Winery Inventory Tracking

We recently had to let our winery / vineyard manager go for several grave reasons, but one we suspected him of hemorrhaging our sales. Is there any easy to use tracking system out there that we can utilize inventory tracking? We would like to set this up before placing a new manager. Any thoughts?

Nola, the inventory system should be tied to the accounting system. Quickbooks is really simple and works fine. They have a manufacturing and distribution version that is pretty good. We use it to distribute and inventory over 400 beer SKUS and it works fine. There are plenty of other good and simple accounting softwares our there.

I think he needs something more traceable than just software.

Do you already use a software for cellar operations/tracking?

Not really… He has QuickBooks for sales & invoices, bills go to the accountant separately. Winemaking & blending is all hand recorded. So he needs a way to keep track of the wines in the tanks / barrels, but mostly once bottled and in the case. Since he is not always there to see or handle every sale whether by the bottle or case that’s where there is a question.

One options is radio frequency chips placed on cases and/or pallets. Nothing beats the perception of control and constant monitoring of physical versus perpetual inventories. Cameras also help.

Cameras are going in. I am thinking about something like the radio control chips… what do I look for?
Could be something that is included in the cases right?

Hi Nola - Not sure what you need exactly but you might take a look at the Intermec website RFIDs…http://www.intermec.com/products/rfid/index.aspx. They show a case study on bubbly maker Mumm … http://www.intermec.com/public-files/case-studies/en/cs-MUMM.pdf . Intermec has been around a long time and I did use their non-RFID products in a production atmosphere several years ago…Gary

Add - One article that may be of interest …Theft Prevention .

A monthly physical inventory by SKU, and then set up a simple Excel spreadsheet to reconcile production and sales with physical inventory. Mostly this will catch sales or production data entry errors, but to catch a thief you will need to separate the inventory and accounting functions (different people).

great advice