Check In / Check Out Inventory Control

Definition

A check in – check out inventory solution is used when companies and organizations want to manage inventory that is taken and returned from a single or various locations.  It is most often associated with a “library system” where items are borrowed by individuals and returned at a later time.

Problem/Business Issue That it Solves

The most common business issue that we hear about is missing inventory as well as the length of time it takes to conduct physical inventories if they are conducted at all.  Additionally, many organizations find that only one or two individuals know where all of the items in their stockroom are, so you rely heavily upon them to find items when they are needed, often using a convoluted system of organization.

Track inventory in storage rooms, equipment rooms and tool rooms where items are checked out for periods of time and then returned, or consumed. Offices, hospitals, emergency services, military units, repair shops, and schools are they typical users for a check in-check out solution.

How to Best Solve it

Using an inventory control software application, along with either a scanner or mobile computer, printer, and barcoded labels it is relatively easy for an organization to gain control of their check in/check out inventory. 
There are various different ways to go about integrating an inventory control solution, however most organizations upload their database into the inventory software application and then affix a tamper-proof barcode label to each item that is to be checked in and out.  Each time that someone takes an item out of inventory a record is created of that transaction thus creating a record of the chain of custody.

Depending upon how sophisticated the set-up you want to make, you can have receipts printed up that are signed by the individual, issue tickets for when items are to be returned, and create daily reports showing what inventory is on hand, what has been borrowed, and what inventory is overdue.

Some applications will allow you to take pictures of inventory items to show damage when they are returned, these applications will require a more sophisticated scanning device such as a mobile computer with an integrated imager.

Features & Benefits

Features of a good Check In-Check Out system include:

• Easy to use PC Interface
• Integrated Barcode Label Printing
• Embedded pictures in the database
• Flexible naming of fields
• Robust pre-built & customizable reports
• Transaction History
• Import & Export capabilities
• Integrated database

The benefits that you can expect to receive include:

• Speed up the check in-check out process
• Track by item, employee, department, or customer
• Easily located items
• Improve inventory accuracy
• Decrease the time it takes for physical inventory checks
• Calculate and collect overdue fees
• Cut down or eliminate paperwork altogether
• Eliminate double and triple data entry
• Create a single centralized database of items
• Track how often particular items are used

Where is the ROI?

It is quite common for organizations to receive a quick return on investment from an inventory tracking system.  From cutting down on lost equipment to saving on man-hours spent looking for equipment and reconciling what is on-hand our customers have seen their inventory management go from a nightmare to maintain to one of the easiest parts of their daily operations.

For immediate help with check in/out applications, contact Barcoding Inc.

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Contact us for a complimentary evaluation of your needs. Our sales team will answer all your questions about inventory control and automatic data collection.