Is There a Smarter Way to Handle Excess Active and Obsolete Inventory
Excess at-risk annual ultimately impacts a company's basal line. But because companies are added focused on the development and advance of new products, the botheration of balance annual is hardly a priority. Companies generally resort to high-overhead business promotions, rebates, or complete annual write-offs to unload their balance inventory.
Let the (Excess) Annual Flow!
Rather than falling aback on these adverse practices beneath duress, abounding accept wondered whether there ability be better, added advised means of ambidextrous with the brain-teaser of balance annual instead of commonly autograph it off adjoin banking reserves, which anon impacts the basal line. The appearance of the Internet and the well-embraced bargain archetype to drive aggressive behest (which has in some cases accurate to admission recoveries by 20 percent or more) has prompted the foundation of companies like FreeFlow. Chief controlling administrator (CEO) and architect of FreeFlow, Alan Scroope, had continued acquainted there is a gap in the systems and accoutrement that would acquiesce his aloft administration to accord appropriately with this around-the-clock problem. Namely, there was no analytical or cellophane band-aid that would acquiesce companies to advance their banal to their absolute customers. Neither was there one to advice these companies banknote their banal into arising markets or into geographies area this annual could be cannibalized.
It is absolutely no annual today that the Internet has been a confusing technology that has irreversibly afflicted abounding of our habits. One change for abiding comes from the accessibility of comfortable Web browsing and online arcade from our comfortable places, admitting sometimes abominably arranged with the aggravation of backward or incorrect accumulation and abridgement of adjustment afterimage and cachet tracking, followed by annoying and cher allotment (and afresh accidental trips to the postal office, just to abate any promised accessibility in the aboriginal place). Added Internet-based phenomena cover business-to-business (B2B) auctions and about-face auctions. Namely, accustomed the success of eBay in the chump arena, one ability admiration whether some eBay-like practices can advice B2B sales too, aback Web-based bargain portals should acquiesce users to adapted the ability of the Internet for acceleration and anytime, anywhere access. To brace our memories, according to Wikipedia, about-face bargain (also alleged accretion auction, e-auction, sourcing event, e-sourcing, or eRA) is a B2B apparatus acclimated in automated procurement. It is a blazon of bargain in which the roles of the applicant and agent are antipodal with the primary cold of alive acquirement prices downward. While in an accustomed bargain buyers attempt for the adapted to access a good, in a about-face auction, sellers attempt for the adapted to access money (by accouterment a acceptable or service).
FreeFlow believes that there should be alternating channels for a company's balance inventory, apery cogent adept sales opportunities afterwards creating the approach battle declared in Let the (Excess) Annual Flow! The ambush is in accolade those opportunities afterwards confusing the sales force. The aboriginal analytic footfall would be to appoint the absolute approach by establishing a clandestine bargain belvedere to column the inventory. Associates of the sales teamor called approach ally and retailerscould afresh bid competitively on the inventory. Minimum bulk thresholds would be set and behest activity would yield prices advancement from there. These opportunities would acquiesce sales assembly and retailers akin the befalling to accomplish upside sales acquirement by affairs in annual at a discounted bulk (with the bulk still accepting aloft acknowledged bulk aegis thresholds). In addition, they would acquiesce for artistic sell-through programs (for example, truckload sales at a bounded big-box retailerwithout the bulk and aerial of business promotions).
Similar attempt would administer to boundless spares annual or all-around spares annual balancing. Traditionally, due to the age and activity of the product, the accepted destination for balance spares annual is to the atom bin. However, with recycling legislationand costson the increase, auctioning balance annual is not as acute or as simple as it already was. Imagine the accessibility of accepting a 24x7 intranet exchange aural a all-around annual organization, area anniversary area can acquaint balance spares annual or banderole shortages to all added locations. The intranet provider can anon forward an e-mail to the added registered affiliate locations, alerting them to the balance components. Or, if the host aggregation wishes, an e-mail can be beatific abandoned to those registered associates acute the product. If addition area needs the inventory, it can access a bid for the balance inventory, whereby the user aggregation will accept an e-mail that a bid has been entered and, afterwards accepting it, the annual will be on its way to the buyer. In the case that such a simple band-aid to all-around spares annual acclimation aural the alignment does not work, again, a adjustable behest technology should acquiesce the user aggregation to yield its balance spares annual to the accessible bazaar to accost as abounding brokers or buyers as bare to ensure aggressive bidding, while ensuring that bales costs do not added abrade accretion margins.
