Loadstar Sensors: IoT Cloud Meets Inventory Management

In the frigid January pre-dawn of Springfield, Massachusetts, the area manager at an aerospace parts distributor is hurriedly preparing delivery for a customer factory near Albany, which is running short of critical parts. As he worries about a winter storm in the forecast, he starts receiving frantic texts from a customer in New Hampshire: It is almost out of several key components, two days before a scheduled delivery, and demands the parts before the next shift. Our manager is torn—should he proceed to Albany or make a mad dash to New Hampshire? Should he risk driving at all, given the approaching storm? In the middle of his dilemma, he thinks, “If only there were an easier way to offer Vendor Managed Inventory services. If only we could remotely monitor customer inventory, generate replenishment orders from a smartphone and schedule deliveries before potential stock-outs. There has to be a better way!”

There is, thanks to Fremont, CA-based Loadstar Sensors. Its StockVUE IoT solution for inventory management provides distributors remote visibility into inventory levels and automatically generates alerts and replenishment lists using networked digital weight scales. “It’s not humanly possible to track hundreds of items manually to make sure they are in stock, and that’s where we come in with StockVUE, our patented weight-based inventory management solution,” says Div Harish, the CEO of Loadstar Sensors.

StockVUE uses cloud-connected digital weight sensors to upload data to a secure database. This data is then analyzed to compute item counts with 99 percent accuracy and can be accessed from anywhere, anytime on any Internet-connected device. Users can set max/min/critical levels to receive alerts about low inventory or sudden changes in inventory indicating theft or pilferage. Through StockVUE, Loadstar offers a practical, easy to use solution to manage inventory over wide distances and make Just-in-Time and Lean Inventory management a reality.