Materials & Inventory Tracking methods (Software)

[Grantxw8]

Hi Everyone,

Over on another thread I got sidetracked and started thinking about the problem of tracking materials inventory and stock for sales inventory. My ideal software would allow me to enter my materials stock as I purchase it and deplete it automagically as I make batches depending on the recipe/batch size I choose. It would then add the resulting stock (e.g. Soaps) to my inventory for sale. This in turn would be depleted as I recorded sales.

As far as I'm aware, there is nothing available that fits that description. Certainly not free of charge. I'd be delighted to be corrected on this though.

The best I have found is using POS software (Square in my case) to deplete the inventory as I make sales. I have to manually add the inventory once I have made a batch and it is ready for sale. I've yet to find a satisfactory method for tracking raw materials - but I haven't spent any time or effort in looking.

Does anyone know of software that fits all my criteria, free or commercial? Anything that comes close?

I have considered trying to add this to my current spreadsheet but it seems like a huge task.

What do others do?

Cheers, Grant

 

[paradisi]

Soapmaker3 does that: materials intake & costing, batches & lots used, costing, stock levels. Probably more now, I haven't updated it as the version I run does everything I need. Updates are free.

Not sure if they have a free version though.

 

[AliOop]

SM3 does it all, but is Windows only. Boo! I finally just rid myself of the last MS program that required me to install and use Parallels, and have no desire to go back to it.

@Grantxw8, you are a fellow MacHead, yes? I believe there is another program that does run on MacOS, but I can't remember what it is.

PS - Soapmaking Friend is a web-based program does a lot of these things, but I haven't used the inventory or batch functions, so I can't say how well they work.

 

[Maple_Street_Bath]

I use SM3 for material inventory, recipes, COG, etc.
For tracking my COGS and made product inventory, I found it [SM3] to be cumbersome. I use an Excel spreadsheet and reports run from my POS to track inventory and COGS. I've got the [excel] formulas pretty streamlined now so that as long as I have my batch list updated, my total bookkeeping time is about 20 minutes once a month. (My business is about $10k sales per year.)

Edited for a bit of clarity.

 

[Montuckygirl]

I have a Mac and I use Craftybase, it's a monthly subscription and I have it integrated with my Shopify website. I believe it would do all you are asking for.

 

[Jarrett Clay]

Hi Everyone,

Over on another thread I got sidetracked and started thinking about the problem of tracking materials inventory and stock for sales inventory. My ideal software would allow me to enter my materials stock as I purchase it and deplete it automagically as I make batches depending on the recipe/batch size I choose. It would then add the resulting stock (e.g. Soaps) to my inventory for sale. This in turn would be depleted as I recorded sales.

As far as I'm aware, there is nothing available that fits that description. Certainly not free of charge. I'd be delighted to be corrected on this though.

The best I have found is using POS software (Square in my case) to deplete the inventory as I make sales. I have to manually add the inventory once I have made a batch and it is ready for sale. I've yet to find a satisfactory method for tracking raw materials - but I haven't spent any time or effort in looking.

Does anyone know of software that fits all my criteria, free or commercial? Anything that comes close?

I have considered trying to add this to my current spreadsheet but it seems like a huge task.

What do others do?

Cheers, Grant

On airbase there is a template called GOYA. It has a TON of uses

 

[Grantxw8]

On airbase there is a template called GOYA. It has a TON of uses

Interesting. What’s “airbase”?

 

[mountainvillegeneralstore]

I'm a new soaper and purchased SM3. It's great for inputting recipes, resizing for your molds. Once you make a batch, it puts it into your inventory. It is however very cumbersome when you have non-soap items that you sell. For instance, I am selling a small wicker basket with two soaps and a soap lift. Trying to put that together nearly drove me mad. There is no interface with my POS, so I'm also downloading the POS transactions into a spreadsheet then creating a sales log for my POS items. I struggle with the cash sales from many perspectives:
1. I'm pretty busy when I have a booth at a farmers market, so at the end of the day I have no clue what I've sold, just know how much cash I have. SM3 is tough to figure out when you have different prices for the same item (1 soap for one price, two for a discounted price, etc.)
2. Sales tax - ugh! The POS is easy to figure out because it charges the sales tax and shows it in the download of each transaction. But haven't been able to figure out how to handle tax for cash sales.

Any recommendations or feedback would be most appreciated.

Gil