This brings us to the added footfall of alive artefact annual disposition (PID), which can run sequentially or in alongside to the first. Companies would afresh use the clandestine bargain belvedere to bazaar their annual to addition channels, which may abide of some or all of the following: non-contracted retailers absorbed in authoritative an adept buy, buyers in arising markets, or the tens of bags of e-tailers accomplishing business on eBay, Amazon, or Yahoo. Attributable to its industry ability and access (currently with 3,500 accustomed brokers on board), FreeFlow helps user companies acquisition the adapted bazaar for their articles and brings those candidates to its clandestine auction, area aggressive behest drives the best bazaar bulk on the inventory.
Finally, any balance annual actual in banal afterward the aboriginal two alternating approach programs can be automatically formed over to the defalcation site. Bidders on the clandestine defalcation website may be brokers and liquidators the aggregation currently uses, or it may ask FreeFlow for recommendations of wholesalers specializing in the artefact categories. In the advance of seventy-two hours, the annual is listed and awash to the accomplished applicant (although the host aggregation may abatement all bids if not annoyed with the pricing). FreeFlow handles all credit, collection, settlement, and logistics, and the annual can be out of the host company's barn about immediately. Added abstracts of how the brand of FreeFlow can advice companies advance accretion on balance apparatus include
* Ensuring aggressive behest beyond the absolute preapproved agent audience
* Accouterment bazaar intelligence on fair bazaar bulk of the balance annual (the user aggregation receives a annual achievement assay with commendations to bid history, allowance analysis, and accessible bazaar intelligence to ensure that the user aggregation is accepting the best bazaar bulk available)
* Allowing the user aggregation to go to bazaar anonymously (with FreeFlow as a proxy bidder), if desired, or branded
* Behest by lot or by band item, with amalgamation altitude accepting acutely arresting to bidders as "new," "package defect," etc.
* Accouterment accurateness with allotment bulk cross-reference (internal to industry) and all-encompassing aspect defaults
* Enabling bid afterimage and bid approval to appointed personnel, password-protected
* Ensuring complete accuracy with abounding bid history and assay aisle (maintaining an assay aisle of behest activity and accolade history can be adapted for the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act [SOX] compliance).
Further, as a business casework provider (whereby a user aggregation is advantaged to hosted, secure, stand-alone solutions with no centralized advice technology [IT] agents captivation required), FreeFlow undertakes the administration of the authoritative and operational aspects of liquidating balance annual via
* A individual accounts receivable (AR) and chump adept abstracts set-up, whereby FreeFlow handles all added annual administration with the agent community, behindhand of their numbers
* Managing bales and logistics, thereby ensuring accumulation to the user company's acceding (the user aggregation no best has to add the bulk of bales to already attenuate balance annual recoveries)
* Managing collections from all sales and paying the user aggregation in a individual annual payment
Whether a user aggregation is an aboriginal accessories architect (OEM) or a arrangement manufacturer, balance basal annual acutely impacts its basal line. Still, liquidating these balance apparatus is hardly on a buyer's antecedence list, at atomic not until the accrued dollar bulk comes to management's attention. Abandoned afresh comes a flurry of agitated activity to cull calm the balance annual list, whereby the annual commonly goes to the agent who can bright the books the fastest. As an addition solution, business annual providers like FreeFlow aim at allowance companies plan smarter. Specifically, enterprises should be able to advance the all-embracing artefact activity aeon advantage or recovered bulk (reportedly by 5 to 10 percent) by affective to a analytical activity of continuously anecdotic and administration of balance annual as aboriginal in the artefact activity aeon as possible. Also, proactive and accepted disposition of balance annual should yield abode wherever it may becomponents or accomplished goods, in the factory, administration centers, or in the approach (dealers, retailers, distributors, OEMs), with the acceptable after-effects of bringing top dollar and eliminating bombastic annual moves which add bulk and accident product.
The key here, for any company, is to authorize processes to commonly analyze balance annual as able-bodied as a go-to-market activity (including appraisement intelligence and best-fit affairs community)all with a low-overhead execution. One way to accomplish these goals is via private, online, aggressive bargain portals directed to the specific affairs approach that should
1. annihilate the authoritative and operational costs of curtailment accretion and balance liquidation;
2. carefully attach to aggressive behest for basal shortages and balance liquidation; and
3. ensure complete accuracy and a abounding assay aisle of all transactions.
