Locksmith Inventory Management With and Without Locksmith Inventory Software

Put a system in place to track your locksmith inventory, even when it's spread across multiple trucks and/or warehouses.

If you want to make the most of your work week and run your locksmith business as efficiently as possible, you need to remain aware of anything and everything in your company trucks at any given time. Failing to track this information will lead down a road of extra trips, wasted time, and ultimately wasted money. 

Locksmith Inventory Items to Track

Everyone in the locksmith industry knows the different tools and parts that can get utilized on a given job. Knowing which of these are on your person, in your truck, or back home at the shop is vital to planning out your day. You need to make sure you have lock picks, key extractors, plug spinners, and any other tools you may need before setting out in the morning.

You will also want to double check the tools stored on your truck. This will eliminate the need to make any extra trips throughout your day. Minimize your time driving to and from jobs to maximize the work you can do in a single day. Nothing wastes more time than having to drive back to the shop after you arrive at a customer’s location to retrieve a forgotten tool or part you thought you had with you.

On your truck, you need a way to track items such as key blanks, locks, or any other hardware items you might install at a client’s address. Tracking these inventory items is just as important as keeping track of your tools. Failure to keep track of these things will result in extra trips and wasted time and money, just like when you forget your tools. 

Organizing Locksmith Tools and Inventory

Another important part of keeping track of your inventory? Organization. Having a clean and organized work environment goes a long way, not only for your inventory tracking, but also just in general. It is always nice to come into a clean work environment. This allows you to get started on your day right away.

As far as keeping the tools and items organized that you need to carry on you at all times, you should invest in some wearable storage. For example, you can use a tool bag, a tool belt, cargo pants, or any other preferred pieces where you can store your items. Investing in such items maximizes what you can carry on your person, preventing additional trips to the truck when possible.

Now, no one can carry every tool and item with them at all times, so you should also invest in storage for your truck. Even things as small and simple as plastic bins to store small inventory items in can make a big difference. Using a plastic bin to store your blank keys works better than the cardboard box they came in, because plastic does not get damaged as easily or wear as quickly as cardboard. Making a series of small changes like this can instantly give you a better organized truck ready for a productive day of work.

Locksmith Inventory Software

Keeping accurate totals for the exact number of each inventory item on your trucks can get somewhat difficult and become a time consuming task. These days, many technological tools can help you out with this task. A locksmith inventory and scheduling program like Smart Service can do all the hard work for you. With Smart Service, all of your inventory counts get handled in the software, meaning you no longer need to count your items by hand. This will speed up your daily checks and also allows you to easily track restock points. With every truck’s inventory available for you back in the office, you can check for what items need restocked in just a few seconds. 

Conclusion

Combining a clean and well organized fleet of trucks with a software program like Smart Service will equip you and your technicians with everything you need to stay prepared for every single job. With these tools, you can truly maximize your business.