Penn Veterinary Supply, Inc. - Since 1981

Inventory is a double-edged sword.

Of course, you need to have inventory on hand in order to complete appointments and procedures as well as provide your patients with products for at-home treatment and care. It’s a way to make revenue and if you don’t have a product, your customers will get it from somewhere else!

However, we all know that inventory costs money to stock and takes up valuable space in your clinic. Purchase more than you need and you may end up wasting it. Chances are, your clinic has experienced some sort of distress between employees that stemmed from bad inventory management.

Managing inventory is a balancing act - and it doesn’t have to be a constant struggle to get the balance right. We’ve got 9 best practices and tools that will alleviate the inventory management nightmare and help you better sleep at night!

1. Set Clear Expectations

You know that in a busy veterinary practice, there are a lot of moving parts and it’s easy for things to fall through the cracks - your inventory is NOT something you want to let fall through the cracks!

Make sure to set clear expectations of WHO is responsible for managing your inventory and WHAT your practice’s procedure and protocol is. Too many cooks in the kitchen can apply here, but you should try to have at least 2 people involved should someone go on vacation or suddenly leave permanently. Have your procedures written down and make sure all new hires have access to it or are at least briefly trained on it.

2. Take Time to Evaluate

To get a handle on your inventory, you need to know how much you go through in a certain time period. Guessing and eyeballing could lead to a disastrous situation! Use your practice software or an excel spreadsheet to track how much of each product you go through in a month. Keep in mind that your business might ebb and flow with different seasons! Use this information to know how much product you need to order to meet the demands of your business.

Don’t forget that pennvet.com shows your order history for each product on the product detail pages! You can also use the Spending Analytics Dashboard to see past order history! This is extremely helpful if Penn Vet is your main distributor. Give us a call at 800-233-0210 if you’d like for a Rep to show you how!

3. Use Reorder Tags

Use these fillable and printable reorder tags to make reordering easy! Fill out the information on the tag, then put them on the wall or shelf next to where you keep the product. You could also rubber band them around the product that would indicate that you need to reorder (for example the very last bottle or the second to last bottle). If putting on a wall or shelf, consider using velcro so you can throw the tags in a basket when they need to be reordered. When you go to place your order - just check your basket!

Reorder tags are great because they have all of the information you need - the strength of the product, the item number of the product, etc. This ensures that whoever is ordering knows exactly what is needed when they place their order!

4. Consolidate Orders

Just think about it - fewer orders placed means fewer shipments to track, fewer boxes to unpack, and fewer invoices to keep organized. You also will make an environmental impact by having less packing material to dispose of. Try to build a list throughout the week and place one order. On pennvet.com, we never dump your cart so you can build your cart throughout the week. Supply Lists and Shopping Lists also come in handy when you’re building an order!

5. General Ledger Codes

Now we’re talking about the financial side of inventory management! General Ledger Codes (GL Codes) allow you to group categories of products by an identifying number. This way, you know how much you spent in each category versus how much revenue you made in each category.

Use GL Codes to find where you may be buying too much inventory, where you may want to look for a better cost, or where you may want to increase your prices. This could also help you decide where you are getting the best return on your inventory investment and where you may need to make adjustments. Learn more about using GL Codes in the Billing Center (if you do not have Billing Center access, give us a call to get set up!).

6. Be Promo Smart

Promotions aren’t “one size fits all”. Knowing your usage allows you to make smart decisions about whether a promotion makes sense for you. It doesn’t make sense if you won’t use the product! When ordering online, if you click into a product to see the extended description, we include a chart that shows you the quantity you’ve purchased in the last 12 months. We also offer some creative solutions to help you maximize offers. Our Right Times, Right Terms program allows you to take advantage of promotions without over-committing yourself. Ask your rep for more details.

7. Color-coding

Here’s a method that might be beneficial to your practice! Use stickers to color code your products by importance. For example, a red sticker may indicate that this is a product we absolutely cannot run out of. You might want to check those products daily and see if they need to be ordered. An orange sticker might represent a product that is an essential product, but you can get it within 1-2 days so it would be okay if you run down in stock. Check those products every few days. A green sticker might represent a non-essential product that you can wait 3-5 days to receive. Check these every week or so.

You can also color code by how fast you normally move product or by how much revenue you make on the products. Example: red is our highest grossing products so we want to make sure to always have them in stock. Try it out and do what works best for your practice. You may even invent your own color-coding system!

8. Read our email updates and communicate with your Penn Vet rep

We send weekly email updates that include information and updates as far as supply issues and impending price changes. Your Penn Vet rep is also a great resource when it comes to inventory management. They can help keep you updated on product allocation issues, making sure you’re aware of when you should stock up or giving you a ring when a product you’re in need of is back in stock. They can also help create suggested orders based on your purchase history and make sure you get the most bang for your buck with promotions. Give us a call at 800-233-0210 to speak to a Penn Vet representative!

9. Subscriptions

With Penn Vet online subscriptions, you never have to run out of the products you order regularly because of a missed order. You can set an item up to ship every month, 2 months, and so on up to every 6 months. For example, you know that you go through 1 box of gloves and 3 rolls of cohesive wrap every week. You can set those products up on a subscription to ship 1 box of gloves and 1 12-pack box of cohesive wrap every month. You don’t even have to think about it - they just deliver automatically!

You’re in complete control. You can adjust the quantity, ship date, and shipping frequency of your subscription. You can also skip a shipment or delete a product from your subscription at any time. Plus, you can save money with our Schedule and Save program. To learn more about subscriptions and how it could work for your practice give us a call or visit our Schedule & Save page.