I don’t know about you, but managing paper can be a pretty daunting task considering that we over 700 Stock Definitions and that over 150 of those are Inventory Items that we keep on the floor (and/or the shelves etc.) We have about 20,000 square feet to manage with lots of shelf space and floor space, so paper tends to be difficult to find if you don’t know where it is. We solved that problem with the Bin Location field in the Stock Definition under the Inventory tab.

We have indicated where each stock is located using the Bin Location field and printed out a list. However, even this list is only a snapshot at where the paper is at any given time. Paper moves quickly in and out of the production area so the printed list isn’t valid for long. Unfortunately, the Bin Location field isn’t viewable in the Stock Picker list view so you can only view the location if you open the definitions one at a time, which is a real pain.

So please join me in requesting PrintSmith to add the Bin Location field to the Stock Picker!

If you would like the reports I use for reporting on the stock inventory, shoot me an email from the “Contact” tab above.

For those of you that like to use the Stock Order feature (or have been putting it off!!) version 7.2 makes it easier now that the vendor name is visible in this window. (Go to Reports > Stock Order)

This feature allows you to sort you orders by vendor and see those orders who are missing a vendor. Why would an order be missing a vendor? If you use the Special Order stock method and simply fill in the info in the Job Window only, you will not get a vendor assigned. All you need to do to add a stock “on the fly” is to click on the Special Order button and fill out the stock definition window that pops up. Again, if you skip that step, you will need to assign a vendor later.

Personally, I like to just go ahead and create a stock definition for every stock unless I know it will only be used once. If you use the Special Order button, you can convert that stock into a regular stock just by moving it into one of your regular stock groups.

The topic of deleting multiple stock definitions at the same time came up on the PrintSmith Forum yesterday and I wanted to warn everyone that this is something that should be rare. Why? Because the stocks are linked to your jobs from history and if you delete the stock then you have to assign a new one.

An alternative to deleting the stock would be to assign it an expiration date of yesterday and move it to a Stock Group called Expired or Discontinued. (You may even want to add the word Discontinued to the description.) PrintSmith will then give you a warning message that the stock price has expired. You can then use the stock filters to find your regular stocks quickly.

If you want to try it, please read the Release Notes for 7.2 on page 23. It doesn’t work the way you might think it would.

Also, be patient, I had to restart my computer to get it to work. Windows, gotta love it!