Inventory & Warehouse management in Dynamics 365

“Effective inventory and warehouse management means flawless supply chain management.” Dynamics 365 inventory management provides you with a wide range of features, such as real-time visibility, multi-location tracking, and inventory valuation to ensure seamless supply chain.

However, without real-time visibility of stock levels, no company can ace inventory and warehouse management. Lack of control puts the business in between overstocking and understocking. It is a foolish, costly trap that puts companies at increased storage costs or stock-outs. Hence, integrated solutions are required to stand functional.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions such as D365 Business Central and D365 Supply Chain Management offer an integrated solution for inventory and warehouse management: with true visibility, automation, and AI-driven insights.

What is Inventory Management and Warehouse Management?

Dynamics 365 inventory management monitors, regulates, and optimizes the stock keeping levels across different locations within an enterprise. It ensures one has the right quantity of the right product at the right time and all at the lowest cost possible. Dynamics 365 warehouse management, however, entails the management of the effective movement of goods occupying the storage facilities, viz. dealing with receiving, storing, picking, packing, and shipping.

To stay in the game, companies should utilize inventory and warehouse management strategies. Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers extensive functionalities for automating prominent operations by minimizing manual interventions and human errors while enhancing productivity.

Importance of Inventory and Warehouse Management

Utilizing a system for warehouse management or inventory management to balance supply and demand by ensuring operational efficiency.

Loss Prevention and Cost Reduction

Inefficient inventory management results in high carrying costs, loss of resources, and unproductiveness. With real-time tracking and AI-driven forecast, businesses can maintain optimal stock levels and get rid of the expensive wastage.

Improving Order Fulfillment and Customer Satisfaction

Supply chain management is very important to build relations with your customers, who may have been let down by late or faulty orders. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management comes with a set of automated processes to handle order processing and stock replenishment so that you can make correct time deliveries.

Prevent Overstocking and Stock outs

Getting demand and supply balanced is a key aspect. Implementing Dynamics inventory management prohibits both overstocking products and stockouts while forecasting demands by means of real-time inventory tracking.

Disadvantages of Not Using an Advanced Inventory & Warehouse Management System

The absence of an advanced warehouse management and inventory system has tremendous negative impacts on business by tremendously impacting productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

Stockouts and Loss of Sales

Without Microsoft Dynamics 365 inventory management, it becomes impossible for the various companies to know what stock they have, hence a lack of stock. Being short of stock on crucial items leads to missed orders that have to be delayed with unhappy customers who in turn switch to competitors.

Overstocking and Holding Costs Increase

Overcompensation for inventory shortages often results in overstocking. Excess inventory ties up capital, increases warehousing costs, and leads to product obsolescence. Companies without automated inventory tracking face difficulty in managing optimal stock levels, leading to unnecessary financial burdens.

Operational Inefficiencies and Manual Errors

The manual processes employed by businesses to manage their stock create a virtually endless list of errors that turn into business delays. This includes wrong stock listings, loss of goods, and incorrectly filled orders. Inefficiencies also cause latency, bottlenecks in the supply chain, and steep wage costs in the form of time-wasting manual processes.

Absence of Real-Time Data and Ineffective Decision-Making

Businesses would not know the demand to meet or how they could handle supply chain disruptions or procurements without real-time data. Such inefficiencies have come to harm the gross profit of the whole business as well as business growth.

Disrupted Supply Chain and Competitiveness

Businesses that lack high-end inventory management software, like Dynamics 365, would not have well-integrated means to project demand shifts in the market, supplier delays, or some unforeseen disruption. This scenario, therefore, places them with lower levels of competitiveness within their market.

Dynamics 365 Inventory Management Solution

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is rich with different modules that allow for inventory and warehouse operations to be run more efficiently.

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management: While aiming especially at large companies operating with complex supply chains, this module helps customers with forecasting, AI-based inventory optimization, and seamless collaboration with other suppliers. However, ERP Supply Chain was formerly called Dynamics 365 Operations and Finance.

Dynamics 365 Business Central: This is the software developed for small to medium-sized businesses. Essential tools for inventory and warehouse management are included in the suite of Business Central, such as stock tracking capabilities, demand forecasting functions, and automated reordering.

How Dynamics 365 Helps Manage Inventory & Warehousing

Dynamics 365 for inventory management offers real-time tracking, automation, and AI-based analytics for effective stock management and warehouse operations.

Real-Time Inventory Tracking & Visibility

Using MS Dynamics inventory management, businesses can monitor stock across multiple locations, warehouses, and retail stores. Barcode scanning, RFID tracking, and mobile apps always offer real-time inventory updates with precise accuracy.

Multi-Location Inventory Control

Businesses can monitor stock centrally across distribution hubs and automate stock transfers and replenishments, making demand fulfillment on time.

