Introduction
It is a demanding and precise task to maintain an acceptable amount of office supplies equipment for a business. Once you learn how to order these items you will begin to appreciate just how diverse your business’ needs truly are. In order to be proficient in keeping your inventory updated you need to be organized and work on inventory each day. This is why you should recruit someone to help you if your business employs 50 or more people.
Step 1
Organize your office supplies equipment on storage room shelves. This should be in a central area. In order to keep a working inventory this is a must.
You also need to use labels on these shelves indicating where each and every item is to be kept. Consider instituting a policy whereby you are the only one who can hand out office supplies equipment so that you will be better equipped to keep track of your inventory. Nevertheless, you will still need to do inventory because you never know when managers or executives will take office supplies equipment if you are unavailable. This will throw your re-ordering system off if you do not carefully monitor such a policy once it has been instituted.
Step 2
Make a list of the office supplies equipment that you already have. After you jot this list down you will want to actually take the time to create a computer spreadsheet that lists these items so that you will be able to refer to it on a regular basis. At the very least you need to analyze your office supplies equipment usage on a monthly basis. This will allow you to be able to adjust your inventory levels so that you will always be able to have the right amount of office supplies equipment on hand.
Step 3
Use a reputable online vendor fore ordering your office supplies equipment. This will allow you to be able to track your buying history. Whenever you place an order, make sure to check it against your original purchase order so that you are certain that you have received everything that you actually ordered. You should always discuss re-ordering options with your sales rep in order to determine if you would be better off to purchase office supplies equipment in bulk. Usually this will depend upon the consumption rate but it may be able to save you a great deal of money to only have to re-order these items once a quarter instead of once a month.
Step 4
Conduct a physical inventory on a weekly basis so that you can keep track of how everything fluctuates. If you ever notice that a certain supply is dropping below the monthly inventory amount, you will want to raise your inventory number accordingly. From that point forward you will want to use this new inventory number for placing orders.
Step 5
Create a policy that states that any and all special orders must come through you. This way you can see if there is a pattern whereby a specific special item is ordered. Whenever you notice this pattern, you should add it to your regular inventory.
