2017 is quickly coming to an end, which means it is time to start thinking about your year-end physical inventory.

For many dealerships, a year-end inventory is a big undertaking that, when done incorrectly, can have detrimental effects on productivity and efficiency. That is why it is critical that you plan for and implement effective inventory processes – to ensure you accurately record your inventory levels while ensuring your dealership operates at maximum efficiency.

Plan

One of the top two most important factors in a Physical Inventory is the preparation.  If you are not prepared for your physical, it is extremely difficult to get an accurate result.  Parts not to be counted should be clearly marked.

Before you start your physical inventory count, you want to ensure you have properly planned for it. This will help ensure the count goes as smoothly as possible.

The first step in the planning phase is dividing your inventory into sections. You will then want to assign team members to each section as well as a leader who will be in charge of managing teams and collecting the inventory count sheets.

Train

Once you have selected your inventory counting team, be sure that everyone understands their responsibility and how to count inventory.  Where we see the most errors come in are package quantities.  Make sure all counters understand package quantity.

While the process can seem straight forward, there are many mistakes that can be made, which could negatively affect your inventory counting accuracy – counting parts without verifying the number, counting packages with multiple units only once, missing parts that are not clearly visible or improperly labelled, etc.

Organize

Before you start counting your inventory, be sure that it is organized. This will help ensure your inventory count is as accurate and easy as possible.

In a perfect world, your parts department would already be organized when inventory time comes, but the reality is that this is rarely the case. If you are one of the many who need to organize their inventory, start by ensuring bins, shelves and packaging are properly labelled, organize all of the same parts in one place whenever possible and avoid mixing parts that look to similar.  If you need more time to prepare, you are better off taking the time than producing inaccurate numbers just to get it done.  

You will also want to clearly mark and organize damaged parts.

Pre-Count

Sometimes, parts can be pre-counted. If you have a number of special order parts or items that are slow moving, count them in advance of the big inventory count so that you can save time.

If you do count inventory early, be sure to properly label the sections so your team members do not waste time recounting.

Count

Now that you are prepared, it is time to start the physical count.

While it may be best to perform your count after hours, it isn’t always possible.  If you must count during work hours, be sure to communicate with other departments, such as service and receiving, and ensure that they know their roles and the proper procedures, and make sure all employees know not to move parts and to properly record parts sold after counted.

If teams have multiple sections, be sure that they finish one section before moving on. Once counted, mark the section complete and have counters provide signed count sheets to the inventory manager.

At Pro Count West, we have years of experience organizing and managing inventory. We not only count physical auto parts inventory accurately and efficiently, we can do so with minimum disruption to your daily activities, allowing you to optimize productivity and income.

To request a quote, contact us today!