Quick Tip: Accurate Inventory Tracking
Problem
How many times have you lost parts and had to re-make them because you had no idea where they were located? As parts are constantly moved around, you need real-time data collection to know exactly where your parts are in order to reduce redundancy and the need to re-make materials.
Questions to ask
Do you know where an item is physically located?
Are you performing a physical count on a daily basis?
Do you put your inventory in multiple locations?
Do you have certified materials?
What can we do?
Real-time data collection via scanning, barcoding, and kiosk reduces the need to perform physical counts on a daily basis because it allows you to see your inventory as soon as changes occur. When you clock out of a job, you can easily identify where to issue the finished parts. The same thing goes for large assemblies when you complete your components and place them into stock, this helps your assembly manager know their exact location. With physical counts, you should perform daily cycle counts of inventory. A cycle count is an inventory auditing system where a small subset of inventory, in a specific location, is counted on a specified day.
Your ERP system should automatically tell you what item(s) to count on a regular basis, depending on the volume of parts. For example, you would perform cycle counts of higher volume parts more frequently than lower volume parts. When taking inventory of high volume, low weight items, you would take a sample amount of the item (100 count) and weigh it. This way, you can take inventory by weight instead of individually counting each item.
In MIE Trak Pro, we now offer WIP Inventory tracking which automates transactions in and out of the WIP Inventory Locations based on clock-in and clock-out (Labor) collection data. This functionality is not only limited to Labor but also includes Outside Process Purchase Orders as well. This works because customers that have material handlers move items in and out of locations as various processes are completed. Another benefit of this functionality is the in-depth tracking of work orders that might remain open for a “long” period of time.