Inventory Management

Whitehouse Floors LLC has many different forms of inventory. Of course there is flooring that is kept in stock, however there are also supplies which keep the office running and open for customers. For both forms of inventory Whitehouse Floors uses a technique very similar to the Periodic Review System, where we periodically check stock and order only the amounts needed to keep a set amount of inventory. The system that is currently in place for flooring that is held in stock is very simplistic. The only items that are stock are unfinished or raw wood. Every other type of floor is ordered based off of what the customer chooses. Whitehouse Floors LLC always keeps two pallets of wood in their warehouse. One pallet consists of 2 ¼” unfinished red oak, while the other consists of 3 ¼” unfinished red oak. This wood is commonly used for repairs and refinishing projects. The process is fairly simple. The office manager orders a pallet of both types of wood. An invoice is kept aside and as jobs come in which require the wood, the quantity used for the job is subtracted from the original pallet square footage. Once either of the pallets reaches half of their original square footage, another pallet is ordered. The reason there is not a set system in place for the re-ordering of the wood, is demand. There are slow seasons in the flooring industry as well as busy times. Wood is easily available from the distributors and only takes at a maximum 1-2 days to arrive at Whitehouse Floors’ warehouse. Whitehouse Floors does not inventory any other type of flooring, as mentioned before; all other types of flooring are specially ordered for the specific job needs.
Whitehouse Floors does however inventory other types of materials. The showroom is another side of the business. This is where people come in and actually choose the flooring for their projects. This showroom has many different forms of inventory. Deal jackets (Manila Folders), pens, printer paper, toner, post-its, and brochures are just a few examples of the types of inventory kept at the showroom. Every two weeks it is the office managers’ responsibility to update the inventory within the store. This is done by evaluating how much of the inventory has been used up and predicting how much will be used over the next two weeks. The amount ordered to refurbish the inventory fluctuates each time, again depending on whether or not Whitehouse Floors is in a busy month or a slower month. The busier they are, the more showroom inventory they will need and vise versa. Materials are easily accessible with a lead time of approximately one day.