Inventory Control

Do you have a written, formal service policy that regulates the service frequency by size and type of retail customer and overall account potential?

Do the packages counted each day of the week and each week of the month change from one week to another so that employees don’t know too far in advance what will be counted each day?

Does inventory control report to the finance department?

Is there enough time in the inventory counting process to recount the necessary number of products with variances that are out-of-tolerance?

Is there enough time in the inventory process to research variances, reconcile variances, identify recurring causes of variances, and implement solutions to eliminate these recurring problems?

Is the ability to scan inventory into and out of breakage strictly controlled?

Are all requested inventory adjustments, no matter how small, questioned by your controller (or CFO) and is the controller (or CFO) the only person who can adjust book inventory?

Is there proper separation of duties in your inventory control process? (For example, counters don’t have access to the book inventory numbers when counting; counters don’t know how far off the SKU is from book inventory before recounts; warehouse management can’t make adjustments to the inventory; moving product into and out of breakage is verified by two managers or supervisors; inventory auditing and control doesn’t report to operations, etc.?)

On a regular basis (monthly or quarterly), does someone other than the warehouse department count the full inventory to verify the count and provide checks and balances with the warehouse staff?

Do you sleep comfortably through the night, never worrying about your inventory control?