The QuickEasy Materials & Inventory module is used to record, maintain and manage all the raw materials, components, finished goods and tools you require in your business. 

For quoting purposes and for creating elegant product sheets from Material items, an image and a specification field have been added to the Materials table. The specification field can be populated using a description generator combined with user-defined fields to ensure that all your product information is consistent.

Items can be inter-linked, for instance if you have a packaging company with a list of dies used to manufacture die-cut products, QuickEasy enables you to link the appropriate die to each product. When viewing the dies you will in turn see the list of products that are dependant on the die.

The Inventory functionality is only applicable to items that are flagged as Inventory items and manages the movement and replenishment of items, ensuring that you always have a live and accurate record of inventory volumes and location - multiple warehousing is supported and fields have been provided to link customers to Inventory items. 

Material items that are seldomly used don't need to be added to your Inventory, generally you would only create an Inventory item if:

• Savings are realised from buying the item in bulk
• The lead time to replenish the item is longer than you require
• The item is a by-product of your manufacturing process
• The item is a product or component that is manufactured in economical batches and not to order

The key to successfully managing your Inventory is to ensure that everything that is 'Received' or 'Issued' from a warehouse is recorded, as illustrated in the following simplistic diagram of an ideal production facility.

There are really only two things that can happen to Inventory items, firstly they can enter the warehouse ('Receive') and secondly they can leave the warehouse ('Issue') - transactions are used to record these Inventory movements. In addition to the 'Receive' and 'Issue' transactions, QuickEasy also makes use of 'Order' transactions, which prepare you for pending 'Receive' transactions and 'Reserve' transactions which prepare you for pending 'Issue' transactions.

Inventory transactions can be created directly in the Transactions tab of Inventory items, but mostly they will cascade from other transactions - Sales Order items and Work Order Bill of Material items will generate 'Reserve' transactions, Purchase Order items and Work Order Output items will create 'Order' transactions, etc.

In addition to recording the movement of stock, QuickEasy enables you to track serial numbers and lot numbers - manually or using a barcode scanner.

All the Inventory transactions are transparent and Issues are created on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis to provide you with an accurate cost of your Inventory.

Following are some screenshots as well as a link to the Inventory workflow, click the thumbnails to enlarge:

Inventory Replenishment

Replenishment of stock is an ongoing process driven by the 'Minimum' and 'Re-order' quantities of your Inventory items. Every time a Sales Order is created, a demand for finished goods items is created and every time a Work Order is created, a demand for raw materials and components is created.

When the 'Minimum' quantity is reached, QuickEasy flags you to order the 'Re-order' quantity. The 'Minimum' and 'Re-order' quantities are determined by projected demand, economical batch sizes and replenishment lead times - all of this information is readily available to you in QuickEasy.

If an item is 'Supplied', the item is replenished by creating a Purchase Order for the 'Re-order' quantity. Multiple suppliers and prices (replenishment options) can be linked to an item.

If an item is 'Manufactured', the item is replenished by creating a Work Order for the 'Re-order' quantity. Multiple manufacturing methods can be linked to an item. Alternately, the Bill of Materials and Services to manufacture an item can be linked directly to an item - it all depends on what works best for your industry.