It goes out the door. And it comes back.
Issuing goes fast: someone needs it and takes it along. On return there is nobody checking whether everything is there, and only at the next order does something turn out to be missing. STOCKflow reads a whole batch in one pass at the door, out and back in.
We start with one rental flow and measure what does not come back each round.
Sound familiar?
These situations come up in rental and in every form of issuing, from tools to event equipment.
- Nothing gets counted on return, so you find a shortage at the next order.
- Nobody knows exactly what is out right now and at which customer.
- A partial return is tracked by hand and stops adding up after that.
- Material that comes back damaged goes straight back into the bin.
- The damage is only charged on when someone happens to notice it.
What it costs
What not coming back costs
Items out per year
Share that does not come back
Replacement value per item
Per year
14,400 euros
With the share of the theoretical gain you actually achieve:
- Conservative
- 5,760 euros
- Expected
- 8,640 euros
- Potential
- 11,520 euros
Worked example based onfour thousand items going out the door per year, two percent of which does not come back, at 180 euros replacement value. Only the replacement, so without the revenue you miss when an order cannot go out because the material is not there. Not a measurement at a customer. The numbers are adjustable: put your own situation in and the outcome follows along.
How out and back in adds up again
The two moments that count are out the door and in the door. Everything in between is registration you do not need if those two are right.
1 / Label what goes out the door
One label per item, and for reusable material a hard tag that survives a round. Which kind that becomes depends on the material and on how roughly it gets handled.
2 / One read moment at the door
A gate or a scan bin at the issue point reads the whole batch in one pass, and links it to the order or to the customer. That is one action instead of working through a list.
3 / On return the same moment, other side
What comes back is read and compared with what went out. The difference is the open item, and it is there right away instead of after the digging.
What this does and what it does not do
What this does and what it does not do
Wel
- Read a whole batch in one pass at issue and at return
- See what is out right now, with whom, and since when
- Handle a partial return without breaking the order open
- Show the difference between out and in right at return
- Set damaged items aside and keep them out of circulation
Niet
- Take over your rental contracts or invoicing: that stays your own system
- Calculate rates or availability
- Work without labels on what you issue
- Stop something from going missing: it makes visible that it did not come back
That last one is the most honest line on this page. Technology does not stop anyone who walks off with something. What it does do is bring the difference to light on the day it happens, instead of at the yearly count.
What changes in practice
Issue in one action
The whole batch passes the reader and is booked to the customer. No working through a list at the counter.Return with the difference included
What comes back is read against what went out. The open item is there right away, not after the digging.What is out right now
With whom, since when, and what is overdue. That question no longer costs you an afternoon.Damage out of circulation
What comes back broken goes aside and not back into the bin. The next customer does not get it anyway.
What this looks like in your operation
The same solution lands differently on a production floor than in a warehouse. Pick your own situation and you will see what changes for you, and what a Proof of Value measures there.
Assets & equipment
Find tools, equipment and carriers faster and lose fewer of them. Measure your time spent searching and prove it on one asset category.
Logistics, warehousing & distribution
Receive, count and ship goods with fewer manual scans and fewer errors. Prove it first on one inbound or outbound process.
How we prove it: a small, paid Proof of Value
We follow one rental flow for a number of rounds: what goes out, what comes back, and what stays open. Almost nobody has that number, and it is usually the whole business case.
Scope
- One type of item or one rental flow
- Temporary labels or hard tags, depending on the material
- One read moment at issue, and the same at return
- Baseline measurement: what does the administration say is out now
- Record per round what went out, came back and stayed open
Go or no-go
After a few rounds you know which share does not come back and what that costs. If that percentage turns out low, that is a fine outcome: then you know the problem sits elsewhere and you have not done a rollout. If it turns out high, the bill is right there next to it.
What you are probably thinking
We know what is out, it is in our system.
The system knows what was posted at issue. Whether that was complete, and whether everything was back in at return, it only knows if someone counted it. Those two counts are exactly the ones that get skipped when it is busy.
Our items are metal, that does not read.
On metal you need an on-metal label or a hard tag with a spacer, and then it does work. Which kind that is, we measure in the Proof of Value on your own material, because it differs per shape and per placement.
Labels do not survive our cycle.
Paper labels do not, hard tags usually do. They take a knock, they take water and in some cases they go through the wash. What your material can handle is one of the things the test day shows.