Gloves, blades, adhesives, fixings, toner, swabs, test strips - consumables are the things a business buys repeatedly, uses up, and never puts on the asset register because no single one is worth a record. So they fall into a gap: too cheap for asset tracking, too small-scale for warehouse software. The gap has a cost, paid in mid-job stockouts, panic orders at courier prices, and a complete blind spot on what jobs actually consume. Closing it takes far less system than most teams fear.
What you will learn
- The line between assets and consumables
- The consumables register
- Levels, not counts
- Logging usage where it happens
- The restock loop
- Tools that make this easier
- FAQ
The line between assets and consumables
The two need different machinery, and mixing them up sinks the register:
- Assets keep an identity: a drill, a ladder, a laptop. Each gets its own record, label and history, and the question is “who has it and what state is it in?”
- Consumables are anonymous and interchangeable: a box of nitrile gloves, a tube of sealant. The unit of tracking is the item line, the question is “how many are left and when do we reorder?”, and nothing gets an individual label.
The test is simple: if you would never ask “who has it?”, it is a consumable. Borderline items - batteries, drill bits, hand tools cheap enough to treat as disposable - go whichever side you can actually maintain. The adjacent case of spare parts sits one notch up: still counted rather than named, but tied to the specific machines they fit.
The consumables register
One row per item line, not per box:
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Name and SKU | One agreed name per line - “nitrile gloves, L, box 100” - kills duplicate buying |
| Unit of measure | Box, roll, litre, each - the unit all counts and orders use |
| Storage location | Shelf or bin, so stock is found before it is re-bought |
| Supplier and MOQ | Where it comes from, and the minimum the supplier will sell |
| Unit price | Job costing, and the early-warning system for price creep |
| Reorder point | The count that triggers a purchase |
| Target stock | What a full shelf looks like, so top-ups do not overshoot |
| Hazard or expiry notes | Adhesives, chemicals and test strips age out - oldest stock gets used first |
Keep the list short on day one: the lines whose absence stops work, plus the expensive ones. You can always add rows; a bloated register gets abandoned.
Levels, not counts
The count of any consumable is wrong within a week of writing it down - that is their nature. What stays useful are the levels around the count: the reorder point below which someone buys, and the target stock that orders fill up to. Some teams express this as a single par level to restore each period; either way the principle is the same. Decisions hang on thresholds, not on perfect numbers.
Set reorder points from lead time: roughly what you use while a replacement order is in transit, padded for the lines where running out is expensive. Then let reality tune them - a line that keeps flirting with zero needs a higher point; a line that never drops below half its target is tying up shelf space and cash.
Logging usage where it happens
The step that separates working systems from dead ones: record withdrawals at the moment of taking, not at a month-end count. A QR label on the shelf edge or bin - scanned with a phone camera, opening that line’s record in the browser - makes the log a ten-second act performed standing at the shelf.
Tag each withdrawal with what it was for: a job, a client, a team. That single habit buys three things - counts that stay near-true between counts, a usage history that exposes real burn rates per job type, and a shrinkage signal when recorded usage and shelf reality drift apart (inventory shrinkage shows up in consumables long before anyone notices it in equipment).
Tip: put the scan label at eye level on the shelf edge, not on the boxes. Boxes leave; the shelf stays. One label per line, in the same corner of every shelf, and nobody has to hunt for where to scan.
The restock loop
Restocking is a loop with four stations, and each one writes to the register:
- Trigger: a line crosses its reorder point - spotted on a shelf-edge scan or a stock review.
- Order: one named person raises the purchase with the listed supplier, for the gap up to target stock, respecting the MOQ.
- Receive: the delivery is booked in as it is unpacked - quantity in, price confirmed. Two minutes here is the difference between a register and a guess.
- Review: every few months, glance at the lines - burn rates, price changes, lines on perpetual backorder that need a second supplier.
When the loop runs, stockouts stop being dramatic. The shelf signals early, the order goes out calmly, and the courier-priced emergency purchase becomes a story about the old days.
Tools that make this easier
Spreadsheets fail consumables faster than any other category, because the data changes daily and the sheet is never where the stock is. The counts are stale by Friday, trust evaporates, and the team goes back to eyeballing shelves - the trajectory described in why Excel fails for asset tracking.
AMPthilly handles consumables as their own asset type alongside equipment: each line carries its SKU, supplier, unit price, MOQ, reorder point and target stock; purchase orders go out as PDFs or by email to the supplier; receiving updates the count (and the price history, when costs move); and QR labels at the shelf open the right record from any phone browser. The free plan - 3 users, 25 assets, no card required - is enough to run your critical lines for a few months and see whether the loop holds.
FAQ
What counts as a consumable rather than an asset? Anything used up rather than used. Assets get identities and histories; consumables get counts, locations and reorder levels per item line.
How do you set a reorder point for consumables? Usage during the supplier’s lead time plus a buffer for lines that stop work. Start rough; let recorded usage correct the numbers.
How do you track consumable usage by job? Log withdrawals at the shelf - quantity and what it was for - via a quick scan. The accumulated log is your burn rate per job type.
Do small teams need a warehouse system for consumables? No. A register of lines with locations, levels and a usage log, updated at the shelf, does the job in minutes a week.
How do you stop consumable stockouts? Honest counts (log withdrawals as they happen), reorder points that cover lead time, and one named person who acts when a line crosses its point.
The takeaway
Consumables do not need warehouse machinery - they need one row per item line, a level that triggers reordering, and a withdrawal log that lives at the shelf. Get those three working and the rest follows: stockouts fade, burn rates become visible, and the cupboard stops being the most chaotic square metre in the business.