The evolution of inventory management

By Dani Sheehan. 

With insights from a seasoned contractor and a software engineer, this webinar addresses the challenges and solutions for improving your inventory management strategy. 

Inventory management is a critical aspect of the industry, and yet, it often remains one of the most challenging areas to optimize. In a recent episode of Coffee Conversations™, Heidi J. Ellsworth met with Eugene Zukowski from Jobba Trade Technologies and Brad Sutter from Sutter Roofing Company of Florida to hear their valuable insights into why software solutions are becoming indispensable for contractors aiming to achieve efficient and effective inventory tracking. 

Brad set the stage by emphasizing the core question that every roofing contractor faces. He shared, “What do we have and where is it? Inventory management is about placing the materials for each project in the right place at the right time. It’s also about efficiently using what we’ve already purchased to keep job costs down and prevent inventory from swelling.” 

As Eugene added, identifying inventory is a common blind spot within roofing companies. “Everybody’s so focused on day-to-day operations – customer service, communication and the like. Inventory is that blind spot that everyone knows about, but they don’t know what to do to resolve it. It’s something that would be great to solve, but it always ends up getting put on the back burner,” he explained. 

The supply chain challenges, particularly during the pandemic, and technological advances are starting to change the inventory game. As Heidi pointed out, the industry has moved through iterations of companies owning large warehouses and fully stocked yards to just-in-time concepts where they relied on manufacturers and distributors to get them the products when they needed them. Brad elaborated on her observation, sharing, “Now you have people that are real-time inventory systems, tracking, barcoding and things that can be automated. It has been a full evolution from simplicity all the way to a fully automized type of reporting. So, technology has come into play here too.” 

An effective inventory management system can streamline processes and ensure materials are tracked accurately, reorders are automated and integrations with other business systems are seamless.  

Read the transcript, Listen to the podcast or Watch the webinar to learn more about improving your inventory management practices.