As a user of Fishbowl Inventory, you're well on your way to solving one of the biggest challenges in manufacturing - keeping accurate inventory records.

Fishbowl is an excellent inventory management and manufacturing platform for small and medium-sized manufacturers. It handles bills of materials (BOMs), production orders, warehouse management, purchasing and inventory control exceptionally well.

As many manufacturers scale, they discover that recording inventory and planning inventory are two very jarring problems that require different approaches.

Key Takeaways

• Fishbowl is an inventory management system, not a dedicated inventory forecasting platform.
• The best forecasting software for Fishbowl depends on business size and manufacturing complexity.
• StockTrim is best suited to SMB manufacturers needing BOM-aware forecasting and purchasing recommendations.
• Netstock is generally better suited to larger enterprises with more complex supply chains.
• Inventory Planner is a good choice for wholesalers and retailers.

Why do Fishbowl users look for forecasting software?

Most Fishbowl users start looking for dedicated forecasting software when:

• spreadsheets become difficult to manage
• stock-outs increase
• excess inventory grows
• supplier lead times become unpredictable
• production planning becomes reactive
• SKU counts increase

Do you need to replace Fishbowl?

Not necessarily. In fact, for most manufacturers, replacing Fishbowl is an unnecessary move.

Fishbowl is your system of record - the place where inventory movements, purchase orders, manufacturing jobs and warehouse transactions are stored.

As such, adding a specialist inventory planning solution is often faster, lower risk and more cost-effective than migrating to an entirely new ERP.

The best approach is to let each system do what it does best.

• Fishbowl: Record inventory.
• Inventory forecasting software: Forecast what happens next.

What should inventory forecasting software do?

Not every forecasting solution is built for manufacturers.

A good manufacturing forecasting platform should be able to:

• Forecast demand for finished products.
• Calculate raw material requirements through multi-level BOMs.
• Consider supplier lead times.
• Recommend purchase quantities.
• Identify future stock shortages before they happen.
• Highlight excess inventory.
• Support multiple warehouses.
• Handle seasonal demand and changing sales patterns.

These capabilities can dramatically reduce manual planning while improving service levels and cash flow.

What is the best inventory forecasting software for Fishbowl?

For most small and medium-sized manufacturers using Fishbowl, StockTrim is one of the strongest choices because it integrates directly with Fishbowl and adds:

• demand forecasting
• purchase recommendations
• BOM forecasting
• safety stock calculations
• lead-time planning

Let’s break that down in detail:

1. StockTrim

Best for small and medium manufacturers

StockTrim was designed specifically for businesses that already have an inventory management or ERP system and want significantly better inventory planning.

Rather than replacing Fishbowl, StockTrim connects to it and analyses historical sales, inventory levels, lead times and bills of materials to produce purchasing and manufacturing recommendations.

Since 2017, StockTrim has been applying machine learning to inventory forecasting, long before AI became the latest software trend.

Perhaps more importantly, StockTrim has processed tens of thousands of real-world SME inventory datasets. This is important as small manufacturers don't behave like textbook examples. They experience intermittent demand, long supplier lead times, seasonal fluctuations, slow-moving products and incomplete sales histories.

StockTrim forecasts finished goods demand and translates those forecasts into raw material purchasing recommendations using multi-level bills of materials.

It is particularly well suited to manufacturers with between 50 and 5,000 SKUs looking to improve forecasting accuracy without replacing their existing systems.

(Read more: Integrating Fishbowl Inventory with StockTrim)

2. Netstock

Netstock is an inventory optimisation platform with strong planning functionality and broad ERP integrations.

It offers sophisticated replenishment planning and is often a good fit for larger or more complex organisations.

However, implementation costs and complexity can make it less suitable for smaller-mid sized manufacturers with typically leaner teams and less complex business processes.

3. Inventory Planner

Inventory Planner is well regarded among wholesalers and retailers.

Its forecasting capabilities are strong for businesses focused primarily on buying and selling finished goods.

4. Fishbowl's own planning features

Fishbowl continues to improve its native planning capabilities, and for businesses with relatively simple replenishment needs, these may be sufficient.

However, organisations experiencing rapid growth, multiple warehouses or complex manufacturing processes often benefit from software purpose-built for forecasting and inventory planning.

