For many businesses, excess inventory is a silent drain on resources. It ties up valuable working capital, consumes warehouse space, and increases carrying costs—all without contributing to sales. While traditional inventory management systems might identify excess stock when it’s needed elsewhere, a more proactive approach is required to truly tackle this problem.
FDC’s new Excess Stock module, part of the ICS (Inventory Capital Solutions) Cloud platform, is designed to do just that. It flips the conventional approach on its head by providing daily, proactive recommendations for managing excess inventory, helping dealers drive down carrying costs, reduce purchasing, and improve overall service.
The Proactive Approach to Managing Excess Inventory
The ICS Excess Stock module operates on a “policy-drives-execution” model. You define your strategic goals, and the software provides the actionable steps to achieve them. Here’s how it helps you take control:
- Dealer-Defined Proactive Policies: You can set custom policies to automate the management of excess stock. For example, you can create a rule that says, “move stock that has been in excess of 90 days above our maximum policy to a location that has the item stocked and has the fewest days of supply on hand.” This ensures that dormant inventory is always being evaluated for a more productive use.
- Strategic Stock Consolidation: The module allows you to consolidate stock to a centralized location. This is particularly useful for organizing non-stock returnable parts, moving them to an overflow warehouse for centralized back-order transfers. This frees up critical space at your branches and streamlines the process of packaging surplus returns.
- Intelligent Transfer Management: ICS intelligently “feathers in” transfers daily, utilizing your existing logistics network without overwhelming it. This ensures a smooth, continuous flow of inventory, preventing logistical bottlenecks.
- A Second Opinion on Surplus Returns: The module provides a powerful tool for managing surplus returns. You can define your own policy for what gets returned, and ICS will generate a precise list of items. With DBS integration, this return order can be transmitted back to the manufacturer automatically. The module even allows you to import guaranteed buy-back orders and offset them against your ICS-generated penalty order, ensuring you maximize your returns.
- Streamlined Write-Offs: The Excess Stock module can also be used to generate lists for scrap, obsolescence, or special pricing, streamlining the process of writing off dead inventory and providing a clear path to clearing out non-performing assets.
Want to learn more about ICS?
The ICS Excess Stock module transforms a reactive, costly problem into a strategic opportunity. By providing a proactive, policy-driven approach to managing excess inventory, it helps businesses improve inventory turns, free up valuable space, and ultimately, put their capital to work more efficiently. It’s an indispensable tool for any dealership looking to optimize its financial and operational performance.
If your inventory planning processes are falling short of delivering optimal inventory levels, click the button below to read more about how ICS can help your company see a greater return on your inventory investment.
Go to the ICS page on our website