Tricks & Traps of Warehouse Stock Accuracy

This goes without saying, a warehouse with inaccurate stocks is an issue that needs to be corrected sooner rather than later. You might think how hard can this be? This is the ONE job the warehouse team are paid to do…ONE JOB!.

Reality is there is a hundred ways stock accuracy can get out of kilter, a couple of examples to check before shaking the fist at the inventory manager or warehouse team can be:

Inwards goods – are you being supplied what your suppliers are saying they supply, obviously your inwards goods team check each carton and drum diligently, check weigh to ensure contents, book all of this into the system with 100% accuracy, and this stock is then accurately located into the warehouse location.

It’s always a good idea to keep your suppliers honest, check weigh containers to ensure 25kg is 25kg.

In one particular business I’ve worked in, a raw material in inwards goods has travelled through the inwards team checks, checked by the QA department, then located by the warehouse team only to discover the 25kg bags booked in, were actually 25lbs bags… a stock discrepancy.

The old saying if it’s wrong at the start it - will be wrong through the entire process.

Another hidden area where stock discrepancies can sneak in is the order picking process. Yes the actual order picking but also the order return from the disgruntled customer. Most businesses assume the customer is always correct, any error in a customer order must automatically be the despatching warehouses error, a mis pick.

BUT the order accuracy is only as good as the customers receiving team who is checking the order in. If they make an error, mistake one product for another (remember you will never be told of an over pick!!) this can result in the customer making a credit claim, returning the stocks or asking for additional stock to be despatched.

It’s at this point not only is it important to have 100% stock accuracy, and a history of 100% stock accuracy that a cycle count can be completed and possibly a result to who’s warehouse team has made the error.

Assuming the stock has been deducted from your inventory at time of dispatch it’s important to deal with any credit or mis-pick correctly system/inventory wise.

If your stocks are correct - do you credit the customer? – To maintain customer relations, credit the customer being mindful of not returning the stock back into inventory.

It’s important to note on this last topic that when we supply orders to customers that we make, pack, sort and document the order as cleanly, simply and as well documented as possible to ensure their inwards goods team can accurately check the order as correct- which of course it is.