The flow of material into and out of a scrap metal recycling facility is the heartbeat of its business.
Scrap streams in from a variety of sources, sometimes into a number of different yards. It is then processed and stored in various stages and grades of material. Once processed, it is transported out again, to a variety of consumers, sometimes from different facilities, as different products. Understanding the inflow and outflow of your inventory is one of the most significant components of success in the scrap metal recycling business.
Choosing the right scrap recycling software is key to maximizing the potential of your inventory management.
The right scrap metal recycling software must allow the business to know what material it has on hand, at what scrap yard location, at any given time. It must tell metal recyclers the value or price of the material, given its stage in processing and what is available for sale, what has been sold or what has already been shipped. Having mastery of this information unlocks profitability for scrap metal recycling businesses.
First, a good recycling inventory software solution helps coordination among multiple yards with multiple employees involved with buying and selling material.
Additionally, it eliminates labor intensive manual recordkeeping, which is also subject to human error. Most importantly, accurate inventory records can help a business avoid costly mistakes and can help turn over inventory faster, allowing for more profitability.
“In today’s business climate, there are many factors a recycling business can’t control. They can’t control government regulations, state and local laws, the status of the overall economy or global trade rules,” says Joe Floam, president of ScrapWare Corporation. “What they can control is an understanding of their inventory and how they can manage it to increase profitability. That is why inventory control today is probably more important than ever before.” For the past thirty years, ScrapWare Corporation has provided robust inventory management software for the scrap metal recycling industry.
Among other things, ScrapWare software allows users to set up, maintain and manage inventory in three user-friendly ways:
Regrade — The Regrade function enables users to document the processing or grading of material into different segregated commodities. The Regrade function can also be used to move weights and/or costs from one material category to another.
Transfer — The Transfer function allows the user to move bulk material or finished goods between scrap yards or from one division to another within the same yard. This can be done either with or without cost information, depending on the needs of the business.
Finished Goods – The Finished Goods function enables users to document the conversion of processed material into a packaged form such as bales, boxes or drums etc. Users can interface this system with the ScrapWare software Sales module to remove Finished Goods from inventory after a shipment.
The ScrapWare Inventory module allows you to take control of your recycling inventory because it can:
- Print and scan barcode tags for finished goods inventory
- Define commodity categories, classes and subclasses for all your material
- Track average pricing, based on a perpetual weighted moving average cost
- Modify the perpetual weighted average cost
- Accurately enter data guided by a color-coded user interface, extensive pop-up menus and field validation, making data entry simple and user friendly.
- Seamlessly integrate with other ScrapWare modules, such as Sales, for even greater efficiencies.
Reports
One of the most important functions of inventory management software is its ability to generate detailed, informative reports. A good software program should be able to generate reports that provide the most accurate picture of inventory volumes and costs, regrades of material, transfers between yards and within yards and finished goods. ScrapWare software’s built-in reports include:
- Summary Transfers
- Detail Transfers
- Transfer Activity
- Detail Regrades
- Detail Invoicing
- Summary Finished Goods
- Detail Finished Goods
- Inventory Valuation
- Overall Inventory Position
- Work-In-Progress Valuation
What makes ScrapWare software distinctive is its ability to adapt to the needs of its customers. Not only are a variety of reports available with ScrapWare software, but new types of reports are regularly created to respond to customer needs in the marketplace. ScrapWare will develop a new type of report, update the software, and make the new version available to all customers via an automatic overnight installation. This is critical, says Floam, because “scrap metal recycling is an inventory-based business. ScrapWare software is designed to give our customers all the vital information they need, in the format they need it.”
Finally, any good inventory software solution must be backed up with state-of-the-art, premier tech support. “In newly mobile, cloud-based interfaces, users must have access to 24/7 Tech Support,” says Floam.
ScrapWare Corp., of Rockville, MD, has been providing software to the scrap metal recycling industry for over 30 years. ScrapWare uses an Oracle database to provide a cloud-based software solution to manage all aspects of a recycling business. With numerous modules, extensive technical support, remote installation and online training, ScrapWare helps recycling companies with compliance, efficiency and profitability. Check out ScrapWare’s website, read the user testimonials, and see its offerings for your recycling software solution.