Systems we build and run
Bespoke stock and materials systems
What's on the shelf, what's on order, and what went out on which job. Enough to stop buying what you already own, and to stop a van leaving without the part.
What it is, and where it fits
Where this kind of system fits
- Manufacturing and fabrication
- Wholesale and distribution
- Installers, engineers and maintenance contractors
- Builders, contractors and trades
- Plant, tool and equipment hire
A stock system keeps a figure per item per place, and moves it when something moves. Goods in against the order, materials out against the job, and a count that reconciles to something rather than replacing it.
It suits anybody holding materials, parts or consumables: a stores, a yard, a workshop, and the stock that lives on the vans.
One stores and a few hundred lines is weeks. Several locations, batch traceability and purchase orders raised off demand is the same system carrying more.
What it usually grew out of
Usually a stock sheet, a reorder list and somebody who knows.
The spreadsheet is right on the day of the count. Between counts the van stock is an estimate, and the reorder point lives with whoever does the ordering.
A system keeps the figure moving with the stock, so the duplicate order, the extra trip and the job waiting on a part that was on a shelf in the other building become rare. That time and money comes back quietly, week after week.
What it does
A figure per place
Stores, workshop, each van and each site counted separately, because knowing you have four only helps when you know where they are.
Goods in against the order
Booked in when it arrives, against the purchase order, so a short delivery is noticed at the door rather than at the job.
Out against the job
Materials issued to a job rather than into the air, so what the work consumed is a fact instead of an estimate.
Reorder before it bites
Minimum levels per item and per place, flagged while there's still time to order rather than when somebody needs it.
Counts that reconcile
A stock count that shows the difference and keeps the adjustment with a reason and a name, rather than overwriting the old figure.
Batch and serial where it matters
Which batch went to which customer, and which serial is in which machine, three years after anybody remembers.
AI features can take more of the typing out: a supplier's delivery note or invoice read in and checked against the order, with any short delivery or price difference flagged. More on AI and automation.
Usually built alongside job and works trackers, asset and equipment registers or quotes and pricing. The rest are on the services page.
How it gets built, and how it gets run
| Fixed price | Scope, price and dates in writing before anything starts, with what isn't included written as plainly as what is. It doesn't move because the job turned out harder than we thought. |
|---|---|
| Timescale | One stores or the van stock is weeks rather than months. Several locations and full traceability take longer, and go live a location at a time. |
| Onboarding and training | We count what's there with you, load it as the opening figure, and train the people booking things in and out, who are the ones who keep it honest. |
| Hosted in the UK | UK infrastructure, backed up nightly to somewhere that isn't the machine running it, kept thirty days, and checked every few minutes that it's up and answering. |
| Changes | Another location, a new category, a different reorder rule. What that covers is agreed at the start, so nobody works it out on the day. |
Ask about our free Business Systems Assessment
An hour with whoever runs the day to day. Clear recommendations to act on.
We look at how the work actually runs and what it runs on, then send you a list of what we would change, what each change would do for the business, and what it would take. In person or online, whichever suits you. Nothing to pay, nothing to sign.
- One hour
- In person or online
- Recommendations we talk you through
Honest answers
- We don't want a full warehouse system.
- You don't need one. Start where stock earns its keep first, usually the van stock or the ten lines that hold jobs up. That is a small first system, and the rest of the stores can join it once it has shown its worth.
- Can it talk to our accounts package?
- Where there's an interface or a decent export, yes, and purchase orders stop being entered twice. Where there isn't, we'll tell you what that means rather than promise it anyway.
- Do we need scanners?
- Not to start with. A phone camera and printed labels cover most of it, and proper scanners fit the same system when the volume justifies them.
Talk to us
Tell us what you hold, where you hold it, and what it costs you when it runs out. That's usually enough for us to say whether we can help.
Ring, 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday mornings, or use the form below. Pick what you'd like to keep track of, add a line if you want to, and leave a name and a way to reach you.