Automated Replenishment & Forecasting

AI-based demand forecasting helps forecast future inventory needs based on past patterns, reducing carrying costs while keeping stocks at optimum levels.

Core Dynamics 365 Features for Inventory Management

ERP Supply Chain provides features for inventory management, including real-time visibility, demand forecasting, stock level optimization, and multi-location management. Let’s explore them.

1. Real-Time Inventory Visibility and Tracking

Multi-channel inventory tracking: Monitor inventory levels across facilities such as warehouses, retail, and distribution centers.

Barcode & RFID scanning: Use barcode scanning and RFID to scan stock movement automatically.

AI-based Demand Forecasting: Assess historical data, seasonality of demand, and sales trends to forecast customer demand.

Automated Alerts & Notifications: Run threshold alerts for low stock, overstock, and stock movement.

Serial & Batch Tracking: Offer each piece with batch-tracking codes or serial numbers for better traceability and to comply with industry regulations.

2. Multi-location Inventory Management

Centralized Inventory Management: Gain real-time visibility of stock across warehouses, shops, and nodes in the supply chain.

Automated Stock Replenishment: Set reorder points, safety stocks, and replenishment policies.

Intercompany & Transfer Orders: Smooth transfer of stock between warehouses while accurately tracking movement.

Zone & Bin Management: Zone inventory into bins for a fast pickup, packing, and restocking process.

3. Automated Replenishment and Forecasting

AI-based Demand Forecasting: Virtualized future needs from sales patterns from the past, seasonal fluctuation, and external market insights.

Automated Purchase Orders and Replenishment Workflows: Configure rules that trigger the automatic ordering of purchase orders or stock transfers based on demand and inventory levels.

Vendor Collaboration: Create easy notification systems for lead times, planned deliveries, and procurement effectiveness.

Carrying Cost Reduction: Companies can save on storage expenses by keeping stock at the right level, avoiding overstocking, and cutting down on obsolescence.

4. Inventory Valuation Methods

Flexible Valuation Methods: Microsoft Dynamics 365 inventory management supports several methods of valuation such as:

FIFO (First in First out): Most innovative method for perishable items and industries where older inventory should be sold first.

LIFO (Last in First out): Applied where industries make use of older stock first.

Weighted Average Costing: Values inventory based on an average price per unit, helpful for variable purchase prices.

Standard Costing: Assists companies in establishing fixed cost amounts for simpler financial reporting.

Regulatory Compliance & Customization: Companies can design valuation methods in accordance with industry rules and requirements for financial reporting.

5. Seamless Integration with Other Business Modules

• Sales & Procurement Synchronization
• Finance & Accounting Integration
• Manufacturing & Supply Chain Collaboration
• Order Processing & Fulfillment

Advanced Warehouse Management Capabilities in Dynamics 365

Dynamics system for warehouse management offers advanced warehouse management capabilities, including advanced picking strategies, wave processing, and cross-docking. Let’s explore them in detail.

1. Automated Warehouse Workflows

Automated Inbound & Outbound Process: Automate warehouse processes for receiving, put-away, picking, packing, and shipping.

Cross-Docking & Wave Processing: Support cross-docking to move inbound products directly to outbound shipments, minimizing storage time and handling expenses.

2. Mobile Device Integration

Handheld Scanner Support: Allow warehouse personnel to scan barcodes, refresh inventory records, and monitor stock movement in real-time.

Real-Time Inventory Updates: Maintain accurate inventory levels by refreshing stock movement as it happens.

3. Wave Processing and Work Templates

Batch and Wave Picking: Combine several orders into batches or waves to reduce warehouse mobility and improve picking routes.

Cluster Picking: Pick up products for a group of orders in one trip, saving time on travel and increasing efficiency.

Automated Order Release: Activate order fulfillment tasks automatically in accordance with predefined parameters.

4. Use Barcode and RFID Scanning

Improved Stock Visibility: Use barcode and RFID scanning to efficiently locate products throughout the warehouse.

Reduced Human Errors: Use scanning technologies to make inventory tracking easier and avoid data entry errors.

Compliance and Traceability: Stay current with regulatory standards by tracking movements in real time.

Business Central vs. Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management

Common Challenges & How Dynamics 365 Solves Them

How Can Dynamics Square Help?

At Dynamics Square, we specialize in implementing, customizing, and optimizing MS Dynamics 365 solutions, like Dynamics 365 inventory management to help businesses master inventory and warehouse management. Whether you're a small-to-medium business looking to streamline inventory operations or a large enterprise seeking advanced AI-driven supply chain automation, we ensure a seamless transition.

Get in touch with our expert consultant to get the required solution for flawless inventory.