SurThrival: Operations and Inventory

How to keep your operations and inventory up and running smoothly

From increasing the efficiency of daily tasks to preventing fraud to optimizing insurance policies, there is always room for improvement to operations. This checklist can help you find ways to improve operations and inventory practices with limited resources in a down economy.

 

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Operations

  • Regularly gather internal feedback from your employees. Do you respond to feedback and allow it to inform your management decisions?
  • Make sure your executive management can focus on leadership activities. If management frequently has to step in to complete day-to-day tasks, it can impede growth and forward progress. Can you make additional hires to free up your managers to focus on more high-level tasks?
  • Implement risk mitigation measures to reduce the frequency and magnitude of legal issues. Have you met with your insurance broker and attorney to discuss improving or modifying preventative measures? Do you educate your staff on detecting scams, understanding safety risks, and other risk management issues?
  • Build audit functions into your regular operations. Are your current preventative measures sufficient if, for example, stress from economic challenges cause employees to start making mistakes or engaging in fraudulent activity?
  • Select your insurance policies to be reflective of your current and anticipated risks and cash flows. Have you met with your broker or a third party reviewer to assess your policies?
  • Plan ahead to implement new technology, saving time and money later. If you do not currently have the resources to make such investments, at least verify that your documents, data, and systems are not at risk in case of disruptive events such as cyberattacks.

Inventory

  • Optimize your reverse logistics and waste management. Are there credits you can take advantage of for returning or recycling materials?
  • Consider implementing analytics in your inventory management.
  • Determine whether your business can benefit from outsourcing fulfillment, storage, and other non-core functions related to inventory and supply management.
  • Consistently review invoices and orders to make sure you are receiving the correct orders and being charged the correct amount.
  • Implement preventative measures to mitigate risk of increased inventory fraud and theft.