Inventory management on a shoestring

Fidelitone Logistics, a third-party logistics provider based near Chicago, USA, works with retailers like Best Buy, Black & Decker and Aero Bed International to manage their inventories and ship consumer goods worldwide.

Mike Schoenfeld, an executive VP at Fidelitone, recently gave a group of executives from a venture capital firm a tour of the company's operations. No, the VC model hasn't changed so radically that it includes the actual shipping and distribution of goods. Rather, these VC executives were thinking of the small firms in their portfolios that needed the benefits of a streamlined inventory management and warehouse distribution system.

"They wanted to create a tool set that would include outsourcing," Schoenfeld told CRM Buyer. Potential services these firms would be offered included the order-to-cash piece of the supply chain, as well as logistics functions.

A quick look at supply chain economics and efficiencies shows why the VCs felt providing these services across their portfolio made sense: Typically, such services are built and priced to the enterprise or even large medium-sized companies. Even software - especially applications designed for the SMB space - rarely delivers all of the functionality needed for visible inventory management and related procurement, warehouse and distribution operations.

At the same time, SMBs are acting as though they are indeed enterprise-sized, exporting to global markets and, thanks to Web 2.0 technology, able to compete with larger-sized competitors. Unfortunately, the supply chain, in many cases, has not caught up - either in tailored services or prices.

All is not lost, though; through savvy use of existing technology and borrowing from the playbooks of larger companies, SMBs can put together a viable inventory management system on a shoestring.

Read the full article here.