Warehouse and Print
On Friday December 24, Thursday December 30, and Friday December 31, Warehouse and Print in Tiel will be closed for business.
On Thursday December 30 there will be a count in the warehouse, like previous years. Fred van Schaik is happy to tell more about this:
The year is coming to an end and for most companies this is the moment to get accurate insight into the stock of items (and the value of the stock).
What does a stock or end-of-the-year count entail?
Brief explanation of the inventory count
Taking inventory means physically checking the quantities and condition of the items in stock and comparing that to what the ERP system says we should have.
This is usually done to verify the accuracy of the inventory information compared to the physical stock in the warehouse.
The end-of-the-year count is oftentimes used for reporting the annual figures of the company. Usually, accountants are present for the count to ensure the accuracy of the process.
What does counting inventory mean?
Aside from the regular inventory count, our warehouse has been using the cycle count method for the past 8 years. Because the products are spread across multiple locations in our company, we count locations as opposed to items, in consultation with our accountants. Cycle counting stands for counting the stock in cycles. The stock isn’t counted completely in one go; the count is divided into parts. Every month, week, or day, a part of the warehouse is counted. We count all year round. This means the annual count is not strictly necessary.
The main advantage of cycle counting is it takes the pressure off an annual count. Sending orders can continue. The cycle counts are better to plan, making the process easier.
Every day, counting lists are printed on the entresol and the pick and bulk locations in the ‘box warehouse’. The employees who do the count don’t know the quantity that should to be present at a given location. With a deviation of less than 5% or €50,- the quantity is corrected by the cycle count employee; it is assumed that the count was correct. With larger deviations, or when there is doubt about the count, an experienced cycle count employee will recount the items at the location. If there is still a significant deviation, the entire item will be counted, at all locations where this item is kept. If there is still a difference after that, the office team leader makes a note and (eventually) it is investigated how this error occurred.
This year Jolanda van Rossum is in charge of handling the corrections and checking the daily counted counting lists.
Annually, approximately 25.000 locations are counted (an average of 100 a day). Below an overview of the status on November first.
| Inventarisatieschema | EEK | Behaald | ZOL | Behaald | PAK | Behaald | OPK | Behaald |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Januari | 10% | 0% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||
| Februari | 20% | 1% | 20% | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||
| Maart | 30% | 16% | 30% | 0% | 0% | 0% | ||
| April | 40% | 39% | 40% | 37% | 25% | 43% | 25% | 36% |
| Mei | 50% | 51% | 50% | 59% | 43% | 36% | ||
| Juni | 60% | 63% | 60% | 67% | 50% | 43% | 50% | 36% |
| Juli | 66% | 70% | 66% | 71% | 87% | 73% | ||
| Augustus | 72% | 72% | 72% | 72% | 87% | 73% | ||
| September | 78% | 77% | 78% | 80% | 75% | 87% | 75% | 73% |
| Oktober | 84% | 83% | 84% | 90% | 87% | 73% | ||
| November | 90% | 90% | ||||||
| December | 100% | 100% | 10% | 100% |
The check of the total by the accountants is done at a set moment. For this year this will once more be December 31.
What is the importance of taking inventory?
Counting inventory can bring problems with stock to light and lets us know where to expect possible issues. Running a healthy company starts with keeping a good and correct stock. On top of that, companies need an accurate picture of the value of the stock to include in the annual figures.