Manage Your Own Fastener Inventory

Vendor Managed Inventories (VMI) can be very expensive and rely on outside salespeople to track inventory levels. You can save a lot of money by using Amazon to purchase your fasteners and manage inventory in real time with Akro-Mills Indicator Bins (available from Amazon) and the Tooling Cloud's vending app.

Print two SmartLabels for the fasteners and place on both sides of the bin. See Tooling Cloud tutorial for instructions.

Calculate your daily usage. Let's say for this example it is 10 nuts per day. Amazon delivers in two days. That is 10 nuts per day x 2 days = 20. Double the quantity to be safe initially and put 40 nuts in the orange compartment. Set your Reorder Point (ROP) in the Tooling Cloud to 40. You can change it later based on usage reports.

To calculate the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), estimate how many days of inventory you would like to keep on hand. Start on the high side and you can reduce it based on usage reports. Lets say you want two weeks worth of inventory on hand. 14 days times 10 per day = 140. The package quantity is 100, so you will have to round up to 200 for your beginning EOQ. Enter that into your Tooling Cloud.

You will pull inventory from the blue side until it is empty and you have reached the ROP of 40 nuts. That will trigger you to reorder 200 from Amazon. Turn the bin around and start pulling from the orange side until the new shipment comes in.

1. Scan QR code on label to open vend app
2. Enter quantity you are taking from blue compartment
   1. If you take the last fasteners from the blue compartment turn the bin around to the orange side.
3. Select or add job number (if applicable)
4. Press TAKE

1. Scan SmartLabel barcode on bin
2. Scan barcode on fastener package
3. Enter Quantity
4. Press RECEIVE
5. Scan Packing Slip
6. Place fasteners in the blue compartment
7. Restore fasteners in the orange compartment equal to the ROP

1. Locate the purchase in your Amazon account history.
2. Click on "Certificate of Conformity" link.
3. Email the certificate.