Cycle Counting: Benefits for Inventory Management

Reducing Inventory Management Errors

Inventory management is a constant challenge for any business, particularly one with high-volume sales and items that frequently move in and out of your warehouse. Keeping an accurate inventory count is critical for preventing oversells or undersells, and for preventing theft or mismanagement. At the same time, taking inventory can be an expensive and painful process. You might have to stop production, lease additional warehouse space, or pay overtime to employees who are engaged in the inventory counting process. Traditionally, companies have often taken inventory once per year, which can lead to errors and inaccuracies.

Do you know what’s in your warehouse?

If you still feel like this about inventory, you’re doing it wrong.

There is a better way.

What is Cycle Counting?

It’s called “Cycle Counting,” an inventory auditing procedure. It involves distributing the time needed to take inventory over the full year instead of doing it all at once. The company decides how many times per year it would like to inventory different types of items, and then employees count a few items every day until all the cycle counts are complete. This provides that company with a more comprehensive and accurate picture of what items they have in their warehouse.

Benefits of Cycling Counting

The advantage of using cycle counting is that companies don’t lose production time while taking inventory. Cycle counting allows companies to easily compare the quantities counted with the quantities their systems say they should have. This gives companies more opportunities to identify areas in which their inventory system is working well, when there is low variance, or where there are problems with their inventory tracking and variance is high. It allows them to identify and correct errors in inventory more quickly.

Companies who use cycle counting can also designate different cycle counts for different types of items, perhaps counting items with higher value or higher movement volume more frequently than less essential items. Cycle counting allows companies to take control of their inventory management process.

Automate Your Cycle Counting Process

Interested in trying cycle counting but not sure how to implement it? No problem. Our Automated Inventory Cycle Count tool, or AICC for short, automates the process for you, from deciding which items should be counted on which days to emailing counting sheets to warehouse employees. AICC is an add-on for Sage. It’s compatible with Sage 100, Sage 300, and Sage 500.

Using AICC, companies can designate different cycle counts for different types of items. It integrates with hand-held scanning solutions and all versions of Multi-Bin. It automatically sends daily emails to people involved in the counting process, and employers can easily stop count sheet generation on certain days, such as holidays or during vacation time. AICC also makes it easy to perform audits and force counts with the click of a button.

Please see the video below for a demo of how AICC can help your business save time and money.

About Us

CertiPro is a software solutions provider. We give our clients tools that make their lives easier, be it integrating their Sage ERP and Magento eCommerce store, providing a mobile app for their customers, or helping companies better manage their inventory. Contact us today if you’re interested in seeing how Automated Inventory Cycle Count (AICC) can help make inventory management a breeze.