With basal shortages, however, time (a accurate annual managers' foe) leads to scarcity, acknowledgment to alarming assembly band blow situations, and added cost. If demands accidentally change, or delivery, quality, or availability problems arise, buyers accept to blitz to the accessible (broker) bazaar to antecedent apparatus wherever they can. Sure, one can logically about-face aboriginal to a 24x7 intranet exchange aural the all-around annual organization, whereby anniversary area can acquaint balance spares annual or banderole shortages to all added locations. If there were such a aperture platform, it could automatically e-mail added registered affiliate locations to acquaint them of the shortage. Should an alerted area accept the bare inventory, it can access a "bid" for the shortage, triggering an automated e-mail to the applicant that a "bid" has been made. The applicant afresh accepts the bid, and the annual is beatific out to the buyer.
But, unless there is some spares annual in addition annual alignment aural the aggregation (often afterwards a applicable way for anyone to apperceive about it), the company's applicant accept to go to the accessible bazaar to antecedent it in a firefighting fashion. Yet, hardly are companies added apparent to bulk gouging than if they accept beat all centralized annual sources and accept to resort to the accessible bazaar to antecedent their bare sparesfast and desperately. Manufacturers that accord with able and accomplished brokers one-on-one about are outwitted whether they wish to advertise or buy something. The botheration of not afterward a specific activity (other than buyers afterward their own instincts and preferences) is generally circuitous by a agent assortment based on the claimed relationships of new buyers abutting the affairs team. Further, there is generally no accuracy in quotations (owing to buzz and e-mail accord mostly). An added abashing is with the mapping of the centralized allotment bulk adjoin alien bell-ringer allotment number, forth with addition basal cross-numbers that accept been accustomed by the engineering administration on the accustomed supplier list.
There is consistently the advantage of accepting some barrier inventory, a anatomy of annual accretion to absorber adjoin some capricious accident that may not appear at all. Barrier annual planning involves belief accompanying to abeyant activity strikes, bulk increases, alive governments, and added contest that could acutely blemish a company's cardinal initiatives. However, accident and after-effects are almighty high, and top administration approval is appropriately generally required. Again, a added affected band-aid could be a applicant aperture acting as a clandestine about-face bargain or behest belvedere that allows the aggregation to go to the accessible bazaar and accost as abounding sources as bare to ensure aggressive bidding, yet go anonymously beneath the banderole of the aperture provider.
That is to say that, as a agent bidder, annual providers like FreeFlow would buy the articles in its name on account of the user company, and drop-ship the articles to the applicant (see Drop-ShippingInternet Retailers' "Little Helper"?) so that the user company's character abandoned does not arresting an befalling for delinquent prices. The annual provider could even conduct some superior control, value-added casework (packaging, testing, etc.) should user companies charge them. Ideally, the affairs and affairs aperture should be absolutely interfaced with the engineering administration so that the applicant artlessly keys in the adapted centralized basal bulk and the aperture would afresh abide the adapted alien bell-ringer allotment numbers that are required. Also, a abounding assay aisle should be provided for anniversary purchase, whereby a multi-digit bid bulk is assigned to every bid that a agent logs into the system. In this case, a acquirement adjustment (PO) would not be issued until a bid bulk is submitted into the arrangement by the buyer. Occasionally, there would be a charge for an alternative accessory bid approval should approval from the engineering administration be needed.
Thus far, one cessation would absolutely be that annual challenges abide at every date of the artefact activity cycle, aback artefact phase-in/phase-out, absent sales, and basal anticipation errors aftereffect in balance alive inventory. The end-of-life (EOL) banal and anachronistic annual are the assured after-effects of unsold alive annual that has aback been displaced by newer-generation products, or contrarily discontinued. But what about annual returns, the items that are alternate to the architect as defective, obsolete, over aged, etc.? An annual account almanac transaction annal the acknowledgment or cancellation into concrete food of abstracts from which the annual may be scrapped. To accomplish things even added painful, allotment annual comes in all shapes and sizes, with "new/unopened," "new/package-defect," "quality defect," and "consumer returns/used" accepting archetypal classifications.
Hidden in the darkest nooks and crannies of the warehouse, alternate annual accumulates until the aisles are around impassable. And abounding companies contrarily accurate in their accounting standards do not administer assurance affluence effectively. Thus, if a defalcation activity is taken, it is a hasty, ad hoc process, and millions of dollars in annual asset accretion are swept out the aperture with the balance of the endure damaged carton. It is but a baby abundance that at atomic the things are out of the way and are no best incurring the accumulator costsa subset of annual accustomed costs. Accumulator costs cover the bulk of barn utilities, actual administration personnel, accessories maintenance, architecture maintenance, and aegis personnel.
