Elegant crystal, fine china, lavish linen--event rental is a high-touch business. But managing rental inventory has traditionally been a low-tech affair, due to the challenges of managing a vast array of products that move in different quantities between different clients at different times.
However, sophisticated rental managers are beginning to harness some of the inventory management systems--such as bar-coding and even radio-frequency identification (RFID)--that have till now been in place primarily in sales-based operations, where inventory moves from retailer to customer, but doesn't come back.
And with rental inventories worth millions of dollars, reining in the typical 2 percent annual loss rate can well offset the initial investment in the systems, rental experts tell Special Events Magazine.
For the full story, see the May issue of Special Events.
Photo shot at GBS Linens, Anaheim, Calif.
