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Originally Posted On: https://britecheck.com/blog/top-inventory-management-excel-templates.html
Many large companies prefer specialist inventory software like SAP and Syspro, but these packages can be costly and complicated for smaller enterprises. Excel is a relatively affordable and versatile alternative to specialized systems. It offers a practical way to digitize records and calculate stock levels accurately, minimizing waste, stockpiles, and shortages, and enhancing cash flow.
That said, Excel can take significant time and practice to master. If you are a novice user, you can find it tricky to create a spreadsheet-based inventorying tool from scratch. Thankfully, Excel templates exist to take the burden off your shoulders. With pre-written formulas and ready-made sheets, an inventory management Excel template gives you a framework for building a stock-keeping solution. All you need to do is populate the rows and columns, and Excel will do the rest.
Furthermore, if you have an Excel-compatible inventory app like Britecheck, you can use it to input data into your Excel template quickly and effortlessly. That way, you can leave Excel working entirely autonomously in the background.
Choosing the best inventory management Excel template for your business
Because of the popularity of Excel in stock keeping, the internet is packed with inventory spreadsheet templates. However, not all templates can suit your business. Understanding the makings of a proper inventorying template will help you find the one that best works for you.
Below are the top aspects to consider when looking for your next inventory management Excel template.
1. Speed and simplicity
The primary purpose of an Excel template is to simplify your inventorying. So, the last thing you want is a slow, cumbersome platform. Whatever you save by accurately managing inventory will be wasted on training your team and paying for mistakes. A proper inventory management Excel template gives you all the tracking features you need in a clear, concise way.
2. Flexibility and scalability
Inventory is among the most dynamic aspects of a business. Managing it effectively requires an easily malleable tool to adapt to changes in factors like sales, strategy, material availability, and supplier performance.
So, choose a template that allows for quick adjustments without having to restructure everything. A flexible template enables you to remain agile to month-to-month fluctuations and maintain control at all times.
3. Analysis and forecasting
Tracking inventory goes beyond counting your supplies. A larger part of this process is analyzing stock trends to make accurate forecasts of future purchases, item usage, and product sales.
Therefore, go for a template with built-in formulas and functions to analyze current and historical data and use it to make demand and supply predictions. Accurate forecasts enable you to make more informed inventory decisions that cater to your short-term and long-term needs.
Our top choices of inventory management Excel templates
Now that you know the key elements to consider when looking for an inventorying Excel template, it is time to go out and get one. Below are some excellent Excel inventory management templates to help you establish your system.
Template1: Zervant’s free tool for general inventory
If you have never tracked your inventory using software before, this general inventory management Excel template from Zervant can be all you need. It provides a quick and seamless way for small and medium-sized enterprises to manage all their inventory. Zervant’s Excel-based inventorying tool comes with three separate tabs: Daily Stocktake, Stock Inventory, and Stock Database.
● Daily Stocktake records every-day stock movements as items come in and go out of your warehouse.
● Stock Inventory calculates your closing stock every day using the opening stock and the stock movements data from the Daily Stocktake tab.
● Stock Database stores all your stock information. It includes a brief description and a unique reference code for each item. Every new item you add to this sheet is automatically added to the Stock Inventory tab in a new row and the Daily Stocktake tab as a new item on the Stock Reference drop-down menu.
Zervant’s simple inventory management excel template provides an easy way to monitor your inventory every day. Best of all, you can use a barcode scanning app like Britecheck to add new items to the Stock Database sheet and record stock in and stock out onto the Stock Inventory tab using just your smartphone.
Template 2: Indzara’s free tool for manufacturing inventory
This free inventory management Excel template from Indzara delivers a specialized stock tracking platform for small manufacturing businesses. You can use this template to view current raw material stocks and calculate how many finished products you can make with the materials available. Indzara’s inventorying template features five Excel sheets: Home, Products, Raw Materials, BOM (Bill of Materials), and Orders.
● Home acts as the introductory sheet. It features brief instructions on how to use the other tabs.
● Products lists all your finished products and the quantities ordered, as derived from the Orders tab.
● Raw Materials lists the raw materials you use, the starting inventory, and each item’s reorder point. It also retrieves the units purchased from the Orders tab and uses the BOM tab to calculate the raw material units remaining after the finished products ordered are produced. For good measure, the template compares the units remaining and your reorder point and tells you whether you need to reorder.
● BOM outlines the bill of materials for making your finished products. It shows you the raw materials you have currently and calculates the finished products the raw materials can make.
● Orders tracks your pending purchases and sales for populating the Products and Raw Materials tabs.
Indzara’s excel inventory template offers commendable functionality in one simple package. It ensures you never miss to deliver customer orders because of raw material shortages. It also monitors your purchases and keeps them within your reorder points for optimum stock levels.
Like Zervant’s template, Indzara works well with inventory management apps like Britecheck. You can use an app to feed details like product names and available raw materials quickly.
Template 3: Office.com’s free tool for warehousing
This template is specific to businesses that store products and raw materials in warehouse bins. Bins typically vary in size and location. With this template, you can know precisely which section an item is located and its quantity for quicker stock-level analysis and optimized warehouse layouts. Office.com’s warehousing excel template has three tabs: Inventory List, Inventory Pick List, and Bin Lookup.
● Inventory List tracks item availability in different bins and locations. It sums up the quantities in the bins and provides the total stock per item and its value. You can also set reorder levels, and the template will tell you whether or not an item needs reordering.
● Inventory Pick List allows you to locate items in bins so you can know where to pick them.
● Bin Lookup acts as a bin database. It stores essential bin information, such as bin size, location, and bin numbers, making it easier to know where to store particular items.
This warehousing template from Office.com offers a straightforward way to track your storage locations. You can know precisely what each bin has and streamline your stock movements.
A mobile inventory app allows you to capture bin data quicker than with manual entries. You can allocate barcodes to your bins and use an app like Britecheck to record bin information directly to the template.
Make your inventory management platform with an Excel template
The choices above are just three of many templates you can use to create your Excel-based stock-keeping system. Although dedicated enterprise management solutions have their perks, you can fulfill your inventorying needs affordably with a template that suits your business.
When combined with an inventory app, your inventory spreadsheets can give you all you need to manage your stock conveniently.