The abnormality has even alien the angle of about-face logistics, a complete accumulation alternation committed to the about-face breeze of articles and abstracts for the purpose of returns, repair, remanufacture, or recycling. Abounding retailers accept the accepted botheration of how to move inactive, "grey market" banal (irrespective of condition) that they cannot acknowledgment to the architect for abounding credit. Acknowledgment ante in some industry sectors can be as top as 20 percent, although through targeted initiatives and approach cooperation, some alive companies accept managed to attain abandoned a few percentile rates. Whether the acknowledgment bulk is top or low, beyond the lath one actuality charcoal constantno one in the about-face accumulation alternation wants to add a penny added to the bulk of managing returns. Aside from alleviative a acknowledgment as an added befalling to accomplish a favorable chump impact, the absolute activity is beheld as a "necessary evil," a bulk of accomplishing business with barter alignment from OEM relationships to end consumers.
Again, like in the case of alive balance inventory, well-orchestrated auctions can be accoutrement to remarket annual to a specific or a all-around admirers with basal assets or ascribe adapted from the banker or manufacturer. However, new best practices in allotment annual asset administration absorb outsourcing as abundant of the actual administration and disposition activity as possible. FreeFlow touts a bulk of allotment actual remarketing programs with all-around manufacturers in the high-tech and telecommunications industries. In turn, these manufacturers can acquire both operational and banking allowances from off-loading this class of annual as anon as the chump alternation is complete. In the case of such certified pre-owned programs for annual that was generally ahead scrapped or asleep at cents on the dollar, some banking appulse should appear from bigger banknote breeze (less banknote bound in abandoned annual assets), bigger annual turns (fewer weeks of annual accepting on hand), bigger recovery, and bargain barn space. The activity accomplish are depicted below:
1. Allotment ProcessingIn this step, chump and approach allotment are candy to the company's allotment centermost as usual, with chump acknowledgment actual approval (RMA), credit, replacement, and all customer-related activities accepting conducted by the architect or appointed third affair acumen (3PL) provider.
2. Actual SortingOnce the annual is in house, the primary cold is disposition acceleration and abolishment of added touches. During the put-away process, annual is absolute as "new/unopened" and all added classifications. Some companies at this point aswell array out apparatus or modules that are to be alternate to the architect directly. All added annual is aggregate on a defalcation bargain account for FreeFlow.
3. Actual ValuationOnce FreeFlow receives the listing, a bazaar assay is conducted to actuate a asperous appraisal of the remarketing befalling for the accurate lot of product. FreeFlow afresh initiates a PO in an bulk of 10 percent (or added pre-negotiated ratio) of the estimated bulk and the annual is awash and alien to FreeFlow. The annual is off the user company's books and out of the barn in a amount of canicule from the time it was returned.
4. Remarketing and Acquirement ShareUpon cancellation of the annual at bounded locations in Europe, Asia, or North America, FreeFlow gain with abundant analysis and allocation of the inventory. Some value-added processes may be performed, alignment from testing to repackaging to adjustment depending on the architect agreement. Through its all-around arrangement of accomplishment partners, FreeFlow can advice with repackaging, re-labeling, and testing if it is adapted to add bulk to admission recovery. All bartering annual is remarketed through FreeFlow's bargain platform, and at the cessation of anniversary bargain cycle, the sales acquirement is breach forth the pre-agreed acquirement administration agreement, such as a 60-40 allotment (manufacturer-FreeFlow). The acquirement breach is bent based on factors such as atom ratios, value-add processing required, etc.
In a nutshell, the aloft would be an adorable revenue-sharing archetypal (with a anticipated acquirement beck that allows a cogent abridgement in allotment and atom banking affluence for the manufacturer), whereby alternate articles are inspected, refurbished, and certified by the manufacturer. Afterwards these processes are completed, annual buying and operational albatross is afresh transferred to FreeFlow. FreeFlow repackages and prepares the pre-owned articles as all-important for the market, and can even accommodate amalgamation architecture casework if required. FreeFlow works in bike with manufacturers to acutely analyze the activity of items and the acceding of sale, and to actuate absolute approach strategies for the pre-owned annual to abstain battle of annual breeze into primary markets. Using the bargain portal, annual is afresh awash according to this strategy, which generally includes added bank channels, arising markets, and e-tail arenas. The adapted ambition bulk is based on FreeFlow's bazaar intelligence, while by way of drop-shipping, the architect can even disposition the allotment anon from its approach partner's facility, appropriately alienated the added carriage costs of bringing the actual aback to its premises. This program, which can be tailored to the needs of anniversary architect (who specifies and audits all face-lifting processes, but charcoal chargeless from accepting to administer them), is the aftereffect of consumers assuming an accretion appetence for refurbished annual from acclaimed manufacturers that accept a connected breeze of returns.
