There are several inventory control systems available, starting from the most basic manual inventory and ending with perpetual inventory. With a manual inventory process, workers need to manually count inventory and mark it down on paper or a spreadsheet. Manually taking inventory is obviously very time-consuming and prone to errors.
On the other end of the scale is perpetual inventory. With that system, a software program counts inventory levels in real time. Whenever new purchase or sales orders come in, the system updates the stock levels, so you always know exactly the amount of product and raw materials at hand. This system can significantly reduce errors, save time, and reduce labor costs.