๐ How We Automated Stock Management and Saved 12+ Hours Weekly
After analyzing our manual inventory system, we identified critical inefficiencies: stock updates took 45+ minutes daily and shortage alerts were reactive, not proactive. The Problem: ๐ฆ Manual stock entry 4x daily ๐ No real-time shortage visibility ๐ง Late supplier notifications ๐ Disconnected recipe-to-stock calculations โ Frequent stockouts from poor forecasting Reality: Managing inventory for 200+ daily orders meant 3+ hours on spreadsheets plus costly last-minute supplier orders. The Solution: Built an intelligent n8n workflow automating inventory from entry to alerts: 1. Smart Stock Addition Scheduled forms (4x daily) Auto-updates to Google Sheets Instant Telegram confirmations 2. Predictive Shortage Analysis Recipe-based calculations (100 units) Real-time stock comparison Fuzzy matching for ingredients 3. Automated Reporting 3 daily reports (10:00, 15:00, 20:00) Formatted HTML emails Priority Gmail labels 4. Multi-Product Support Burger + Pizza tracking Separate recipe databases Merged shortage reports ๐ฐ Impact: Time: 3+ hrs/day โ 20 min = 12+ hrs saved weekly Cost: Labor: $576/month saved Emergency orders: $400+/month prevented Annual ROI: ~$11,700+ ๐ฏ Key Lessons: Predictive > reactive - Calculate needs before shortages hit Recipe integration - Connect formulas to inventory Scheduled automation - Regular checks prevent crises Smart matching - Fuzzy logic handles typos Tech: n8n, Google Sheets, Telegram, Gmail, JavaScript The Bottom Line: Simple automation transformed chaotic inventory into a predictive system that saves 600+ hours annually and cuts costs by ~$12,000/year. What processes are you automating in your business? I'd love to hear about different approaches and tech stacks people are using. Drop your experiences in the comments! ๐ฌ hashtag#Automation hashtag#SmallBusiness hashtag#Productivity hashtag#Entrepreneurship hashtag#NoCode hashtag#n8n hashtag#BusinessGrowth hashtag#TechStack hashtag#StartupTips hashtag#DigitalTransformation