Inventory software.. consumables vs serialized stocks

[Tea_J]

Hi guys

i just finished a major part of our inventory software (for a computer retail store) using Flash gui and php backend..

2 main tables for this system is the
products = stores most of the info about a product, like ean, specifications, brand, supplier, etc

stocks = contains the individual etnries of the actual stocks, with unique info such as serial, some attributes, costings, etc..

it's pretty awesome, if i may say so myself.. pretty, fast, practical and user friendly...I have just this one thing which i'm thinking to imrpove on or let be...


You see, as made obvious about, the "stocks" table are the actual stocks and counts of my inventory system like other systems it maintains a row/entry in the database per stock unit, this allows barcode / serial tracking of ins and outs of the inventory.. we can also set individual pricing for specific stocks (used? damaged?) and trace where the item has been if it went out to customers , back to us, and around our company... etc..

this is also very important for stock count integrity... like, if stocks are deducted from the inventory, i know exactly where each stock went... (no backend cheating lolz)

But.. and a big BUT.. since each stock count is an individual entry in the stocks table.... that also means inputting SERIAL-LESS products (consumables) such as generic mousepads, sata cables, RJ45 connectors will also have individual entry/rows .. not that i mind that but the fact that these consumables can number into the thousands easy.. like 1 batch of RJ45=2000pcs .. lolz

i see this as wasted space in the database, and clutter lolz..

or.. is this just me? is this how inventory systems simply work?

I was thinking of changing my system in a way that stocks that are considered consumables will not have its own rows in the stocks tables, but it will just be a number in the "products" table instead.. there wont be any back tracking of this but what the heck.. better than clutter..

this will be a lot of work .. is it wise to do so though?

hoping for some valuable feedbacks

Thanks!

TJ