As a minimalist, I spend more time than you might think managing my belongings. Part of living a simple lifestyle is owning less possessions, which makes it all the more important that you don’t lose them—as there are no backups.
As a business owner, I therefore place a lot of importance on inventory management—a term that encompasses all of the processes and strategies that are used to manage the inventory that a business has. In this article I want to talk about tips I’ve learnt in business, and how these ideas can be carried over to your personal life as a minimalist.
What is Inventory Management?
Inventory management is the process of planning, implementing, and controlling a system that tracks and manages a company’s inventory. It is a system that is used to achieve control over the flow of inventory within a business.
Inventory can be anything from products, to raw materials, to the box of paper clips on your desk at work. It’s important to track inventory within a business because it allows you to forecast demand, and therefore plan for the future, as well as optimize your processes.
Why is Inventory Management so Important?
A key component of business success is maximizing efficiency and minimizing waste, and one of the most important parts of this is effective inventory management. Effective inventory management will streamline all of the processes involved in the production, delivery, and sale of the product. Without it, you risk being under-resourced, overstocked, or just plain inefficient.
For example, let’s say that you own a retail store. You’re always going to need a certain amount of inventory to facilitate the sales process. You’re going to have a certain amount of toothbrushes on the floor. If you have a toothbrush that is sold, you’ll need to order more. If you don’t have enough toothbrushes on the sales floor, you lose both sales and the confidence of your customers. You might be tempted to order excess stock in advance – but what do you do if the toothbrushes don’t sell? These are the types of inefficiencies that can be avoided with good inventory management.
Likewise, in manufacturing businesses, inventory management is used to ensure that the right amount of raw materials are purchased to meet demand. In the event of a sudden surge in demand, there is enough inventory to meet that demand. If there is too much inventory, the business might end up with excess stock. Every business, whether it is a manufacturing business, a retail business, a service-based business, or any other type of business will have some inventory.
Tracking Inventory
A major component of inventory management, of course, is tracking what you have and where it is. Systems for this, called inventory management systems, can be invaluable – this is something I learnt early on when I worked for a small Amazon competitor. This includes software that can be used to track and manage inventory, as well as the physical tracking of inventory with technology like RFID warehouse management. I want to talk more about RFID in particular, as it’s something we minimalists can also adopt to manage personal belongings.
What is RFID?
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a technology that combines the use of wireless non-contact radio-frequency communication with computer technology to identify and track tags attached to objects.
There are tags that can be attached to items in your home or business that allow you to track and manage them. These tags are used in a variety of ways. For example, they can be attached to items that are being shipped. When those items are shipped, the tags will allow you to track the items and make sure that they arrive safely to their destination. They could also be attached to items in your supply chain, allowing you to track what is going on with that item at every stage of the process.
The tags are also used for inventory management in e-commerce. They are attached to products, and the information is transmitted to the website. This allows you to track what you have in stock and what you need to order, to fulfill demand.
Inventory Management for Minimalists
As a minimalist, you’re going to have fewer things, and therefore you’ll have fewer things to manage. However, while you may need to manage fewer things, the things that you do have are going to be more important to you. If you have fewer things, then you’re going to be putting more value on each thing that you do own.
I have tagged many of my personal belongings with RFID tags—it’s fun, and it really helps me to know what I have to avoid excess consumption and waste.
Conclusion
Inventory management is a key component of business success and is something that I learned early on. I now use these principles to manage my personal belongings and to help me live a more minimalistic lifestyle. I hope that you can do the same!