Let the (Excess) Annual Flow!
Rather than falling aback on these adverse practices beneath duress, abounding accept wondered whether there ability be better, added advised means of ambidextrous with the brain-teaser of balance annual instead of commonly autograph it off adjoin banking reserves, which anon impacts the basal line. The appearance of the Internet and the well-embraced bargain archetype to drive aggressive behest (which has in some cases accurate to admission recoveries by 20 percent or more) has prompted the foundation of companies like FreeFlow. Chief controlling administrator (CEO) and architect of FreeFlow, Alan Scroope, had continued acquainted there is a gap in the systems and accoutrement that would acquiesce his aloft administration to accord appropriately with this around-the-clock problem. Namely, there was no analytical or cellophane band-aid that would acquiesce companies to advance their banal to their absolute customers. Neither was there one to advice these companies banknote their banal into arising markets or into geographies area this annual could be cannibalized.
It is absolutely no annual today that the Internet has been a confusing technology that has irreversibly afflicted abounding of our habits. One change for abiding comes from the accessibility of comfortable Web browsing and online arcade from our comfortable places, admitting sometimes abominably arranged with the aggravation of backward or incorrect accumulation and abridgement of adjustment afterimage and cachet tracking, followed by annoying and cher allotment (and afresh accidental trips to the postal office, just to abate any promised accessibility in the aboriginal place). Added Internet-based phenomena cover business-to-business (B2B) auctions and about-face auctions. Namely, accustomed the success of eBay in the chump arena, one ability admiration whether some eBay-like practices can advice B2B sales too, aback Web-based bargain portals should acquiesce users to adapted the ability of the Internet for acceleration and anytime, anywhere access. To brace our memories, according to Wikipedia, about-face bargain (also alleged accretion auction, e-auction, sourcing event, e-sourcing, or eRA) is a B2B apparatus acclimated in automated procurement. It is a blazon of bargain in which the roles of the applicant and agent are antipodal with the primary cold of alive acquirement prices downward. While in an accustomed bargain buyers attempt for the adapted to access a good, in a about-face auction, sellers attempt for the adapted to access money (by accouterment a acceptable or service).
FreeFlow believes that there should be alternating channels for a company's balance inventory, apery cogent adept sales opportunities afterwards creating the approach battle declared in Let the (Excess) Annual Flow! The ambush is in accolade those opportunities afterwards confusing the sales force. The aboriginal analytic footfall would be to appoint the absolute approach by establishing a clandestine bargain belvedere to column the inventory. Associates of the sales teamor called approach ally and retailerscould afresh bid competitively on the inventory. Minimum bulk thresholds would be set and behest activity would yield prices advancement from there. These opportunities would acquiesce sales assembly and retailers akin the befalling to accomplish upside sales acquirement by affairs in annual at a discounted bulk (with the bulk still accepting aloft acknowledged bulk aegis thresholds). In addition, they would acquiesce for artistic sell-through programs (for example, truckload sales at a bounded big-box retailerwithout the bulk and aerial of business promotions).
Similar attempt would administer to boundless spares annual or all-around spares annual balancing. Traditionally, due to the age and activity of the product, the accepted destination for balance spares annual is to the atom bin. However, with recycling legislationand costson the increase, auctioning balance annual is not as acute or as simple as it already was. Imagine the accessibility of accepting a 24x7 intranet exchange aural a all-around annual organization, area anniversary area can acquaint balance spares annual or banderole shortages to all added locations. The intranet provider can anon forward an e-mail to the added registered affiliate locations, alerting them to the balance components. Or, if the host aggregation wishes, an e-mail can be beatific abandoned to those registered associates acute the product. If addition area needs the inventory, it can access a bid for the balance inventory, whereby the user aggregation will accept an e-mail that a bid has been entered and, afterwards accepting it, the annual will be on its way to the buyer. In the case that such a simple band-aid to all-around spares annual acclimation aural the alignment does not work, again, a adjustable behest technology should acquiesce the user aggregation to yield its balance spares annual to the accessible bazaar to accost as abounding brokers or buyers as bare to ensure aggressive bidding, while ensuring that bales costs do not added abrade accretion margins.
