Accurate inventory data is crucial to running an efficient fulfillment operation - there’s no way around it. Unfortunately, limiting your inventory counts to annual/fiscal physical counts just isn’t going to cut it. Annual physical inventory counts are often required by certain businesses, but they can often take weeks and involve more than just the warehouse team. Many merchants require the assistance of numerous other teams within the company, including finance and IT, just to complete the counts. That’s where cycle counting comes into play.
As opposed to an annual or quarterly physical inventory count, a cycle count is a smaller, more agile inventory count that focuses on the quantity and status of inventory located in a specific bin. Depending on the warehouse management system (WMS) that you use, cycle counts can occur daily or weekly, after all item fulfillments have been cleared out, or as part of your regular pick process.
There are numerous types of cycle counts that a business may choose to use, including but not limited to:
While any kind of cycle counting is preferred over not performing inventory counts, not all WMS’s offer the ability to include a cycle count in real-time, interleaving it while a picker is picking a batch, wave, or cluster. Many warehouse management softwares will perform cycle counts, but you may need to make sure all item fulfillment records are cleared out of your system and shipments are completed before starting the count.
The other option is a more advanced solution that allows you to cycle count in real time while picking orders.
By incorporating regular cycle counts into your fulfillment process, you can take advantage of numerous benefits including:
ShipHawk WMS offers real-time cycle counting that enables merchants to incorporate cycle counting into daily pick strategies. With advanced cycle counting, you can reduce the number of inventory errors your pickers find each day and ensure that your warehouse is operating efficiently. ShipHawk WMS provides a dashboard that helps warehouse managers detect inventory accuracy issues thanks to real-time visibility into inventory by day, month, year, or against a specific plan. Better yet, ShipHawk WMS’s advanced cycle count comes out of the box, without any add-on fees so once implemented, your business can start employing industry best practices from day one.
Ready to learn more about real-time cycle counting? Schedule time to talk to one of our fulfillment experts today.