How HVAC Professionals Use Sortly’s Inventory Management System

If you work for a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning company, then you already know the importance of properly tracking your inventory. With last-minute repairs, seasonal fluctuations in demand, and service calls all over town, few businesses rely on a properly-stocked truck and an accurate, reliable inventory list as much as HVAC companies do.

In this article, you’ll learn how Sortly’s HVAC customers use our inventory management software to streamline their inventory management processes—saving them time, money, and hassle. With Sortly, customers can:

1. Know exactly what’s on hand and where it’s located

Sortly allows customers to create a detailed, visual inventory list that reveals exactly what your business has in storage, on trucks, in warehouses—anywhere. Whether your business has a handful of employees or you run an operation that stretches across the state, Sortly can help your team keep tabs on inventory even as it moves from location to location.

This is especially helpful if you manage a fleet of trucks that respond to service calls or go out on jobs. After all, if your technicians have to around to grab common parts or tools they need, that wastes both time and money. The same goes for tool cribs, inventory bundles, and any other organizational system your HVAC business uses to streamline everyday operations. With Sortly, you’ll know exactly what’s where long before the business day begins.

Sortly allows customers to upload high-resolution images to each item’s profile as well. These pictures create a visual inventory system that shows your team what’s in stock. This is particularly helpful for parts that have similar names or are otherwise difficult to tell apart. 

2. Set up customized alerts

Sortly’s alerts feature notifies HVAC professionals whenever an item in their inventory is about to drop below a minimum level, expire, or fall out of warranty. Users determine who receives these notifications, when they receive them, and whether they arrive via email, in-app notification, or both.

These alerts can help prevent costly work stoppages, inventory shrinkage, and poor equipment maintenance. 

3. Easily review stock levels

With Sortly, keeping tabs on always-changing stock levels is easy. That’s because Sortly encourages a perpetual inventory strategy—one where your team checks inventory in and out as it’s purchased or consumed. (That’s made much easier with the help of an in-app barcode and QR code reader—more on that below.)

Our customers have found that everything from placing orders to understanding stock levels to preparing for seasonal changes in demand is infinitely less stressful when they can review inventory records with confidence. 

4. Customize a flexible, meaningful inventory management system

Sortly customers have found that there are many ways to use Sortly to organize their inventory. With Sortly, inventory can be managed in a way that makes sense to you and your team. After all, the people tasked with maintaining the inventory system are more likely to use it if that system reflects how the business runs.

In Sortly, you can easily customize a folder system for every location (and even every vehicle in your fleet), drag inventory in and out of stock as needed, and create custom tags and categories that identify items in a way your team understands. There’s no wrong way to do it—you can customize your organizational structure based on your unique business structure. The best part is, you can easily make adjustments in the app as you go.

5. Use barcodes and QR codes to speed up inventory tasks

Whether it’s checking supplies in and out, auditing what’s on your shelves, or pulling up warranty information on a truck in your fleet, Sortly’s in-app barcode and QR code scanner can help you do it in a fraction of the time. Most Sortly customers, and especially those in the HVAC business, use barcodes and QR codes to automate their inventory.

Customers sync barcodes and QR codes that are already affixed to their inventory. If there are none, customers can simply generate a customized barcode or QR code within the Sortly desktop app, then print them onto label paper using a regular, everyday printer. 

6. Track inventory on standard devices, not expensive equipment

To use Sortly, all customers need is a smartphone, tablet, or computer. There’s no external hardware or extra equipment to lease, purchase, or maintain. Even the barcode and QR code scanner is within the Sortly app, so your team members don’t need anything but a smartphone to track inventory—whether they’re in a warehouse, on a job site, or anywhere else. 

You can use Sortly on any device, and the software will automatically sync updates between all devices and all users. Your team will truly be working in unison.

7. Generate insightful reports

HVAC professionals who use Sortly to manage and track their inventory don’t just benefit from knowing what they have on hand. As Sortly customers track inventory, they can create detail-rich records of how they’ve used inventory in the past with our custom reporting function. Our customers use custom reports to help with ordering, forecasting, keeping financial records for the business, conducting annual audits, and more.

You can decide what data to include on the reports: item photos, item location, condition, value, serial number, or any other data point you’re tracking in Sortly. Once you’re satisfied with the report, you can even export it as a spreadsheet or PDF. 

About Sortly

Sortly is a top-rated inventory management software solution perfect for HVAC professionals. If you’re looking to get a handle on your inventory, Sortly’s most powerful features can save you time, money, and stress. From the in-app barcode and QR code scanner to perfectly-timed low stock alerts, Sortly can help your business get organized today.

Ready to get started? Try a free, two-week trial of Sortly today.