Finding the Inventory

And, much of this comes down to one issue that I’m sure everyone in this industry deals with on a daily basis: inventory.
Given the constant flow of product (stone, sinks, faucets, etc.) moving in and out of a shop, it’s extremely overwhelming to manage and track all of the associated details. Such as: “Is this slab inventory, consignment, or sold?” How about this situation: “We have two different sinks in the sink cage for this job area – which one is right?” Or this classic: “We broke a piece of splash cutting the outlet. Do we have any more material? Where is it?”
Every little detail can become a large problem and can be time-consuming if not tracked. Company software is the key. I highly recommend investing in the best software you can; do your investigative work and evaluate your needs before you make your purchase.
Even if you buy the best, be aware that, as previously stated, “Your information is only as good as the data that is entered, and the people doing the entering.” And, I would add to that your people are only as good as your standard operating procedure and leadership.
What makes a good company is a good leader. Make sure your employees have a protocol in place for every type of situation that may occur with your inventory. Standard operating procedures (SOPs) should be in place for receiving slabs, sinks and faucets, as well as all data entry.
This isn’t just an idle guide to filling out forms and filing them. SOPs should address daily dilemmas, such as:
• What do you do when sinks are received for a job that the company is not contracted to fabricate? How do you want that information tracked in your software or in your files?
•What happens when the contract says undermount sink, but you receive a sink that can only be a top-mount, or one that could be used for either?
• What should your people do when a sink is received for a job where a sink has already been received?
These details may seem tedious, but I have personally witnessed many builders and homeowners upset over the slightest detail being overlooked. The only way to truly avoid these types of situations is to have a SOP in place, with or without the software to help. I can’t imagine there is a company out there that doesn’t face these challenges. We all know how costly these not-so-minor details can become.
Today, in order to maintain successful customer orientation, we must have a comprehensive supply of different stones. Customers looking for that perfect color are the ever-changing force driving us to keep a larger inventory in order to meet current design fads. No one wants to lose a sale because the customer went to view material elsewhere.
It can be challenging to make sure you have an area for each job phase for a slab. It requires space, and an excellent yard manager, but in the end it saves time.
You don’t want your sales people running around with a customer, trying to find out what material is available for sale, what is on hold, or a price range on particular materials. Bottom-line: It looks unprofessional and may actually cost you the job.
For example, we have our granite consignment slabs, company-owned slabs, client-owned slabs, customer drops and remnant inventory. All of our consignment and company-owned material is on A-frames in one area. Client-owned material is stored separately. Keeping track of consignment vs. company-owned inventory when they are in one area for customer viewing can be as simple as proper labeling and software tracking, but only if you have an SOP in place.
Marble should stay inside in any shop. We have our marble drops, client-owned marble, and slabs available for sale on separate racks indoors. If you have the indoor space, there is no better way to store marble, travertine and onyx. The reason for this is simple: Marble etches easily, and acid rain is a reality.
With growing pains being a constant in granite, it seems the need for more storage capabilities is always a factor. Use these growth times to slowly buy more storage racks.
Every year there’s also a slow time. Use this to fine-tune your methods and your SOP to ensure you’re utilizing your space keeping in mind the needs of not only your customers, but your production staff.
Drops from ongoing projects should also be kept in one area, and should be reviewed at least once a month to make sure you’re rejuvenating the remnants for sale and cleaning out the drop storage. This will save you endless headaches and time spent looking to see if you have enough material to finish or fix a job.
Organizing and utilizing the remnant area is an ongoing project with our shop. The idea should be to make it as usable as possible for your sales staff; customers love having so many colors available with a slightly reduced cost – but if they can’t see them, the remnants will not be chosen. You cannot be pulling the yard manager every five minutes to pull out a piece of granite for a client to view, or production would be seriously affected.
When cleaning out our remnants, I’ve found that many of the staple/standard colors from our inventory were being thrown away. It stinks when you only need two pieces of backsplash to complete a job, and the piece you knew was a match was thrown out yesterday to make way for more remnants.
Our solution is to separate the standard colors onto a separate rack in the remnant area. This makes it very easy to find the match you need.
I also suggest keeping your exotic remnants in a separate rack. We all like to offer the clients the best bang for their buck, but there is no need to give away these high-end materials for next to nothing. It may only lead to fabricating a small vanity, but it is business.
Everything in-between is kept together on the remnant racks. This allows the clients more of an organized viewing experience, and helps your staff minimize the time spent trying to find certain colors for jobs.
Also consider the remnants as material-on-hand, rather than waste pieces that are next to worthless. Material-on-hand can be sold at the same price as slab; no need to leave money on the table.
Lastly, separate all of the sold remnants in the same way you would full slabs. Once a product is sold, it should always go into a separate area. This avoids confusion for your sales staff,  and saves time and constant questions. It also create areas of direction for your production staff by allowing you to have material locations clearly listed on your work orders.
I hope all of these suggestions help bring order to the chaos that is inventory. This seems to be the slow time of year when we can take on all of the challenges of organizing our functions.
I wish everyone a great new year in business!
Donny Taylor is a fabricator in Florida and a member of the Stone Fabricators Alliance. To ask him a question, log on to www.stoneadvice.com, or send an email to donnystoned@hotmail.com.
This month’s article was co-written by Meli Londeree, a friend and fellow fabricator in Orlando, Fla.