Hotel Inventory Management DX Realizes "Procurement Department" Functions with a System: Automating Inventory Management and Ordering Frees Up Staff Time for Customer Interaction

S-mat Inc.

S-mat Inc. (Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo; Representatives: Takayuki Shiga, Hidetoshi Hayashi) has released a case study on the utilization of its IoT inventory management system, "SmartMat Cloud."

This case study details how, against the backdrop of chronic labor shortages in the hotel industry and the need for stable operations with limited staff, SmartMat Cloud resolved issues such as staff being overwhelmed by inventory and ordering tasks instead of focusing on customer service, structural problems like stockouts, over-ordering, and duplicate orders due to shift work and absent personnel, and operational variations caused by reliance on individual staff members. It highlights how the automation of inventory management and ordering through SmartMat Cloud, effectively replacing the functions of a "procurement department" with a system, enabled stable operations even with a small team.

Read the full case study here ▶ https://www.smartmat.io/case/hotel/7754

Background of Implementation The hotel industry is facing a severe and chronic labor shortage, exacerbated by talent outflow and recruitment difficulties following the COVID-19 pandemic. While inbound demand has recovered, increasing the workload on the front lines, securing sufficient staff remains challenging, making it a major issue to maintain on-site operations with limited personnel. At Ishin Hotels Group, front-line staff were similarly juggling back-office tasks such as amenity inventory checks, ordering, and delivery management, in addition to customer service. This prevented them from dedicating adequate time to customer interactions, which should have been their priority. Furthermore, the hotel's characteristic shift system led to structural operational challenges: over-ordering to avoid stockouts during the absence of inventory managers, and duplicate orders or lost inventory due to incomplete handover of delivered items. Additionally, ordering decisions were often based on the experience and intuition of individual staff members, leading to inconsistent operations and making stable inventory management difficult. In light of these circumstances, the company recognized the growing need to transition inventory management to a system less dependent on human intervention to ensure stable operations amidst labor shortages. This led to the adoption of SmartMat Cloud, which automates inventory management and ordering.

Results After Implementation The implementation of SmartMat Cloud has significantly reduced the workload for on-site staff by automating the entire process from inventory checks to ordering. Tasks such as inventory counts and checks, which previously took 30 minutes to an hour once or twice a week, have been reduced, allowing staff to allocate more time to customer service, their primary responsibility. Moreover, inventory levels are now visualized in real-time, enabling data-driven decisions on optimal stock levels. This has standardized the ordering process, which previously relied on the experience and intuition of individual staff members. As a result, the risks of over-ordering and stockouts have been reduced, and issues such as duplicate orders and lost inventory due to the shift system have been resolved. The system now handles inventory management and ordering, effectively taking over the functions of a "procurement department" that were previously managed by front-line staff. This has established a system that maintains stable operations even when designated personnel are absent. Consequently, inventory management has shifted from being a "human-dependent task" to a "system-supported task."

Furthermore, the implementation has spurred a change in the mindset of on-site staff, leading to proactive suggestions for operational improvements and a more engaged approach to business improvement and DX. Beyond mere operational efficiency, it has contributed to fostering an organizational culture where improvements are driven by the front lines.

◾️ Overview of SmartMat Cloud

SmartMat Cloud is a DX solution (SaaS) that visualizes the actual inventory of all items on-site using IoT, simplifying inventory management and promoting process improvement. It achieves labor savings and enhanced sophistication by completely automating tasks that traditionally required significant manpower, such as inventory counts, real-time actual inventory tracking (which was previously impossible with manual methods), and ordering. Since its launch in the winter of 2018, it has been adopted by a wide range of customers, including those in manufacturing, service industries, and medical institutions. It is currently utilized by over 1,400 companies.

URL: https://www.smartmat.io/

◾️ S-mat Inc. (formerly Smart Shopping)

Aiming to make "daily flows of goods smarter," S-mat Inc. develops DX solutions for automated inventory management using IoT weight sensors. For B2B clients in manufacturing, medical institutions, and other sectors, they offer the SaaS product "SmartMat Cloud" (https://www.smartmat.io/), which automates the management, inventory counting, and ordering of all types of stock.

Company Name: S-mat Inc. (formerly Smart Shopping)

Location: South Wing Higashi-Gotanda, 2-9-5 Higashi-Gotanda, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo

Representatives: Takayuki Shiga / Hidetoshi Hayashi

Established: November 2014

URL: https://s-mat.co.jp/

Media Inquiries Regarding This Release

Email: contact-media@s-mat.co.jp

Phone: 03-4405-5629