Inventory Challenges in Manufacturing: How Custom Software Helps in 2025

Having provided custom software development solutions for our manufacturing clients, we’re sure they’re transformative. For example, by building a fully automated order processing system for Vivad, we improved each order’s visibility and tackled stock issues with ease.

Clearly, you can no longer afford to rely on generic solutions. Read on to explore the most common inventory management challenges and ways custom software can solve them.

Highlights:

• What challenges can custom software solve? Rising operational costs, inefficient inventory planning, supply chain disruptions, and more.

• Custom solutions worth implementing — WMS, AI-powered analytics tools, PWAs, cloud-based inventory management systems, and others based on your needs.

• Why build custom inventory software in the first place? To benefit from automation, real-time data, and analytics.

The Biggest Inventory Management Challenges in Manufacturing

Let’s face it: keeping your production running smoothly while avoiding excessive stock or shortages isn’t easy. You’re dealing with fluctuating demands and complex supply chains — one wrong move and everything goes in vain.

So, what are the challenges of inventory management, exactly? Here are the most common ones you might be facing right now:

Rising Operational Costs & Efficiency

Rising raw material, labor, and logistics costs are squeezing profit margins tighter than ever. Plus, without the right automated tools, you’re wasting money on inefficient inventory processes.

Solutions:

• Warehouse management software (WMS).

• Robotic process automation (RPA).

Overstocking, Understocking & Demand Forecasting Issues

Other inventory management challenges include overstocking and understocking — results of poor demand forecasting, miscalculated market trends, or just plain old guesswork. Excess stock leads to waste, while shortages mean missed sales and frustrated customers.

Solutions:

• AI&ML solutions for analytics.

• Progressive web apps (PWAs).

• Integrated sales & production dashboards.

Poor Inventory Visibility & Tracking Errors

Excel spreadsheets and disconnected systems lead to inaccurate stock counts. Without complete inventory visibility, you don’t know exactly what you have, where it is, and when you’ll need more. This results in production delays and increased costs.

Solutions:

• Cloud-based inventory management systems.

• Mobile inventory management apps.

Supply Chain Disruptions & Vendor Coordination

Vendor delays, logistical bottlenecks, and global crises — all affect supply chain operations. Just think about it: 72% of businesses in 2024 surveyed by Netstock consider unpredictable delivery times their number one challenge. And poor inventory management only makes things worse.

Solutions:

• AI-powered supply chain visibility platforms.

• Supplier & vendor portals.

• API-driven ERP & supplier system integration.

Let’s now quickly recap the challenges and their possible solutions:

Stay ahead of inventory challenges with smart solutions!

Discover how automated workflows can improve your manufacturing processes.

How Custom Inventory Software Solves These Challenges

If you’ve already used off-the-shelf inventory management software, you know how it feels. It’s rigid, fails to integrate with your existing workflows, and often leaves you wanting more — whether it’s functionality or efficiency you’re seeking.

Custom inventory solutions, on the other hand, fit your specific needs and offer flexibility, automation, real-time insights, and seamless integration. Let’s look at how they tackle the inventory management problems we’ve just described:

Enhancing Cost Efficiency & Warehouse Optimization

Before: Rising material and logistics costs led to inefficient spending, and outdated systems failed to optimize warehouse operations.

After: Using warehouse management software, you can control warehouse operations automatically, reducing handling errors and storage inefficiencies. Plus, you cut inventory holding costs through storage optimization. With RPA, you automate business processes like repetitive inventory tracking, stock ordering, and data entry.

Smarter Inventory Planning & AI-Powered Demand Forecasting

Before: Inaccurate demand forecasting and inventory planning resulted in overstocking or shortages.

After: With AI-powered analytics, you can predict demand and, consequently, optimize inventory levels and production schedules. Actually, businesses surveyed by Netstock see a clear path of using AI for forecasting (52%), inventory optimization (48%), and demand planning (44%).

Moreover, integrated sales and production dashboards can link inventory with sales data to improve demand forecasting and reduce gaps between sales forecasts and production schedules.

Finally, you may leverage progressive web apps to get a real-time view of your inventory from any device. In fact, we built one for our manufacturing client, Kustom Printing Products. Our solution allows for managing orders efficiently while securely storing customer information — even in offline mode. This offline capability makes sure that operations continue smoothly and that our client’s teams have constant access to inventory data, regardless of connectivity issues.

We built a custom inventory management system for Kustom Printing that allows their team to track orders and access customer data even without internet — improving control and reducing delays in repair workflows. 

 

Digital Inventory Control & Eliminating Manual Errors

Before: Manual tracking and outdated systems led to errors, delays, and lost inventory.

After: By using cloud-based inventory management systems, you get a centralized, real-time view of your stock across multiple warehouse locations — even distant ones.

Plus, you can handle custom mobile app development to allow for barcode scanning, stock tracking, and record updates on the go. For example, our order management solution for Vivad, a large format printing company, enabled QR code scanning for instant access to job details, product history, and workflow progress. As a result, Vivad reduced delays in task execution, improved inventory accuracy, and gave their team a faster way to manage and track production from one place.

Automated Supply Chain Management

Before: Inefficient vendor coordination and unexpected disruptions negatively impacted the supply chain.

After: Among the various inventory management problems & solutions, automated supply chain management is worth your attention. First off, you can streamline certain processes with supplier and vendor portals. These let suppliers update real-time stock availability, estimated delivery times, and pricing changes.

Then, there are API-driven ERP and supplier system integrations. These connect supplier databases with manufacturing ERP systems for uninterrupted data exchange. Plus, they automate inventory updates and order status tracking across the entire supply chain.

You can also leverage AI-powered supply chain visibility platforms to predict potential disruptions and suggest alternative sourcing options.