Before COVID and the supply chain crisis, industries relied on savvy just-in-time ordering to minimize carrying costs like warehousing, tied-up capital, product spoilage, and waste. According to Investopedia, such carrying costs represent up to 30% of total material value.
When supply chains strained during the pandemic a higher priority emerged: get material ASAP to meet production needs.
“We’re navigating the same supply chain waves as our customers,” said Scott Hudson, Executive VP of Sales & Marketing, BinMaster. “We’re still hearing from people who can’t get their materials delivered on a consistent schedule, so they’re really using BinMaster for planning orders. They just can’t afford to shut down production because of bad or outdated measurement.”
Globally, supply chains are normalizing according to the New York Fed’s Global Supply Chain Index (Bloomberg, 2023). This might prompt a return to just-in-time ordering.
“We’ve been upgrading our BinCloud software to show a history of measurements and we even provide a trendline to help anticipate when materials will run out,” Hudson said. “Those are tools that can really help minimize carrying costs.”
In any environment, accurate measurements, ordering, and historical trending of bulk materials is critical. BinMaster sensors fit that bill. Material managers can see bulk inventory in their tanks, silos, and bins. Using BinCloud software, historical data can help forecast material needs so production does not stop and carrying costs can be minimized.
Sensors collect data and then move it BinCloud which organizes it into real-time monitoring, automated alerts via text, and historical reporting. The software can manage a single site or hundreds of vessels and locations.
