Here's how you can sidestep common productivity pitfalls as an inventory manager.

Streamline Processes (Eliminate Bottlenecks): 1. Identify Inefficiencies: Analyze your current inventory management processes and identify areas that consume excessive time or resources. This could involve manual data entry, redundant tasks, or unclear procedures. 2. Automate Repetitive Tasks: Explore opportunities to automate repetitive tasks like data entry for receiving or picking inventory, generating purchase orders, or performing cycle counts. Inventory management software can often automate these processes. 3. Standardize Procedures: Develop and implement standardized procedures for all inventory management activities, including receiving, picking, packing, and cycle counting. This ensures consistency and minimizes errors.

Sell slow-movers: Bundle them with popular items, discount them, or remarket to a new audience. Improve forecasting: Analyze data to predict demand better and avoid over-ordering. ABC analysis: Classify inventory (A: high value/demand, B: medium, C: low) and focus control efforts on high-impact items (A). Optimize ordering: Negotiate better lead times with suppliers and order smaller, more frequent batches.

Inventory Management is a responsible, busy, detail oriented, important job in itself. In the community pharmacy, prioritizing tasks can be done through making a list of daily/monthly/yearly tasks. You can use a calendar and update inventory management tasks daily. Make sure that accuracy/being detail oriented are included in every task ( including while dispensing medications). Make it a standard to have the team maintain accuracy throughout all processes so inventory managing becomes more efficient and accurate. It will prevent shrinkage and make it easier to negotiate with suppliers ( financial data will be accurate).

In a bid to look busy, managers often pick up tasks which might be voluminous, but not necessarily add to the overall pie at the end. This is something that needs to be delegated, or better yet, automated. The Pareto law works across. It's often the top SKUs, top vendors, top warehouses, top demand clusters etc that contribute to the maximum challenges. If managers were to pick up these tasks and take up continuous improvement or an overhaul, it would do their productivity wonders. Better yet, if inventory managers do something additional such as shadow the sales teams or speak to customers, it would give them a completely new perspective on the business and help develop a holistic understanding. These are also tasks that they can practice.

Prioritize Tasks (Focus on High-Impact Activities): 1. Identify High-Impact Tasks: Distinguish between urgent tasks and those with a high impact on your overall inventory management goals. Focus on activities that directly contribute to optimizing inventory levels, reducing costs, or improving service levels. 2. Utilize Time Management Tools: Use time management techniques like the Eisenhower Matrix to categorize tasks based on urgency and importance. Prioritize high-impact tasks and delegate or reschedule less critical activities. 3. Set Realistic Deadlines: Set achievable deadlines for yourself and your team to avoid feeling overwhelmed and ensure timely completion of tasks.

Analyze Data (Leverage Insights for Improvement): 1. Utilize Inventory Data: Don't let your inventory data sit unused. Use reports and analytics tools to identify trends, patterns, and areas for improvement. 2. Focus on Key Metrics: Track key inventory performance indicators (KPIs) like inventory turnover rate, stock-out frequency, and carrying costs. Analyze these metrics to identify opportunities for optimization. 3. Data-Driven Decisions: Use data insights to inform your inventory management decisions. For example, analyze historical sales data to improve your forecasting accuracy or identify slow-moving items that require clearance strategies.

Ensure Alignment: 1. Communicate with Stakeholders: Maintain clear and consistent communication with stakeholders like sales teams, purchasing departments, and warehouse personnel. Ensure everyone is aligned on inventory levels, reorder points, and lead times. 2. Set Expectations: Clearly communicate expectations to your team members regarding their roles and responsibilities in inventory management. This helps them prioritize tasks and contribute effectively. 3. Regular Team Meetings: Schedule regular team meetings to discuss inventory challenges, share updates, and collaborate on solutions.

A field like inventory management always comes with a moving goal post. No matter how much you've iterated your workings, come the next morning, the data refreshes and everything is back to square one. Hence it's important to have systems and mechanisms that are flexible. Multiple checkpoints and balances in the process helps course correct and mitigate untoward damages, if any. In case of an unprecedented event, it's easier to have a flexible system that can either absorb or repel shocks, rather than a rigid system that operates in binary. This must permeate across even the external stakeholders such as vendors, suppliers, logistics partners etc.