Sometimes it seems there are as many ways to do cycle counting as there are companies that employ it. Directed counts or blind counts. Which items should be counted? What process is followed when a discrepancy occurs?

Counting inventory has been done forever, but cycle counting was a vast improvement. Not only did it satisfy the requirement to annually account one’s inventory, but by focusing on high turnover items and counting them more often, cycle counting does something even more vital. It helps determine the cause of inventory discrepancy so that it can be eliminated. By counting high value, high turnover items often, it is far more likely that it will be determined what happened so that counts got off. Because the faulty transaction will have been much more recent, it is far more likely to be discovered.

We have configured a number of cycle counting procedures for our clients and it provides an important piece to an effective overall inventory management system.