers at scale. There is a greater clarity about what materials need to be ordered, from cement to fittings, as the dashboard is updated in real-time. This also allows procurement managers to stay within the budget set, as they scale resources across critical projects.
Managers can place the right order amounts and schedule the delivery at the right time for each project. This helps in streamlining processes, which leads to cost savings across the board. As the leaders in the construction space are vying for optimal margins, these measures are highly effective while providing enterprise-wide efficiencies.
The system also helps manage incorrect materials delivered, whether in quality or quantity, and keeps a track of all materials present across the company’s value chain. Firms can also track any re-handling of materials with the dashboard also providing insights on unused materials within the inventory. That’s why it’s critical that organizations work with on-the-go platforms that leverage cloud technology and help manage purchasing and inventory needs from anywhere.
Aligning key suppliers across projects
Inventory management for construction projects is streamlined when suppliers can be analysed across key metrics. The overview of the inventory can help determine the best quality suppliers and vendors to work with. The utilization, lifespan and performance of key resources such as gravel, cement, steel, and concrete, can be mapped via the inventory mechanism.
Orders can then be placed in a process-oriented manner, which can help shorten delivery times across key projects. By estimating future demand of critical resources, the inventory can be updated frequently after placing the right orders to suppliers. More niche materials can also be ordered in advance, with them being accounted for via the cloud-based material management solution.
Critical resource-bound processes, such as incomplete bid lists, unclear proposals and non-qualified suppliers, can also be streamlined when suppliers are aligned within the system. This aids firms to manage multiple vendor contracts, starting from pre-qualification to recommendation and awarding.
Effective utilization of labour
The optimization of both inventory control and labour management is critical to ensuring continued delivery of quality-driven projects. It is believed that the comprehensive adoption of enterprise inventory management solutions can help increase efficiencies by more than 35% within construction firms.
Since labour is a significant area of variable cost, it’s important to optimize their utilization as a resource. That’s why the best construction software offer a dedicated map of inventory available per project. This helps in scaling up resources, when necessary, and when to reorient labour force to critical projects.
The labour force can also be optimized when they have the right resources and equipment to work with. Procurement managers can place orders for the necessary equipment, based on the stage of the construction project. This assist in ensuring minimal wastage of key resources which may have been better utilized for other projects.
Efficiencies through automation
The leading software solutions within the inventory management space have automated scheduling and ordering capabilities built into their systems. These tools are designed to be as user-friendly as possible, while being customized for the construction industry. Project managers can focus on completing jobs on-time, as plant, equipment, raw materials and supplies are managed via an all-encompassing solution.
The automation features within leading solutions allow managers to compensate for rising or decreasing demand in key products. The system sends out automated notifications when minimum inventory levels have been reached as well as when shipments are delayed across any line. Project managers can also automate the restocking of inventory, via automated POs based on a predefined minimum/maximum value by part number or warehouse location.
Key dashboards can showcase requirements in real-time, as they’re being generated across multiple projects. Material management becomes simplified, when inventory solutions are leveraged by the enterprise. Employees within each process zone can also acquire materials at a much faster rate, thereby expediting the project within the outlined timeline.
Conclusion
Inventory management solutions provide comprehensive benefits to construction firms. The efficiencies introduced, in both cost optimization and materials management, allow companies to focus on delivering quality projects. The automation tools within these sophisticated solutions empower procurement managers to stay within budget, when ordering or restocking, while providing real-time insights on the availability of all supplies within the inventory.
