It’s that time of year – Stock Check or Stock Take it’s up to you really. Are you just glad to have it done, glad to have it finished before the year end? But are you missing out on the greatest opportunity for a health check on your parts department?
Yes, most parts managers get a shiver down the spine at this time of year. It is usual, traditional even that companies with a December year end get to grips with some stock taking during December in order to have things just right for the auditor in the New Year.
But in our relief to have things sorted and complete before Christmas many companies ignore the ability to analyse the workings of the aftermarket departments through the workings of the stock take. If you are operating a decent computer system then you have the ability to monitor the progress of your stock take and you can see the happenings within the department.
So not being content with having a yearend stock figure that’s accurate what other things should you look for in a stock check?
Stock value – How much has our stock value changed? Is that figure a combination of positives and negatives? What stock have we lost and what have we gained? Even if your stock figure is just about unchanged check to see what discrepancies are there to make this up? Many managers are just happy to see no change or an increase in stock level. You might find that the positive and negatives are hiding problems – Are we losing saleable fast moving stock and gaining slow moving items. Are “free” warranty items hiding the loss of real stock that we had to purchase?
Discrepancies – Study all discrepancy reports, not just the last or final report. The first one will tell you more about your department than anything. Are we finding parts in the wrong location or with no location at all? How many parts are ejected during the count phase and are now showing up on discrepancy reports?
Is there a correct chase of “the trail” for slow moving or special order discrepancies? How much have we corrected and charged out after the stock check? Why do such errors occur? These errors are there and we need to take comfort from two things: That the discrepancies are checked and acted upon and that the root cause of the problems are being addressed.
It s not a matter of our stock being “up” or “down” after the stock take. We need to quantify so much more and glean so much more from the information that is there staring us in the face.
Many parts managers will say – “We are happy just to get the stock take finished before Christmas and to get the place back into working order.” That’s fine. But there is nothing to say that when the stock take is finished and updated that discrepancies cannot be still checked! I often worked on discrepancies in January.
Maybe you should consider a stock check review by Jim Clohessy – Saving you money and helping you to answer the questions!
Contact Jim for a chat: – 087 2475023