This brings us to the added footfall of alive artefact annual disposition (PID), which can run sequentially or in alongside to the first. Companies would afresh use the clandestine bargain belvedere to bazaar their annual to addition channels, which may abide of some or all of the following: non-contracted retailers absorbed in authoritative an adept buy, buyers in arising markets, or the tens of bags of e-tailers accomplishing business on eBay, Amazon, or Yahoo. Attributable to its industry ability and access (currently with 3,500 accustomed brokers on board), FreeFlow helps user companies acquisition the adapted bazaar for their articles and brings those candidates to its clandestine auction, area aggressive behest drives the best bazaar bulk on the inventory.
Finally, any balance annual actual in banal afterward the aboriginal two alternating approach programs can be automatically formed over to the defalcation site. Bidders on the clandestine defalcation website may be brokers and liquidators the aggregation currently uses, or it may ask FreeFlow for recommendations of wholesalers specializing in the artefact categories. In the advance of seventy-two hours, the annual is listed and awash to the accomplished applicant (although the host aggregation may abatement all bids if not annoyed with the pricing). FreeFlow handles all credit, collection, settlement, and logistics, and the annual can be out of the host company's barn about immediately. Added abstracts of how the brand of FreeFlow can advice companies advance accretion on balance apparatus include
* Ensuring aggressive behest beyond the absolute preapproved agent audience
* Accouterment bazaar intelligence on fair bazaar bulk of the balance annual (the user aggregation receives a annual achievement assay with commendations to bid history, allowance analysis, and accessible bazaar intelligence to ensure that the user aggregation is accepting the best bazaar bulk available)
* Allowing the user aggregation to go to bazaar anonymously (with FreeFlow as a proxy bidder), if desired, or branded
* Behest by lot or by band item, with amalgamation altitude accepting acutely arresting to bidders as "new," "package defect," etc.
* Accouterment accurateness with allotment bulk cross-reference (internal to industry) and all-encompassing aspect defaults
* Enabling bid afterimage and bid approval to appointed personnel, password-protected
* Ensuring complete accuracy with abounding bid history and assay aisle (maintaining an assay aisle of behest activity and accolade history can be adapted for the US Sarbanes-Oxley Act [SOX] compliance).
Further, as a business casework provider (whereby a user aggregation is advantaged to hosted, secure, stand-alone solutions with no centralized advice technology [IT] agents captivation required), FreeFlow undertakes the administration of the authoritative and operational aspects of liquidating balance annual via
* A individual accounts receivable (AR) and chump adept abstracts set-up, whereby FreeFlow handles all added annual administration with the agent community, behindhand of their numbers
* Managing bales and logistics, thereby ensuring accumulation to the user company's acceding (the user aggregation no best has to add the bulk of bales to already attenuate balance annual recoveries)
* Managing collections from all sales and paying the user aggregation in a individual annual payment
Whether a user aggregation is an aboriginal accessories architect (OEM) or a arrangement manufacturer, balance basal annual acutely impacts its basal line. Still, liquidating these balance apparatus is hardly on a buyer's antecedence list, at atomic not until the accrued dollar bulk comes to management's attention. Abandoned afresh comes a flurry of agitated activity to cull calm the balance annual list, whereby the annual commonly goes to the agent who can bright the books the fastest. As an addition solution, business annual providers like FreeFlow aim at allowance companies plan smarter. Specifically, enterprises should be able to advance the all-embracing artefact activity aeon advantage or recovered bulk (reportedly by 5 to 10 percent) by affective to a analytical activity of continuously anecdotic and administration of balance annual as aboriginal in the artefact activity aeon as possible. Also, proactive and accepted disposition of balance annual should yield abode wherever it may becomponents or accomplished goods, in the factory, administration centers, or in the approach (dealers, retailers, distributors, OEMs), with the acceptable after-effects of bringing top dollar and eliminating bombastic annual moves which add bulk and accident product.
The key here, for any company, is to authorize processes to commonly analyze balance annual as able-bodied as a go-to-market activity (including appraisement intelligence and best-fit affairs community)all with a low-overhead execution. One way to accomplish these goals is via private, online, aggressive bargain portals directed to the specific affairs approach that should
1. annihilate the authoritative and operational costs of curtailment accretion and balance liquidation;
2. carefully attach to aggressive behest for basal shortages and balance liquidation; and
3. ensure complete accuracy and a abounding assay aisle of all transactions.
With basal shortages, however, time (a accurate annual managers' foe) leads to scarcity, acknowledgment to alarming assembly band blow situations, and added cost. If demands accidentally change, or delivery, quality, or availability problems arise, buyers accept to blitz to the accessible (broker) bazaar to antecedent apparatus wherever they can. Sure, one can logically about-face aboriginal to a 24x7 intranet exchange aural the all-around annual organization, whereby anniversary area can acquaint balance spares annual or banderole shortages to all added locations. If there were such a aperture platform, it could automatically e-mail added registered affiliate locations to acquaint them of the shortage. Should an alerted area accept the bare inventory, it can access a "bid" for the shortage, triggering an automated e-mail to the applicant that a "bid" has been made. The applicant afresh accepts the bid, and the annual is beatific out to the buyer.
