Welcome to the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Today we’re looking at Stock & Warehouse Management.

If you’ve ever wondered how NZRT keeps track of what’s in stock, where it is, and when you’re running low, this is the episode for you. Stock and Warehouse Management is the part of the system that gives you real-time visibility into your inventory levels across one or more warehouse locations. And when things start getting low, it doesn’t just sit there quietly — it sends you an alert.

Let’s walk through what this module actually does for you.

First up, you have support for multiple warehouse locations. Whether your business operates out of one building or several sites across the country, the system can track stock in each of those places separately. You always know not just how much of something you have, but exactly where it is.

Next, there’s the concept of stock movements. Every time something changes in your inventory, the system records it as a movement. Stock can move in, move out, be transferred between locations, or be adjusted. Those four types cover pretty much every scenario you’ll encounter in day-to-day operations.

Speaking of which, let’s talk about what actually triggers those movements, because this is where things get interesting. There are four main actions that drive stock changes in the system. When a customer order is shipped, that’s stock going out — the system records a movement in the outbound direction. When a purchase order is received, that’s stock coming in. If you’re running manufacturing orders, things work in both directions at once: when a manufacturing order is completed, finished goods are recorded as coming in, while the components that were used up are recorded as going out. And finally, you can also make manual inventory adjustments, which can go either in or out depending on what you’re correcting.

So the system is constantly listening to what’s happening across your orders, your purchasing, and your production, and it’s keeping the numbers up to date without you having to enter every single change by hand. That’s a big deal when you’re managing a busy operation.

Now, what happens when stock gets too low? That’s where minimum stock threshold alerts come in. You can set a minimum level for any item, and when your inventory drops below that level, the system flags it. You don’t have to be watching the numbers all day — the system does that watching for you and tells you when it’s time to reorder or replenish.

There’s also inventory valuation to think about. The system supports two common methods for calculating what your stock is worth. The first is FIFO — which stands for first in, first out — meaning the oldest stock is assumed to be sold or used first when calculating cost. The second is average cost, where the system tracks a running average price based on everything you’ve paid for that item over time. Which method you use depends on your accounting preferences, but either way, the system handles the maths for you.

You also have access to physical inventory and stock count features. This lets you periodically verify what the system says you have against what’s actually sitting on the shelf. It’s good practice for catching discrepancies before they grow into bigger problems.

And for businesses that need to track items at a more granular level, there’s batch and lot tracking, as well as serial number tracking. This is useful when you need to know not just that you have fifty units of something, but exactly which batch they came from or which serial number belongs to which item. This matters a great deal for compliance, product recalls, or warranty management.

Finally, it’s worth knowing that Stock and Warehouse Management doesn’t work in isolation. It connects directly to three other areas of the system. Manufacturing Orders feed into it from the production side, as we just covered. Purchase Orders drive your inbound stock. And Shipping Management handles what goes out the door to customers. Changes in any of those three areas ripple through into your inventory automatically.

So to bring it all together — Stock and Warehouse Management gives you a live picture of your inventory, tracks every movement in and out, alerts you before you run dry, values your stock using recognised accounting methods, supports batch and serial tracking, and ties directly into your purchasing, manufacturing, and shipping processes. It’s the backbone of your physical operations.

That’s it for this episode of the NZRT Wiki Podcast. Thanks for listening.