Comparing across inventory forecasting software for Fishbowl users

Why does specialist forecasting still matter?

Many ERP and inventory management vendors are now introducing AI features, of which begs the question:

Is AI the product, or is it simply a feature?

Adding AI to an inventory management platform doesn't automatically create years of forecasting expertise.

Effective inventory planning depends on forecasting models, inventory science, lead-time optimisation, safety stock calculations and real-world experience across thousands of manufacturing businesses.

This is where specialist planning software continues to have an edge.

Inventory forecasting software: What should existing Fishbowl users look for?

Before choosing any inventory forecasting software, consider these questions:

• Does it integrate with Fishbowl?
• Can it forecast both finished goods and components?
• Does it understand multi-level BOMs?
• Can it recommend purchase quantities?
• Does it account for supplier lead times?
• Does it identify future stock-outs before they happen?
• Can it reduce excess inventory as well as shortages?
• Has it been proven with real manufacturing businesses?

Other thoughts to ponder

Fishbowl is an excellent inventory management system.

For many manufacturers, the next step is making better inventory decisions.

Adding specialist inventory forecasting software allows manufacturers to continue using the systems they already know while gaining deeper forecasting, purchasing and manufacturing intelligence.

FAQ

Can Fishbowl forecast inventory?

Yes, Fishbowl includes inventory planning and replenishment features that help businesses manage stock levels and generate purchase orders. For many manufacturers, these capabilities are sufficient for day-to-day inventory control.

However, Fishbowl is primarily an inventory management system, not a dedicated inventory forecasting platform. As businesses grow, many choose to keep Fishbowl as their system of record and add specialist forecasting software, such as StockTrim, to improve purchasing and production planning without replacing their existing system.

Does Fishbowl calculate safety stock?

Fishbowl allows businesses to set minimum stock levels and reorder points, which can support a basic safety stock strategy.

However, effective safety stock depends on factors such as demand variability, supplier lead times and target service levels. As these factors change, static reorder points may no longer provide the right level of inventory protection.

Dedicated inventory forecasting software can analyse these variables automatically and recommend dynamic safety stock levels for each SKU. Platforms such as StockTrim calculate safety stock alongside demand forecasts and purchasing recommendations, helping businesses reduce both stock-outs and excess inventory.

Does Fishbowl forecast raw materials?

Fishbowl manages raw materials and bills of materials (BOMs) as part of its manufacturing workflows, but forecasting future material requirements is a separate task.

Raw material forecasting starts with predicting demand for finished goods, then uses BOMs and supplier lead times to calculate what components will be required and when.

Specialist inventory forecasting software automates this process, helping manufacturers plan purchases before shortages occur.

Should I replace Fishbowl?

For most manufacturers, no.

If Fishbowl already manages your inventory, warehouse and manufacturing operations effectively, replacing it may add unnecessary cost and disruption.

Instead, many businesses extend Fishbowl with dedicated inventory forecasting software. This allows Fishbowl to remain the operational system of record while forecasting software provides demand forecasts, purchasing recommendations and inventory planning insights.

If your biggest challenge is deciding what to buy or produce next, adding specialist forecasting software is often a simpler and more cost-effective solution than overhauling your inventory management system.

Can StockTrim inventory forecasting software connect to Fishbowl?

Absolutely. StockTrim integrates directly with Fishbowl, allowing businesses to improve planning without changing their existing inventory management system.

It synchronises sales history, inventory levels, purchase orders, supplier information and bills of materials from Fishbowl. It then analyses this data to recommend purchase quantities, predict stock shortages and plan future inventory requirements.

What's the difference between inventory management and inventory forecasting?

Inventory management focuses on today's operations - tracking stock, processing purchase orders, managing warehouses and recording inventory movements.

Inventory forecasting focuses on future demand. It analyses historical sales, supplier lead times and demand patterns to recommend what inventory should be purchased or produced in the coming weeks or months.

Many manufacturers use both together, with Fishbowl managing inventory operations and forecasting software such as StockTrim supporting purchasing and production planning.

StockTrim is the leading inventory forecasting software built for small to medium sized manufacturers. Since 2017, it has worked with thousands of business datasets to provide data-backed inventory foresights. It integrates natively with Fishbowl Inventory, with no data migration required, and no disruption to your workflow.

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