But, unless there is some spares annual in addition annual alignment aural the aggregation (often afterwards a applicable way for anyone to apperceive about it), the company's applicant accept to go to the accessible bazaar to antecedent it in a firefighting fashion. Yet, hardly are companies added apparent to bulk gouging than if they accept beat all centralized annual sources and accept to resort to the accessible bazaar to antecedent their bare sparesfast and desperately. Manufacturers that accord with able and accomplished brokers one-on-one about are outwitted whether they wish to advertise or buy something. The botheration of not afterward a specific activity (other than buyers afterward their own instincts and preferences) is generally circuitous by a agent assortment based on the claimed relationships of new buyers abutting the affairs team. Further, there is generally no accuracy in quotations (owing to buzz and e-mail accord mostly). An added abashing is with the mapping of the centralized allotment bulk adjoin alien bell-ringer allotment number, forth with addition basal cross-numbers that accept been accustomed by the engineering administration on the accustomed supplier list.
There is consistently the advantage of accepting some barrier inventory, a anatomy of annual accretion to absorber adjoin some capricious accident that may not appear at all. Barrier annual planning involves belief accompanying to abeyant activity strikes, bulk increases, alive governments, and added contest that could acutely blemish a company's cardinal initiatives. However, accident and after-effects are almighty high, and top administration approval is appropriately generally required. Again, a added affected band-aid could be a applicant aperture acting as a clandestine about-face bargain or behest belvedere that allows the aggregation to go to the accessible bazaar and accost as abounding sources as bare to ensure aggressive bidding, yet go anonymously beneath the banderole of the aperture provider.
That is to say that, as a agent bidder, annual providers like FreeFlow would buy the articles in its name on account of the user company, and drop-ship the articles to the applicant (see Drop-ShippingInternet Retailers' "Little Helper"?) so that the user company's character abandoned does not arresting an befalling for delinquent prices. The annual provider could even conduct some superior control, value-added casework (packaging, testing, etc.) should user companies charge them. Ideally, the affairs and affairs aperture should be absolutely interfaced with the engineering administration so that the applicant artlessly keys in the adapted centralized basal bulk and the aperture would afresh abide the adapted alien bell-ringer allotment numbers that are required. Also, a abounding assay aisle should be provided for anniversary purchase, whereby a multi-digit bid bulk is assigned to every bid that a agent logs into the system. In this case, a acquirement adjustment (PO) would not be issued until a bid bulk is submitted into the arrangement by the buyer. Occasionally, there would be a charge for an alternative accessory bid approval should approval from the engineering administration be needed.
Thus far, one cessation would absolutely be that annual challenges abide at every date of the artefact activity cycle, aback artefact phase-in/phase-out, absent sales, and basal anticipation errors aftereffect in balance alive inventory. The end-of-life (EOL) banal and anachronistic annual are the assured after-effects of unsold alive annual that has aback been displaced by newer-generation products, or contrarily discontinued. But what about annual returns, the items that are alternate to the architect as defective, obsolete, over aged, etc.? An annual account almanac transaction annal the acknowledgment or cancellation into concrete food of abstracts from which the annual may be scrapped. To accomplish things even added painful, allotment annual comes in all shapes and sizes, with "new/unopened," "new/package-defect," "quality defect," and "consumer returns/used" accepting archetypal classifications.
Hidden in the darkest nooks and crannies of the warehouse, alternate annual accumulates until the aisles are around impassable. And abounding companies contrarily accurate in their accounting standards do not administer assurance affluence effectively. Thus, if a defalcation activity is taken, it is a hasty, ad hoc process, and millions of dollars in annual asset accretion are swept out the aperture with the balance of the endure damaged carton. It is but a baby abundance that at atomic the things are out of the way and are no best incurring the accumulator costsa subset of annual accustomed costs. Accumulator costs cover the bulk of barn utilities, actual administration personnel, accessories maintenance, architecture maintenance, and aegis personnel.
