Inventory Systems Paper

Inventory Systems Summary

Inventory control systems are used so that companies can track materials or products. Before technology was so readily available, employees of companies had a harder time tracking inventory. Today one can go into a large retailer and ask an employee to check if an item is in stock and all the employee would have to do is check a little hand held device. The four types of inventory systems that Team A decided to research and discuss were: Advanced Tracking System (ATS), Perpetual Inventory System, Periodic Inventory System, and Just-In-Time Inventory System.
Advanced Tracking System (ATS)
Advanced Tracking System, or ATS, is a system that operates standalone or front-end that interfaces with almost any company’s information system. The ATS automates data collection and provides a fast and easy place to view important and critical inventory activity in real time. ATS have been designed to help improve customer service, boost productivity, and provide accurate management information. ATS automate data collections tasks and provide accurate inventory status, bar code labeling, put-away, picking and kitting, shipping, cycle counting and physical inventory, and historical data. The collection of data is fairly fast and easy. Depending on what type of ATS is used, transactions are quickly and accurately captured in real-time without hand writing out forms and manual keyboard entry (Business By Design).
Perpetual Inventory System A perpetual inventory system is one where a business “updates the quantity and availability of its inventory on a continuous basis, after each purchase or sale” (Meehan, 2010). Products are attached to a point of sale (POS) system or aided by the presence of RFID checkers. This allows the sale of products to be immediately updated in a perceptual inventory system. Inventory in a perpetual inventory system is constantly updated and watched as opposed to a periodic inventory system which tracts the inventory

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