Managing Inventory with Quality Data and Automation

Accurate inventory management is crucial to running a successful business because it directly impacts a company’s bottom line and is key to maximizing profits. Having an accurate handle on inventory enables a business to become more resilient and know what they can sell and when they can sell it, helping mitigate out-of-stock scenarios. 

At one point, inventory management was a meticulous, lengthy and manual process for the Independent Purchasing Cooperative (IPC), an independent member-owned, managed and governed cooperative of North American Subway franchisees, which is responsible for approximately 24,000 Subway restaurants.

“Conducting inventory would take two to three hours per restaurant per week, assuming there weren’t any mistakes,” said Rick Buttner, senior director of supply chain operations at IPC. “Franchisees had to pull pricing from their latest invoices and add up all the dollar figures. If their food cost was way off, they had to go back and find the…