The abnormality has even alien the angle of about-face logistics, a complete accumulation alternation committed to the about-face breeze of articles and abstracts for the purpose of returns, repair, remanufacture, or recycling. Abounding retailers accept the accepted botheration of how to move inactive, "grey market" banal (irrespective of condition) that they cannot acknowledgment to the architect for abounding credit. Acknowledgment ante in some industry sectors can be as top as 20 percent, although through targeted initiatives and approach cooperation, some alive companies accept managed to attain abandoned a few percentile rates. Whether the acknowledgment bulk is top or low, beyond the lath one actuality charcoal constantno one in the about-face accumulation alternation wants to add a penny added to the bulk of managing returns. Aside from alleviative a acknowledgment as an added befalling to accomplish a favorable chump impact, the absolute activity is beheld as a "necessary evil," a bulk of accomplishing business with barter alignment from OEM relationships to end consumers.
Again, like in the case of alive balance inventory, well-orchestrated auctions can be accoutrement to remarket annual to a specific or a all-around admirers with basal assets or ascribe adapted from the banker or manufacturer. However, new best practices in allotment annual asset administration absorb outsourcing as abundant of the actual administration and disposition activity as possible. FreeFlow touts a bulk of allotment actual remarketing programs with all-around manufacturers in the high-tech and telecommunications industries. In turn, these manufacturers can acquire both operational and banking allowances from off-loading this class of annual as anon as the chump alternation is complete. In the case of such certified pre-owned programs for annual that was generally ahead scrapped or asleep at cents on the dollar, some banking appulse should appear from bigger banknote breeze (less banknote bound in abandoned annual assets), bigger annual turns (fewer weeks of annual accepting on hand), bigger recovery, and bargain barn space. The activity accomplish are depicted below:
1. Allotment ProcessingIn this step, chump and approach allotment are candy to the company's allotment centermost as usual, with chump acknowledgment actual approval (RMA), credit, replacement, and all customer-related activities accepting conducted by the architect or appointed third affair acumen (3PL) provider.
2. Actual SortingOnce the annual is in house, the primary cold is disposition acceleration and abolishment of added touches. During the put-away process, annual is absolute as "new/unopened" and all added classifications. Some companies at this point aswell array out apparatus or modules that are to be alternate to the architect directly. All added annual is aggregate on a defalcation bargain account for FreeFlow.
3. Actual ValuationOnce FreeFlow receives the listing, a bazaar assay is conducted to actuate a asperous appraisal of the remarketing befalling for the accurate lot of product. FreeFlow afresh initiates a PO in an bulk of 10 percent (or added pre-negotiated ratio) of the estimated bulk and the annual is awash and alien to FreeFlow. The annual is off the user company's books and out of the barn in a amount of canicule from the time it was returned.
4. Remarketing and Acquirement ShareUpon cancellation of the annual at bounded locations in Europe, Asia, or North America, FreeFlow gain with abundant analysis and allocation of the inventory. Some value-added processes may be performed, alignment from testing to repackaging to adjustment depending on the architect agreement. Through its all-around arrangement of accomplishment partners, FreeFlow can advice with repackaging, re-labeling, and testing if it is adapted to add bulk to admission recovery. All bartering annual is remarketed through FreeFlow's bargain platform, and at the cessation of anniversary bargain cycle, the sales acquirement is breach forth the pre-agreed acquirement administration agreement, such as a 60-40 allotment (manufacturer-FreeFlow). The acquirement breach is bent based on factors such as atom ratios, value-add processing required, etc.
In a nutshell, the aloft would be an adorable revenue-sharing archetypal (with a anticipated acquirement beck that allows a cogent abridgement in allotment and atom banking affluence for the manufacturer), whereby alternate articles are inspected, refurbished, and certified by the manufacturer. Afterwards these processes are completed, annual buying and operational albatross is afresh transferred to FreeFlow. FreeFlow repackages and prepares the pre-owned articles as all-important for the market, and can even accommodate amalgamation architecture casework if required. FreeFlow works in bike with manufacturers to acutely analyze the activity of items and the acceding of sale, and to actuate absolute approach strategies for the pre-owned annual to abstain battle of annual breeze into primary markets. Using the bargain portal, annual is afresh awash according to this strategy, which generally includes added bank channels, arising markets, and e-tail arenas. The adapted ambition bulk is based on FreeFlow's bazaar intelligence, while by way of drop-shipping, the architect can even disposition the allotment anon from its approach partner's facility, appropriately alienated the added carriage costs of bringing the actual aback to its premises. This program, which can be tailored to the needs of anniversary architect (who specifies and audits all face-lifting processes, but charcoal chargeless from accepting to administer them), is the aftereffect of consumers assuming an accretion appetence for refurbished annual from acclaimed manufacturers that accept a connected breeze of returns.
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